Moved battery to tail, causing problems

[Beaver]

I recently moved the battery into the tail of my bike. I took it out for it's first real ride since autumn today and after about 10 it died. I opened the seat and the ground wire I had used (I think about 8 or 10 gauge)was hot and smoking a little and the battery was really warm. I let it sit for a while to cool down but was forced to kick start it as the battery was flat (it was fully charged just before the trip)I rode a little further to my destination and checked the battery (gel) again. It was really warm and a little distended out to one side After my appointment I went back to the bike, it started off the battery without a problem and I rode home on it, the same distance as the first trip. The battery was a little warm (i don't know how warm it should be under normal operation) and there seemed to be no further problems.

Moving the battery is part of a longer project so when I redid the wiring I may have forgotten something. I currently have 2 wires coming off the negative terminal. One to the frame (short and thick) and one that runs up to the front of the bike for the coil mod. Off the positive I have one 10 gauge wire that goes to something by the fuse box that I don't really know what is which in turn has a smaller wire heading into the fuse box. There is also a positive running to the front of the bike as part of the coil mod again.

I know it is a bit vague but I hope that someone can give me some ideas. I am perplexed by the fact that I managed to ride home without any problems.

Cheers

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

What's the charging voltage at the battery? Ideally it should be about 14.5 volts DC at 4000 rpm. What's the history of your rectifier/regulator unit? Shouldn't the ground for your coil relay be to the frame? That's where mine is. The only connections I have on my negative battery terminal are the ground wire from the engine case and the ground wire from the r/r unit.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Clone]

You should have two wires for red, one to the starter relay, the other is to the fuse block. Off the black, one to the frame, one to the wiring harnes that picks up all the lights and such, then one to your coil mod. I would check the wiring and then check the voltage when it is running.

 

[Beaver]

The wiring was as it should be. The positive was shorting on a metal plate. The RR is an aftermarket one mounted by the PO and the battery gets about 13.7v @ 4000rpm. I have been slowly upgrading the electricity as charging was always an issue. It also has a new stator (3 yellow wires coming out of the engine) but I have never been in and looked at it as I figured the 3 yellow wires were a good enough indication...

 

[posplayr]

. The RR is an aftermarket one mounted by the PO and the battery gets about 13.7v @ 4000rpm. .

13.7V is too low, Please check the tests in Revised Stator pages A1 and A2, voltages should be less than 0.25 on both. I just redid mine and I have less than 0.1V total and now I'm charging properly around 14.5V.

Among other things, I removed the main OEM wire between battery and fuse box that was a oversized Bullet