[LoneStrom]

I have already had 1 stator fail on the Sasquatch DS ride in 09.NOW on the same ride 2011 My batt went dead.It has enough power for all access but not enough to sart it.It jump starts easy and runs great and if I start it up with in 5 minutes or so it starts up,but wait a 1/2 hour or so and it's dead.I unplugged all my access ( lighs,12 volt outlet and electric chain oiler) and it still go's dead.I'm thinking that I have a draw some where OR that it's not charging the batt all the way ??,oh ya I'm running a car battery in my sidecar ( no MC battery).What should it be charging at at say 3,000 rpm's ??,I want to make sure the charging system is doing it's job before I tear in to try to find a short some where.

 

[greywolf]

Install a voltmeter. 12.6-12.8V indicates maintenance. Above that is charging and below is discharging. At 3000rpm with no added load over stock a voltmeter should show well over 13V with a maximum of 14.8.

 

[Digger2]

confused

Is the side car question a seperate subject? Or do you have a strom with a sidecar attached?
On the bike, take out the battery and charge it. Once charged you need to do a load test, that is the best way to decide if the battery is dead. If you do not have the tool for that, any Autozone type place will do it for free.

 

[RedBean25]

He has a sidecar on his DL1000.

Lone, I believe Sasquatch is sabotaging your bike when you go off to have a wee in the woods. Perhaps you should avoid this ride.

A good way to know what it is doing during run time is to install a voltmeter as Greywolf stated. Although now that he states the maintenance voltage, I realize that my 650 is in discharge when at traffic lights with my brakes and turn signal on. It is usually anywhere between 12.1 and 12.4V in said situation.

 

[Digger2]

How do you split the charge?

Are both just wired in or do you have a charge management system? We instal dual battery systems into vans here, and always instal such a device. go to surepower industries.and look at part number 1314

 

[RedBean25]

he is only running a car battery. no battery in the bike. ...from my understanding and the many, many pictures over at ADVrider

 

[realshelby]

Whether it is a motorcycle battery, or a car battery, or where it is mounted shouldn't matter. As long as there is not a problem with the wiring that won't let it charge the battery ( too small a guage or dirty terminals ) mounting the battery in the sidecar is no different than under the seat. If once started all the electrical components seem to work ok ( ie; lights are bright, etc. ) and it can be run for an extended time like that it SOUNDS like a bad battery. But, the battery could be bad because it was not kept in a good state of charge.

I agree that a voltmeter will tell you what you need to know.

 

[Voluhzia-Strom]

Make sure you negative does not go through you frame...

 

[LoneStrom]

Yes,just 1 battery and it's a car battery in the sidecar.The battery is only 3 months old as are all the cables and terminals.Here is what I know so far.I jump started it and it started right up ( before I jumped it the battery showed 12.1 volts and everything worked)After it had been running for 10 minutes or so we checked the voltage...At idle ( 1200 rpms) it read 12.1V
At 3,000 rpms it read13.1V
At 5,000 rpms it read 13.3V
Now I should also mention that there are 2 LED lights on the sidecar that are wired in to the bike so I can't easily disconnect them.1.. is a driving light,and 1 is a 6 inch taillight.After we did these test I disconnected the batt terminals and did a load test and after the 10 second test it read BAD all the way to the bad side and when I hooked the terminals back up the batt was so dead that NOTHING came on !!.I know the batt should be fully charged to do the load test so I will go and get a real batt charger and do another test tomorrow.
And YES RED the sasquatch and me are not ment to be it appears !!.

 

[LoneStrom]

Ok here are some new findings.

With the batt between 1/2 and 3/4 charged the meter read 12.99 @4000 rpms.
With the batt at 100% charged it read 12.77 @ idle,13.42 @ 4000 rpms and after I shut it off the batt voltage was 13.5.
I did a load test on the batt with 100% charge and it read right on the line between good and weak.I recharged the batt and took it to the auto parts store where I bought it and they put a 500 amp load on it and it said GOOD !!.I know how to test for a draw on a car,Test light between the neg cable and post,put the cable back on the post for 1-2 minutes to put the computer to sleep and then take it off.If the light stays on there is a draw.When I do this on the vee the light stays on untill I pull the second fues on the left ( standing on the left side of the bike) 10a,then it go's off BUT I think that is the fuse for the ECU,fuel pump!!.Is this the same way to test for a draw on the VEE ??.ANY help guys would be great.

 

[LoneStrom]

I'M STUMPED..

After the batt was fully charged,and the bike had run for 10 minutes or so while I did some test I shut it off and let it set for about 2 hours.When I got back it started right up !!.I checked the charge rate and it was as stated in the above post.One other thing,from idle on up to 4,000 rpm's or so the voltage builds 1/10 of a volt at a time slowly but at a steady rate up to around 13.50 or so.Should it build up like that or should it jump right to 13.50V ???

 

[greywolf]

It shouldn't take more than a few seconds for the voltmeter to register the change. The voltage gets up there in a hurry. The voltmeter may play catch up but I've never heard of one that slow.

 

[LoneStrom]

I'm installing a SunPro volt meter on the bike tomorrow.Could it be building that slow because of a Stator problem??,reason I ask is that when my stator fried before it took a couple of days before it quit charging all together.

 

[greywolf]

Could it be building that slow because of a Stator problem?

I don't see how. A crippled output would have a low reading. I would suspect the battery first.

 

[LoneStrom]

I thought it was the batt also BUT I have load tested it 3 times and the auto parts store did it also and it came back good !!.

 

[OydnaR]

What RR do you have, oem or mosfet ?

would the larger car battery be drawing more amps when it is charging than a MC battery ? I dunno, I know kinda enuf to be dangerous when it comes to electricity

doesn't take much to stress out the oem RR

and of course the problem I had last week, corrosion in the connector from the stator to the RR, only required cleaning and dielectric grease

 

[dancer]

I didn't catch a response to Vohluzia-Strom's caution about grounding through the frame of the V-Strom...

 

[LoneStrom]

SLOW CHARGING !!

Today I installed a volt gauge on the bike so I can see whats happening.I started the bike 5-6 times today and all was good.But it charges sooooooo slow !!.At idle it is at about 12.6,12.7,when I rev it to 4,000 rpm's it starts to climb but VERY slowly,it go's 1/10 of a volt at a time.Greywolf said that it should jump to 13.5 or so right away and that maybe my multimeter is slow!!.My meter is almost new BUT I barrowed a meter and it climbed slow on that one also and the volt gauge said the same thing !!.It will get to 13.4 or so but it takes probably 3-4 minutes or so.I have been told that a battery is just a big storage device and it doesn't matter what size it is but I'm not sure anymore.
Oh ya the only thing that has been changed on the bike is the stator,it fried at about 13,000 miles and was replaced with a SUZUKI OEM one.

 

[realshelby]

Do you have a ground cable running from the sidecar frame to the negative terminal on the battery? Grounding issues can be hard to chase down. I would recommend a ground from the battery terminal to the original ground wires/mounting point in addition to the one you have now if it is just to the sidecar frame. That simply eliminates one possible charging issue.

I would also take a moment to check the stator for output. Unplugging the 3 wire connector behind the side panel that goes to the R/R and checking all three wires for 75+ volts ( and all about even to each other ) when you rev the engine. While there check with an accurate ohm meter for a short. None of the three wires when checked should show any reading ie: infinity. If it show .3 ohms or any reading it is probably bad. This test should give you confidence that the stator is ok.

The bigger battery may not show an increase in voltage as quickly as the smaller battery would. But, unless it is discharging for some reading it shouldn't take but a couple minutes to be back at full charge anyway. 13.4 volts really doesn't sound high enough. I don't know the test for the R/R, maybe someone could help with that.

 

[papachiax6]

Not to detract from Lone's question, but to reply to the grounding question.There are many threads here on grounding to the frame.
http://www.stromtrooper.com/techy-world-gps-electronics-etc/25165-electrical-grounding-frame.html[/URL]