No Charge...

[lozza]

Just Picked up a H1 that's been stood for two years.

The battery is dead and ive been jumping it from my car, it runs perfectly as long as the jumper cables are attached but as soon as i remove them the battery voltage drops rapidly and the engine dies, revving it only makes it die quicker - clearly there is zero charge reaching the battery. I have replaced the reg rec with a brand new one and have tested the alternator output as per the manual and the coils are producing around 55v each so the alternator seems healthy...

I'm thinking now its probably down to a wiring fault but is there anything else at all it might be??

[banner001]

nope, if your battery is dead you can charge it all it wants...it wont hold a charge...because its dead.

£25, fresh battery, and try again. if it still dies then look to alternator/reg rec...although 55V AC sounds high from the alternator, was that at 4k rpm?

[lozza]

Ok now im really stumped.

its started running without the jumper cables on. SAME BATTERY The voltage is 7 when the engine is off. with the engine running at about 2000 rpm its at about 13.8 however this gets lower the more i rev it? at say 6000 rpm it drops to 12.8...

So its producing a charge, but it doesn't increase with engine speed...
by this point im pretty confused. any ideas?

This is the new reg rec ive put in. http://www.amazon.co.uk/REGLER-RGU-403- ... f=pd_ybh_7

[lozza]

nope, if your battery is dead you can charge it all it wants...it wont hold a charge...because its dead.

£25, fresh battery, and try again. if it still dies then look to alternator/reg rec...although 55V AC sounds high from the alternator, was that at 4k rpm?

I agree, but the alternator should keep everything going if the bikes already running...?

checked the alternator again and it was 45v, must of read it wrong yesterday.

[banner001]

nope, if your battery is dead you can charge it all it wants...it wont hold a charge...because its dead.

£25, fresh battery, and try again. if it still dies then look to alternator/reg rec...although 55V AC sounds high from the alternator, was that at 4k rpm?

I agree, but the alternator should keep everything going if the bikes already running...?

checked the alternator again and it was 45v, must of read it wrong yesterday.

if your voltage is 7 with the engine off, your battery is dead.

if you try to keep starting it you will kill your starter motor.

the battery needs to be 12.6V to properly fire the starter, any less and its dead, bin it and buy a fresh one.

[lozza]

if your voltage is 7 with the engine off, your battery is dead.

if you try to keep starting it you will kill your starter motor.

the battery needs to be 12.6V to properly fire the starter, any less and its dead, bin it and buy a fresh one.

Right and this is definitely on my to do list, but surely if the voltage is dropping as the revs increase there's a problem else where in the charging system?

I just feel a bit reluctant to whack a new battery in there and f*ck it up if there's no charge going in.

Anyhow I've been jumping it from my car not trying to crank it.

[ross46]

You need a new battery, at 7 volts open circuit your battery is dead as a dodo, 12.8-12.9+ is fully charged, 12.4-75%, 12.2-%50, 12.0-25%, <11.8-0% your battery needs replacing, as your revs increase the voltage will drop slightly as the alternator is powering more of the bike, at low revs (4k rpm) the bike will be drawing current from the battery so the charging voltage is going to be higher to try keep the battery charged, but as the revs increase their will be more current being produced from the alternator so the current draw from the battery is less, think if you were charging your battery off the bike, if it was at 12.0 volts you would charge it at a higher current than if it was at 12.6, get a new battery and start checking the charging circuit from there as youu are getting FALSE readings because of the state of the battery, it is just another component which has a higher internal resistance than a normal battery, hope this helps

[lozza]

Ok that does make sense. have a new battery charging now, thanks for advice.

[ross46]

No problem, what charger do you have? Have you got a bike specific charger because car chargers dont do bike batterys much good, they dont charge them all the way intact, not like the smart chargers

[banner001]

it cant be more than 2A...0.9A or 1.25A is ideal.

[ross46]

yeah, I've seen some physics equation somewhere that you can work it out, over 2A and it won't fully charge and will reduce battery life, my oxford oximiser charges at 0.89A then at 0.2 to do the last bit and to maintain it

[lozza]

charged it up with one of those halfords auto chargers, not sure what the amps were but it had a motorcycle battery setting and all seems to be good! thanks guys appreciate the help.