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I am the battery assassin


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Well, before you replace parts that may not need replacing, you need to do a little basic troubleshooting with a voltmeter. For starters, with the voltmeter on DC volts, measure across the battery with the bike running. At idle you should see around 12.8 to 13.2 volts. When you rev the engine up you should see the voltage rise, the higher the RPM's, the higher the voltage until you reach the "regulator operating voltage" which can be anything from around 13.6 to 14.8 volts, give or take. If you are seeing anything higher than 14.8 volts, chances are your regulator is defective and needs replacing!! Too high of a voltage will indeed cook a battery in a short time!

 

The next thing to do if your regulator voltage is good is to switch the voltmeter to AC voltage and do the same. Regardless of the RPM's you should not see any AC voltage other than possibly 1 volt or less. If you see a large AC voltage, the rectifier section of your rectifier/regulator is probably toasted. If your battery is seeing a large AC component that too will kill a battery. With AC applied to the battery it will be constantly charging and discharging. AC voltage is constantly changing polarity...

 

Ok,, I just gotta say it.. I did some electronics classes back a few years when I was in High School.. Learned a bunch of Ohm's Law stuff way back then,, even played with circuit boards a little and device wiring and motor building.. Basically, forgotten wayyyy more than I will ever remember = things like reading those little colored stripes on resistors and all that.. Found my achelies heal to be my ceiling limit in math (College Algebra = YIKES)..

All that said,, yes,, I have used some of what I learned thru the years but most of what I do electronically is a disastor waiting to happen.. Have made it this far though..

Anyway,, @bongobobny - what you wrote above about turning the Meter over to AC and checking for AC voltage at the battery would have made me spit coffee on my computer screen if I were a coffee drinker = brilliant,, just BRILLIANT.. Tested a LOT of systems on those battery cables throughout my life but never,, have I EVER heard or thought of that one!!

Only thing is now ya got me :95: cause I spent my whole life NOT doing this remarkable method for testing rectifiers,,, THANK YOU Sir Bob = YOU DA MAN BROTHER!! :bowdown::bowdown:

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While testing for an AC component at the battery will identify a rectifier diode that has failed short, it will not identify a diode that has failed open. So it is a good quick easy check that can identify a bad RR, you may still have to jump thru all the hoops to test out the rectifier.

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Yes, that 5 wire box is called an R/R or Regulator/Rectifier. The Stator produces an AC voltage that first has to be changed into DC, or is "Rectified!" The second part is to Regulate or make its output at a constant voltage. When the voltage level that is trying to be rammed into the battery is too high, the regulator shunts the excess power to ground...

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Assassin no more. I got the new thingy put back in. I did test the stator and it was good. My only gripe is what the xxxx were the engineers thinking when they decided on the location for the thingy. Good luck unbolting let alone bolting it back up. I just used the Red Green method of fastening with duct tape. Well no I didn't, but I wanted to.

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Assassin no more. I got the new thingy put back in. I did test the stator and it was good. My only gripe is what the xxxx were the engineers thinking when they decided on the location for the thingy. Good luck unbolting let alone bolting it back up. I just used the Red Green method of fastening with duct tape. Well no I didn't, but I wanted to.

 

Your a better man than me,, I would have went with duct tape... Nope,, nope,, take that back,, I'm a far better mechanic than that goofy Red Green (oh my gosh = my hero = my son and I used to sit and watch Red, Harold and the crew for HOURS = WOWZY I miss em = both my son and the Red Green Show = my Son more though),, I would have used Stickers for a more dignified finished product :big-grin-emoticon:

 

Glad cha got er fixed brother!!:thumbsup:

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