Battery charge light

[mike wilson]

I would repair the connection and fire it up and see what the charging system does. In my case the connector was failing but my charging system was still functioning adequately. Lets not for get as a connection corrodes the voltage drops which causes the amperage to rise, thus melted connector. Maybe you will be lucky.

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Until just before it actually breaks, when the voltage can rise due to reduced current flow, affecting voltage sensitive components.....

[Martin Barrett]

Reconnected the wires.

My bullet connectors are only rated for 15A and scotch block (even I accept they are a bodge) were rated similar or less, So I used a single from a 30A chocolate block.

 

I had 12.5V across the battery before I started.

 

On connecting the wires and starting the charge light went out straight away and at tick over getting 13.6V and at 4K 13.9V

 

I've sealed the ends and connector screws with multipurpose sealant. Always a bit of a bugger getting insulating tape around so will have another go when I've got the fairing off and the sealant has cured. I might even change it to Bullet connectors then if I can find some suitably rated ones.

 

 

Having cut the original connectors I can see that they were very oxidised.

 

 

Thanks again for all your help.

[pasotibbs]

When I got my Lemans last month I stripped it and checked all the electrical connections (I have a Ducati also !!!), the same bullet connector had corroded so much that it fell apart when I touched it. So I imagine you have had the same problem, a corroded connector that due to its increased resistance got hot enough to melt the insulation.I have done a repair with male/female spade connectors and lots of heat shrink, you will need a high wattage soldering iron as the heat bleeds away to much to get the ends of the cables hot enough.My intention is to take the bike to an auto electrician and get a decent weather proof connectors fitted.

 

When I contacted the previous owner(I bought from a dealer) he said he had noticed the light stay on a couple of times but when the garage checked it was charging fine, so if anybody has this fault then it would be wise to check/clean and grease this connector as it may fail suddenly.

 

Hope this helps.

[dlaing]

On connecting the wires and starting the charge light went out straight away and at tick over getting 13.6V and at 4K 13.9V

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hmmmm?

Either you still have a problem, or yours behaves very differently than mine did(before it died)

I would get less than 13 at tickover and more than 14V above 4K.

You may still have some trouble in the wiring. I was getting about a half volt drop between the the regulator and the fuse. Running a direct line (with inline fuse) from the regulator to the battery fixed that.

But the 13.6V at idle seems to be a good sign, so maybe all is fine

[Martin Barrett]

I did have difficulty holding the revs up with one hand and both probes with the other and getting both to contact the battery terminals so the reading might be suspect. As I'd managed to get into my garage as it was raining I didn't want to run it too long. So I thought I'd use her for a couple of days and then check the readings another time.

 

I could remember that it shouldn't exced 14.7V but couldn't remember how high it should have gone. It's a case of it appears to be okay I'll just leave it at that

 

It sure was nice to be back on her today, after a layoff of 9 days but only a couple enforced

[Martin Barrett]

The problems has resurfaced

 

When I last serviced her, on restarting her the tick over speed had dropped (600 rpm) and the charge light would come on but would have gone out once the revs lifted a little bit. A week later it was nearly 1,000 rpm before it would go out. I checked my bodge connector and re did it. It made no difference.

 

I've easily done 6-7k miles since the initial repair.

 

To day on the way home the charge light came on whilst cruising down the motorway and hasn't gone out.

 

I immediatly suspected my connector seemed fine pulled it apart all good. No difference on reassembly.

I then spit it again and used my multimeter as a ammeter in between this connector. No current flowing.

 

I then reassembled it and split each of the yellow wires and again used the multimeter as an ammeter and was getting a flow at tick over up to 2.35A pollarity was reversed on one.

 

I therefore think my rectifier has turned its toes up. I've pulled it off the bike I had planned to try and test the diodes for conductivity ( Got myself a auto electric manual ) but it's a sealed unit. Is there any other tests I can do with it before I commit to a replacement?

 

Having reread this thread I haven't checked the battery voltage to check it goes up when running. I've trusted my ammeter reading. Should I re do this test also? Think I might do this whilst waiting for your replies - I'm not hopefull that it will be charging and the fault is with the charge light circuit.

 

 

Edit- Been out put the regulator back in, checked the battery voltage. Fired her up no charge light But the battery voltage wasn't rising Go and check the connectors paying attention to the flat twin bullet one (feed to light) and try again, charge light is back on. So it would seem that the rectifier/regulator has had it

[felix42o]

Check that alternator...All my symptoms pointed to rectifier until I got frustrated and pulled the alternator just for kicks...found the real problem at that point. Same deal-started at idle, then became gradually more frequent over about 6K miles.

[motoguzznix]

Martin

 

did you already check the AC-voltage at the 2 yellow cables out of the alternator?

Should be in the area of 40 to 80 V with the engine running, climbing with rising engine rpm.

When you measure some AC-voltage here, your alternator is ok and the problem seems to be the regulator.

If necessary, I would not pay an original regulator as this seems to be of inferior quality an elevated cost. Dlaing has a source for an aftermarket one in US.

 

In Germany, Bike Affairs Bredenbek are a good source for an Aftermarket regulator at 82 €. EMail jaeger-volk@t-online.de

 

This regulator can be trimmed to the correct voltage by using a very small screwdriver, which is a good detail. I still used there regulator and it works fine.

 

Good luck

[Martin Barrett]

My new rectifier arrived this morning. So fitted it no change

 

Voltage across the battery doesn't rise when running.

 

I've got conductivity back down to the rectifier. I got a spark against the oil line

 

I've got out put from the gennerator. I'm measuring 20V rising with rpm not getting a stable reading but will reach 80V.

 

Am I not getting enough output from the gennerator for the rectifier to do it's thing? Or is my new rectifier bad out the box?

 

I think I'm ending up going down the same lines as Felix

[DVH]

Martin

you do a lot of riding in the wet, firstly measure resistance on the connections from the alternator checking none have gone high resistance or down to earth. unfortunately never had one of these units apart so I can't tell you which connections you need to read across, with your fluctuating readings on AC I'd be inclined to pull the alternator check the slip rings for dirt or bad connections,

Dave

[felix42o]

Also, a big part of my problem was that I was hooking up the aftermarket rectifier to the original wiring. Not the right move! The after market units, for whatever reason, are designed to go straight to the battery, bypassing the stock harness. Apparently, it says this in the instructions...

[dlaing]

Also, a big part of my problem was that I was hooking up the aftermarket rectifier to the original wiring. Not the right move! The after market units, for whatever reason, are designed to go straight to the battery, bypassing the stock harness. Apparently, it says this in the instructions...

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I learned that the hard way with my Electrex regulator

But the jury is still out on the Electrex regulator, as I am still having electrical problems.

[felix42o]

I learned that the hard way with my Electrex regulator

But the jury is still out on the Electrex regulator, as I am still having electrical problems.

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Well, so far I haven't had any problems...But we shall see; I have a ride up to Washington State planned at the end of the month.

[Martin Barrett]

Up date on my situation - I've put some of this on Enzos thread as he was having some similar issues

 

Having fitted the new regulator and got no joy and not being able to do the National Rally I threw my teddy in the corner and took her to Haywards on the monday. Knowing that they'd look at her when they could but could take a couple of weeks, if they couldn't squeeze her in she was booked in 3 weeks later

 

Just over a week later she was done. All he'd done was clean up some contacts and around the fuse box, replaced a fuse and checked the generator out put which was within limits. All was now fine.

 

I took her home. I then had the brain wave if it was just contacts I'd put the old regulator back on and keep the new one as a spare and could loan it out for trouble shooting would save anyone else splashing out £102 needlessly.

 

Old regulator back on. The charge light was back on I then thought I'd clean up the contacts again on the connectors that were on the regulator which hadn't been cleaned by Haywards. That worked The light would now stayon till the revs approached 1000rpm and then would go out. I thought I can live with that.

 

Next day on the way to work having gone 1 mile it came on for about 100yds and then went out. She did it again briefly the following day. On the third day it was on the way home it came on and wouldn't go out

So I put the new regulator back on. No change. Teddy was going to get a serious kicking.

 

Used the car for work Tuesday. Took the Guzzi for its MoT on Wednesday - she passed. But other that that she sat in shame on the drive.

 

Tonight I thought I'd better check the fuses again. The 30amp battery fuse was blown. Replace it and all is well. Now I did manage to get a spark back through the wire to the rectifier when undoing my chocolate box connector, to remove the original, as i wasn't using my electrical screw driver as it brushed against the exhaust header. I don't know if that blew the fuse.

 

What I suspect might have been my problem is my original regulator/rectifier. It might of allowed a surge that burnt out the connecton initialy. and then been breaking up not allowing it to charge at low revs. It may have then blown the fuses. But they could have been done by me when i've shorted it. Due to my incosistant methodology in not double checking the fuses every time I changed something I can't tell at this time.

 

So here's hoping that the light stays off. I'm back in love

[twhitaker]

Over the last couple months my charging system has been warning me of impending doom. The dash light would flicker and then go away or it would flicker then stay on. Sometimes I could make the light go away by gunning the throttle. It's almost like the light is connected to the fuel sender.

 

I've read so many posts here on the subject that my head is spinning. I came to the conclusion the obvious thing to do was to check the connections to the alternator and voltage regulator for corrosion. There was. I cleaned, squeezed, and applied dielectric grease to all the connectors. I checked the battery connections and they were good. I put the bike all back together confident I had cured the problem.

 

I started the bike and....no joy. I can't make the light go out no matter what I do. The faster I run the throttle the brighter the light gets. This points to a bad ground but I've already looked at that.

 

You would think that if I really had a problem the battery would be tits up after 2 months of flickering. I haven't checked the condition of the battery but the 4 year old original unit still cranks the motor over smartly.

 

My next foray into the electrical bowels of this machine will be to see if the connectors are satisfactorily connected to the wires. Obviously my so called fixes eliminated the intermittent nature of the charging light. Is there a good connector system capable of handling the power this system puts out without having to invest a lot of money on special tools?

 

Once I get my third bike this weekend, a Centauro, by the way, my California is going to become a donor bike. The regulator on it is the same as the one on the LeMans.

 

Are there any other suggestions as to where to look for this electrical leakage.

 

Other than swapping out known good components for suspected bad ones is there any (simple) way to test the regulator or the alternator?