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Looking for someone who knows batteries

bccap

bccap

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
3 weeks ago I purchased a new battery. Yesterday when I went start the bike the battery didn't have enough charge to start the bike. I took it out went to charge it and noticed the battery had no fluid in it. none, nada, zero. Went to where I purchased the battery and was told my charging system must have boiled everything away. So I have 2 questions. 1\ Is it possible to run the bike for 3 weeks with nothing in it ? and 2 Is it possible battery acid was put in and then not topped up with water ? I filled the battery with distilled water and charged it last night,and it appears to be fine 13.5 volts.
Thanx
 
was it full when you fitted it in the first place? check charging voltage at 12vdc plus with volt meter/multi meter over battery
 
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Doesn't matter, it is overcharging while you were riding, over 15v. Put distilled water in the battery, and it will start right up,, check the voltage at 5k.
 
I realize that this could be a charging issue. The thing is I really do suspect I got a dry battery. Even bone dry it almost started the bike and showed 13.5 volts. And I mean dry ! I held it upside down and shook it. Nothing in there and looked like never had been. I have checked voltage with one of those meters with lights at various voltages. All I can get from that is it appears to be somewhere around 14 volts at high idle. It could be higher as that is the last light. Will go to C.T.and get a proper meter and perform stator test. By the way whats a stator ?
 
It takes a while to boil a battery dry. I doubt you started with a dry battery. If your meter only indicates to 14v it is really telling you nothing except you have voltage. It could be way over 14v and you would never know. Fill the battery properly with distilled water, and it will jump back to life especially if it is still showing signs of life now. Get a good meter reading with an accurate meter, then you can start figuring out what's going on. The three phase stator is coils of wire that the permenent magnets on a rotor induce a voltage into. Unregulated, it is capable of producing 80 or 90v depending on RPM. These bikes are famous for boiling out batteries and frying stators, so what you are experiencing is nothing new. It only gets worse if neglected.
 
Post up some pictures of how fried the wiring is now
 
Thanx guys I am going to get a proper multi meter and perform the stator tests, which I have now read. Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears to me that if the tests show too high voltage this is a R\R issue ?
 
bccap said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears to me that if the tests show too high voltage this is a R\R issue ?
Click to expand...
Yes, it's most likely an R/R issue, but does not necessarily mean that it's bad. :-k

Doing the tests, you may find that you have bad connections somewhere. In some cases, bad connections will lead to low output voltages, but in other cases, they can be high. Follow the guides, do the tests in an organized manner, you will soon know where your problem lies and whether you need to replace any parts.

To answer your question: the stator is the bunch of electrical windings that live inside the cover on the left end of the crank. Magnets that are part of the flywheel spin near them, making electricity. That electricity is what needs to be rectified (changed from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) ), then regulated to the 14 volts requred by the bike.

Shorter answer: the stator is part of your alternator.

.
 
I cannot think that a battery can be charged until its bone dry. Inspect the casing for a possible crack, especially on the bottom.
 
Here are the results of my quick test. Looks like I have a problem.
Key off- 12.9 V
Key on for 10 seconds-12.4 V
At idle 1500 rpm 14.5-15.7 V
At 2500 rpm 17.4 V
At 5000 rpm 17.7-V
Key off 14.4 V
 
Bad regulator. It would be a good idea to go through the wiring harness and clean all the connectors and put them back together with dielectric grease while you are waiting for your new R/R to arrive. The only one I'm familiar with is the compufire, so someone will be along soon to recommend a good unit, not that the Compufire isn't excellent, but there are good R/R's out there for much less money. That much over voltage will certainly boil all the fluid out of your battery, and start working on the stator, so It's lucky you found the problem so soon. My factory unit had burnt connections at two of the stator leads and was still cooking the battery. Your battery is most likely fine. When I filled mine with water it cranked the motor right over like it was freshly charged. '78-'79 of my model had separate Rectifiers and Regulators. I believe they went to a combined R/R in '80. In either case you want good quality R/R.
 
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Thanks for the input. In the stator papers they recommend Electrosport so was going to try that after I finish the diagnostics in Stator Papers 4. Why do you suspect something wrong with stator ? I thought that's what produced the electricity and I obviously have lots of that
 
I don't, but if it had gone on longer, it would have eventually fried it. Mine was fine and even drives some heated winter gear. The Electrosport stator is wound for 20% more output and might be a nice upgrade some day. You might want to reconsider their R/R though. I seem to remember a thread about someone going through several stators using them. I'm certain someone will chime in and recommend a good tough unit. For my own reasons I settled on the Compufire, because it has some advantages over the standard type R/R and it's most likely all I will ever use. I will be putting one on my Son's GS850G soon. Look at the Compufire Part Checked thread, I believe those R/R's have been mentioned as being very good.
 
Have been running tests in stator papers 4. When testing the positive side of the RR I get .12. When testing the negative side I get .32 which is bad. So I have been cleaning every connection I can find and get at. Not totally finished with that. My question is if it is a RR issue this test never lets me get there,so I am a little confused. If I find the connection then my problem is solved. But if I don't I must repeat the cycle. So where does it lead me to the RR if that is the problem ?
 
Hi,

We usually take the ground wire from the r/r unit and connect it directly to the negative terminal of the battery. This solves any voltage loss on the negative side. Clean both ends of the big ground wire that goes from the negative terminal of the battery to the bottom of the engine casing. Then re-test.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Thanks Basscliff, I have cleaned the ground wire, both ends. But still have a few other connections to clean tomorrow. I did run a wire from the negative inlet to the RR to the battery terminal, just as a test. With no change, but not sure if I had a good connection. I made up a wire to do it properly from the mounting bolt on the RR but was worried I wouldn't be able to get the bolt back in once I got it out. I got a socket in there and could have gotten it out by remounting the socket each time but there was no way I could get a finger in there to hold on the socket so the ratchet would work. Thus my fear of getting it back on. Any tips for getting at it, or should I put my fingers on a diet ? Also is the RR ruled out as my high charging problem if i don't have a reading of below .2 V ?
 
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