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How's your charging system

johnnylunchbox

johnnylunchbox

NE AAD Hudson Valley
Member
Just bought two of these, one for my Ulysses, and one for my wife's R1150R. Seems like a good way to gauge the health of your charging system, especially when you start adding accessories. Has a range of LED's... flashes green when overcharging, and red when not charging enough. http://tinyurl.com/kuryakyn-voltmeter
 
From the website:
The L.E.D. Battery Gauge is an array of L.E.D.s indicating the operating voltage of the bikes electrical system. Green L.E.D.s represent the normal operating range of your charging system, 12.5v to 14.5v. Amber L.E.D.s warn the rider that the bike is not charging. If the reading drops below 10v or exceeds 15v, a flashing red L.E.D. will alert the rider of an impending stall or the possibility of damage to the battery and/or sensitive electronic components on the motorcycle.
Click to expand...
Opening up for discussion.... I always thought a 12V battery needed almost a volt of positive voltage to charge. The charts on fully charged versus 50% charged, etc. seem to vary some. But best I can tell 12.8 is fully charge, 12.0 is 25% range. 10.0 is friggin dead. I guess where I was going was if you are hooking enough accessories where 12.5 volts is indicated I dont think you are within the normal range and your battery is not charging. -- In fact I seem to recall threads on the old forum where people thought anything less than 13.5-13.6 range was not going to charge a battery to fully charged. 13.0 might give a very low batt some juice but it may not be charging an 80% battery to 100%. And the RED LED that alerts at 10.0 volts that alerts you to the impending stall is like 1-2 minutes away. 2003 Concours, 48K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://mysite.verizon.net/slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm
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12.5 volts running is low and the battery will lose much of its charge over time. Around 13.5 or so is good and its keeping up with the load. Think of it this way. The alt runs the entire system and charges the battery with whats left over. If there is no reserve voltage then the battery is on the losing end of the deal. The monitor Steve linked to is good to keep track of the systems average but its not accurate enough to really keep track of the draw on the system accessories can add. By the time you might see 10v you won't have much time as Slybones posted. Alternators are good at maintaining a battery's charge but they are bad a recharging a low battery. The regulators only respond to the system voltage and not the batteries state of charge. They will at best put a surface charge on a low or dead battery. Generators were much better at charging battery's but due to their size required to produce the amps needed for modern vehicles they are just not practical. CT AAD COG #7011-A 2003 Concours-Mary Ann 1995 Honda Nighthawk 750 wifes
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I got a 1.5v slow charger/tender when I got my new battery. Hooked up permanent leads for the tender when I did it thought that was a good idea but haven't ever used one before. When's the best time to use a tender? Do you guys hook it up every night or when you know she'll be idle for a week or so? What's the scoop?
 
I think you would be better off with a real volt meter for all the reasons mentioned above. With a real meter you can turn the bike on and see the state of charge on the battery before you hit the starter. When you hit the starter you can see the health of the battery under load. When it starts you can see the charging system health. Last but not least as you turn on acc and stuff you can tell how much they are loading the system. I would put a true battery tender on every time you get off or after a week if you can remember. I still just have a trickle charger and I wait a week or more to put it on and take it off within about 12 hours so it does not over cook the battery. ---------------------------------- South Central Area Director Email scad@cog-online.org
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All excellent points. I should have been more specific. The Buells have a history of fried regulators. This is the real reason I want this. I don't want the charging system dumping 17 volts into the system when/if the regulator goes. I'm really not too concerned with overloading the stator capacity. If I want to really check my battery I'll whip out the old multimeter.
 
I run Schumacher maintainer on each bike if it sits for a week or more. And Brett I hope you meant a 1.5 Amp charger, not 1.5 V. ..dz.. 2003 Concours 1983 Honda Silverwing 2008 Yamaha Majesty (new) 2003 Honda XR70 (son's)
 
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