ran a couple of days ago, now... major electrical Problem perhaps

[650BrownDeer]

My 83 650 seems to have some sort of major electrical problem going on. Here's the story.

- Bringing back to life after 5 years poor storage.
- Rebuilt carb.
- New Battery, fully charged, new plugs, new fuel cock.

Had it running enough to ride two days ago. It died on the road and had to be pushed home two blocks (up hill naturally.) At that time, all electical items had been dealt with and items such as my fuel guage worked perfectly. All light that are on it work. (purchased new signal arms and will put them on.)

When it died, it restarted about 20 minutes later ran a few moments and died. When it died after a few attempt to restart, the starter clicked, engaged, spun, and then would not even do that. As things progress, Lights flicker and I hear a cracking sound from under the seat area with the panel lights flickering in time. Starter clicked and then would not even do that. Brought it home, (pushed) fully charged the battery, check, voltage matched the output manufacturer for the battery stated. Checked contacts on battery cables and re-installed.

Following changing the fuel cock yesterday, started fine, ran, but in what was very low speed for a cold engine with the choke open. (I will have a tune up done soon and that may sort that out.) After a minute or so, engine died, would not restart.

Went to run the electrical system flow chart as linked to from this site also known as the Stator Pages on GSR resources.

Hooked up a meter to the battery terminals on the bike with the meter set to 20 volts. Pre start attempt 11.60 on the meter. Start bike, it went to 8, then 0 as the bike did not start and cranked until the clicking started again and lights flickered. Watched as meter went to 10, then 12, then 6, then 4, then.. and on it went until I turned off the key and the meter returned to 11.6 in a few seconds.

Best guess is that I have a Regulator-Rectifier problem as that is the part that seems to be clicking, I think... hard to have an ear there and crank.

Can anyone confirm or quide me on this one?

Thanks in Advance.

[flyingace]

First of all, a fully charged battery should be more like 12.7 volts. Charge it until gets there or take the battery back and get one that does.

Then put the multimeter on the battery and check the voltage before starting and then after its running. The voltage should climb as you increase RPM, then level off when the R/R kicks in. Should be > 13 volts and maybe more. See the stator papers for more exact numbers.

If there is no charging, it can be the stator, the R/R or even bad wiring (bad ground, etc.) Go thru the testing in the Stator Papers to see what's wrong.

[650BrownDeer]

Something for me to look forward to....

When I get the bike to run again... Thanks for the ideas!

[chef1366]

If your volts are dropping that drastically you bought a bad battery.

[bonanzadave]

If your volts are dropping that drastically you bought a bad battery.

Or did something wrong when you put the acid in.................You did put the acid in ?

[650BrownDeer]

Acid in Battery

Yes, I did and followed the directions exactly on how to charge it and so on following that. I checked the fluid levels on it as well right after I read this and they are where they should be.

So, is there a general consensous (yikes but I'm too lazy to spell check!) that the problem is the battery and then something after that causing it to drop in output?

Thanks for your help and advise on this. I just passed my MSF's and want to get in some miles before a planned trip with another - very seasoned - rider!