[elvengood]

Hello Friends. Yes, I am a newbie here. I have a 2003 DL1000 I just purchased used from the second owner. He's a member here and took great care of the bike. Just over 48k miles (he commuted 120 miles per day, 6 months per year). He delivered the bike to me himself and spent loads of time showing me all the options (heated grips, accessory plug, aftermarket horn, voltage regulator, GPS, bars, seat, bags, etc., etc.). Solid bike that runs like a top.

However, the day he came to deliver we went to start it and the battery was dead. He regularly kept it on a tender and was embarrassed. We threw it on my quick charger and 15 minutes later it fired up and the voltage meter showed a solid reading (two green lights while riding). Three days later (after work), the battery was dead. I attempted to charge it that night and it got HOT to the touch. It was a Wal-Mart battery (a couple years old). I have since replaced it and all seems fine, but my question (sorry, getting there), is HOW DO I KNOW THE CHARGING SYSTEM IS OK? Meaning, it appears that the stator is doing its job since after sitting all day I put the charger on it and it reads FULL right away. But I am concerned about a power leak, or maybe a bad regulator? If it sits for three days and is dead then it can't be the battery, but what? I have not had the opportunity to let it set for an extended period of time to test it. Stator seems fine (an alternator check feature on my charger came out positive as well). Just wondering what you guys would suggest I check to make sure I don't get stranded next week on my 500 mile ride North.

Appreciate it.

 

[richw]

find a Volt Ohm Meter or VOM

Cheap digital can be had at Walmart for under $20 seen it for $12 a lot.

ON DC voltage measure the Voltage at the battery terminals when the bike is spinning like 2000 rpms or above. You should have over 13.4 Volts DC then your battery is charging.

Yes Vee's have elctrical problems and sooner or later most are in for the stator coil generator or the regulator/rectifier under the left seat panel.

 

[realshelby]

HOW DO I KNOW THE CHARGING SYSTEM IS OK? Meaning, it appears that the stator is doing its job since after sitting all day I put the charger on it and it reads FULL right away. But I am concerned about a power leak, or maybe a bad regulator? If it sits for three days and is dead then it can't be the battery, but what?

Number one thing to check is the voltage with engine running. Don't trust the gauge you have with just lights. Put a real voltmeter on it. Should be around 14 volts ( give or take a small amount ) with engine running at over 3000 rpm or so. If it is fully charged and sits for three days then is dead, it most certainly can still be the battery. It could also be a drain from some accessory also. But, you didn't say it was going dead now so my opinion is that replacing the battery probably fixed the issue. As long as the volt meter reading checks out I would have confidence in it.

 

[richw]

Old Indian trick is if it happens again

Charge it

Take the lead of it so its disconnected from tyhe bike

Wait the 3 days or so then hook it back up. If its fine then you have some drain/short in the bike

 

[elvengood]

Thanks for the comments guys, makes a lot of sense. I did not ride it today and I did not have it on a tender at all. I plugged in the tender after it has sat for about 22 hours and it went from red to green (charged/storage) in about 5 minutes. Seem normal? I seem to recall other bikes not needing to charge at all when they just sat, even for a few days. I disconnected the air horn to try and rule out a leak there. I may just be overthinking the whole darn thing.:headbang:

 

[Jimding]

TRY

Harbor Freight sells their cheapest meter for about $4 on sale. I believe it has a 10 amp scale. Checking the voltage while the bike is running will tell if the bike is charging, and evidently it is. The trick is to shut off the bike, disconnect the positive (red lead) and put the meter, on the 10 amp setting, between the positive lead and the positive terminal on the battery. Doesn't matter which meter lead goes to which, as hooked up backwards it will just read negative current. Anyway, the meter should show almost no current (less than a tenth of an amp) with the bike shut off. If it shows more, something (usually an accessory) is drawing current when it shouldn't. If there's custom wiring, disconnect items one at a time until you find the draw. If that fails, pull fuses until the draw stops. More than likely, your wiring is fine. Most charging systems tend to be a little conservative on full charge voltage, to avoid cooking the battery on a hot day. So you'll probably see a little charging action if you hook up an external charger. One thing to watch out for is to be sure the switch is set to off, rather than the parking setting. Pretty easy to leave it in "parking", and the lights will draw down the battery.

 

[tucsonstrom]

11,

Try load testing the battery.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Good luck and welcome!

....

 

[LordSmoke]

11,

Try load testing the battery.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Good luck and welcome!

....

+1 eliminate the simple/obvious first. The local bike shop or auto store should be able to do the test for you.

 

[elvengood]

Thanks a ton guys...is a load test done with the voltage meter as well? I mean, I have what is called an "alternator test" on my charger and it measures volts with the bike off, then on, then with all accessories on. Same thing?

 

[realshelby]

Load tests are done with a dedicated battery tester. Uses resistors to load the battery for amperage draw and recovery testing. As well as voltage readings under heavy load.

I don't think you need to worry about that. Your first post was not completely clear about the battery status. I think it read like it might have gone dead again AFTER the new battery was installed. If the new battery is not going dead and the charging system seems ok then I think the earlier problems were with the "Wal Mart" battery. I have had brand new batteries fail in one year for no apparent reason, so the two year old Wal Mart battery may have just failed sooner than it should have.

 

[elvengood]

Yes, I see what you mean about not being completely clear. The new battery has not gone dead since I put it in, though it has only sat for a day. It was just me seeing the charging light take 5 minutes to show a full charge even though the battery sat for only 20 hours. I am just a little antsy as I am planning a remote trip next week and don't want to have a charging system problem. But as of right now I have nothing telling me I am losing power other than what happened with the other battery (which may just be a Wal-Mart thing) other than the trickle.

 

[realshelby]

Yes, The new battery has not gone dead since I put it in, though it has only sat for a day. It was just me seeing the charging light take 5 minutes to show a full charge even though the battery sat for only 20 hours.

Battery chargers take a while to "sense" the charge state of the battery. So even a fully charged battery will show a fairly high charge rate for a short time before it starts to taper off.