charging issue

[rossi46]

Hi all, I've been using the bike regularly for work recently with no probs. The other day the battery light stayed on(faintly) until I rode off-usually goes out on start up-I checked the  30amp fuse when I got home(ok) and noticed a small spark when I replaced the fused. is this right?  today the light refused to go out even after a couple of miles of riding. I'm only getting 13.3 volts @3,000rpm at the battery, seems low? regulator is less than 5,000mls old. I have removed the alternator cover and to my,untrained eye, the wires seem fine-is there a test of the stator? that I can do ,or any other checks before I spend on a new reg?  Thanks guys

[JBBenson]

Sounds like you have a bad ground. Check all grounds to the chassis first before doing anything else.

[rossi46]

yes thanks will check the obvious in the morning, forgot to say when I came home from work( took wifes car!) bike started and ran fine-battery light went straight out!

[fotoguzzi]

If you haven't already, add a ground wire from regulator to block.. the stock ground now goes thru a captured nut in the mount, not ideal.

[Stick]

I don't like the fact that you saw a small spark when re-inserting the 30A fuse.  That tells me you have some leakage current back to the RR.

 

IT'd be nice to know "how much".  Easiest way to measure is to substitute ammeter probes in place of the fuse.  If you don't feel comfy doing this, have someone more familiar with handling a VOM, and have them do it.  The leakage current should be less than 3 mA (that's 0.003 A)

 

It may be the RR, even though it's "new", may be on it's way out.

 

Note that I'm using a 3-phase RR in my Lemans.  It was a spare I use to carry on my DUC ST2.  Never needed it ('till I got the Lemans!!).

I just used 2 of the 3 yellow wires on the RR (these are the AC wires).  Charges nicely now at 14.2V.   The RR is cheap second hand, maybe $40, and it doesn't need a ground.  It's got 2 red output wires, adn 2 green output wires.  Green are the ground (minus wire back to the battery).  

The only thing "bad" is the fact that you don't have the charge light any longer.  My Escort 8500x50 has a built in Voltmeter, so I'm happy.

 

Oh, I also agree w/ the above to add a better ground to the OEM RR.  I believe the OEM one  NEEDS a ground to function...

[Kiwi_Roy]

The small spark may have been a capacitor charging, I wouldn't worry if it's holding charge.

Yes the OEM Ducati Energia needs a ground, the current returns that way.

 

 

Sent from my shoe phone!

[Kiwi_Roy]

Was it raining when the light stayed on, could be just a bit of leakage.

 

 

Sent from my shoe phone!

[passator cortese]

I have the opposite problem on my Le Mans, red battery light ON in the dashboard, (slightly ON, not really strong). 

At 3/4000 rpm the tension on the battery is more than 17V!!!! I don't want to see a battery explosion! 

 

Replaced the tension regulator, still the same problem, what can be the cause? how can properly check if the alternator is working properly?

 

Thanks folks!

[Kiwi_Roy]

Make sure your start and headlight relays are in good shape, if there is too much resistance in the contacts it will overcharge.

 

Measure the Voltage at the regulators black wire, it should be just about 1/2 Volt less than the battery with the engine reving. Swap a couple of good relays into position 1 & 2 then re-check.

As others say ground the regulator properly.

[passator cortese]

I wish the relays were the problem but I replaced all 5 relays (it's something I had in my mind a long time ago so this was a good occasion for replace them) and the problem is still there, I also checked the connections under the fuses, some of the connectors were a little bit loosen but this wasn't the problem.

 

When I replaced the regulator I add a second ground wire on the other side of the regulator so I think I'm ok now.

 

I forgot to tell that with the dashboard ON but engine OFF the battery light is OFF,  I tried to manually ground the light blue connector under the thank and the battery light goes ON.

 

Can be a alternator problem? I don't think so because if tat's the problem I should have less tension at the battery, not an overcharge.

[docc]

Have you serviced the primary ground to the gearbox case and are sure the battery terminals are clean and tight?

 

Main 30 amp fuse is in good shape, not melted or the flat connectors charred/burned?

 

The battery condition has been tested?

[passator cortese]

You mean the big ground on the right side of the bike just under the seat lock mechanism? Yep that's nice, clean and tight. battery terminals not greased, tight and clean

 

All the fuses are in good shape, just removed the fuse carrier and also the wires under that are clean and not burned.

 

The battery (Odyssey) is working properly as far as I know is still cranking the engine and even after hours of sitting unused still has more than 12.6V

 

I'm getting mad trying to find out how to solve this problem!!

[docc]

The charging voltage is, of course, too high as you know (it should be around 14.2v).

 

The battery is not well below 12.65v and should be conditioned properly with correct voltage/amperage for the AGM battery. Perhaps this is worth trying now?

 

See: Odyssey PC545 Battery conditioning

 

Check the 5-step voltages:

 

1) Key off after 12 hours

2) Key on after two-three minutes

3) While cranking

4) at idle

5) at rpm from ~2000+

[Kiwi_Roy]

The black wire and the regulator case are key

 

When the black wire is less than 13.8 relative to the regulator case it turns charging On

When the black wire is above 13.8 relative to the regulator case it turns charging off

The black wire is about half a Volt less than the battery so the battery ends up at about 14.6 Volts

So you see the regulator doesn't set the battery Voltage directly, only by association.

 

 

Try this

Take a length of wire from the battery + and wrap it around the male pin of the black white pair. this bypasses the bike loom and relays, should make it regulate correctly. You can't leave it that way but it will test the components without the headlight relay in the mix.

My 2001 is even worse, it has 2 relays in series so the regulator is even more flakey, I finally gave up and installed an after market direct connect type, no more problems.

IMHO the Ducati Energia regulator is a good one, it's Luigis crazy wiring that's the problem.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Why don't you have the battery terminals greased?

Scrape them clean and apply some Vaseline,

 

Try the direct wire to the regulator as I spelled out see how it regulates like that. 

 

The headlight circuit has about 1/2 Volt drop, even more with larger headlight bulbs, the load can upset the delicate balance.

It would be better if the regulator had its own dedicated relay to switch the black wire

Measure the battery to black wire Voltage and get back.