I'm looking for brief help with a recharging issue. This is actually the worst time for having these problems since I'm on my holidays and I travelled already from Finland to Germany before this became an issue. Anyway, the problem is that the battery doesn't seem to recharge. For two times I've been unable to start the engine but luckily I managed to get some help for it. So I would need to narrow which one is causing the problem, the R/R or the battery. Personally I'm suspecting the R/R but I'm asking if someone would give any advices. I was measuring the voltages today and I got this (everything is cold): -Engine not running, no lights on: ~13V -Engine running, no lights: 14.3V -Engine running, lights on: 13.8V So far looks good? I took her for a ride, it took around 10 minutes for me to reach the gas station and after that I was unable to start. We pushed to bike and were able to start it. I drove back, this time I kept the lights off. When I arrived back, the battery had recharged a bit so I managed to start the engine again. Right after I tested the voltage levels (so engine and the whole bike hot): -Engine running, no lights: 13.1V -Engine running, lights on: 12.5V I also cleaned all the electronical connections and measured the resistance between stator coils and didn't find out anything out of ordinary. On Monday I'm trying to find out where to get a R/R here in Germany but if you happen to have any good ideas, please let me know. Any help is appreciated!
Your best test would be with the engine running at about 5000 rpms, where you should see about 14.5 volts. It's normal to see a discharge at idle and a bit above. Be sure to check the wires that plug into the starter relay for a poor connection or melting.
voltage readings looked good. I suspect the RR is fine. Sounds like wiring connections. As said by Squirrel - check the pink colored connector on the starter relay. (assuming you've already checked the RR plug and the stator plug)
I also tested the voltages with 2000 and 5000 RPM's and the increase in RPM's didn't make a huge difference, perhaps +0.1V to the idle readings. With the lights on, I cannot get to 14V in any RPM. Especially when the engine is hot, I could only reach that 12.5V which in my understanding is not enough. I don't suspect the battery since it seemed to recharge when I turned the lights off. For me it seems the recharging works when the bike is cold but when it gets hot, the charging voltage seems to drop. I'm not really sure but a bad connection wouldn't cause this kind of behavior?
Did you check AC voltage output from the stator, or continuity? Best be sure before throwing parts at it. I was taught to check DC voltage at battery. Rev up to 5,000rpm with high beams on. DC voltage should be 13.5vdc - 15.5vdc.
I did not check the AC voltage, only the resistance between the coils which looked okay (I think? around 0.2 ohm). I did try reving up to 5000 RPM. When the bike was relatively cold, I could get around 13.5V with the lights on but after taking her for a spin, only 12.5V. Also during one day the battery wasn't drained but it was a rather cold day (half of the trip in rain and the temperature outside was around 14 degrees celcius (57 fahrenheit?).
Yes, a bad connection will cause exactly this behavior. Resistance in the connections will grow with heat and the voltage readings will drop. Pop your seat off and look at that pink connector on the top of the starter relay. common failure point
I just checked the pink connector. No problem there either. Today I continued my trip and drove a bit over 100km (with the lights off) and the battery seemed to recharge. Tomorrow I'll throw a similar trip with the lights on and see what's gonna happen (luckily I have a recharger with me now).
Just to post a conclusion to this thread, I finally got back from the (successful) trip and after all the battery was faulty so replacing that solved the issue.
Thanks Toe As an extra a picture from the trip. After the problems in the beginning of the trip I could finally drive without worries and I could see some really awesome places:
