battery isnt charging.....

[boze]

hey my bikes been doin some weird stuff recently (what a surprise!!) i left the lights on for a while last week (about 45minutes) while it was in the driveway and the battery drained a bit, the next couple of runs i went on i had my lights off to try and charge the battery a bit but the battery has now run down so much that when i turn the ignition on the neutral light doesnt even have enough power to light up. as soon as i kick start her she powers up. i charged the battery for a few hours today and when i put it back in there was no difference whatsoever!

when i rev her the lights get brighter, when i pull a brake the headlight gets BRIGHTER and when the indicators are on they take power away from the headlight.

the battery has done less than 1000miles and i was wondering if its a crap battery or if its something more serious....

please help!!

Damo

[andy230]

Hello mate

Check the fuse.  Symptoms sound like an SRX with a blown fuse.  Just a single fuse is it?  Or if not, look for abovious broken wires or pulled connections in the carging circuit and main live from the battery.

A blast on a charger should have improved things...

good luck!

a

[GB500nz]

It's possible you've fried the battery. When you rode it after discharging it, the regulator sensed low voltage and fed heaps in, boiling it and probably buckling some plates. Check to see if there's any electrolyte left. But if you're lucky you've only blown a fuse.

[bikeseamus]

Yup

 And keep in mind that time is a factor on a battery, not miles. Also, it is possible for a battery to fail at any point in its life cycle. I have seen them fail after one week with internal shorts. A quality battery makes a difference, and one that hasn't been sitting on a shelf for an extended time before you bought it is generally a better one, especially if it has remained sealed and unactivated.
                                     If your battery has given up the ghost, I think a fresh quality sealed unit would give you better service, and is a good upgrade. The rubber bedding around the battery helps isolate them from vibration and shaking that can dislodge their plates, so make sure the sleeve is in good shape and the connections are shiny clean and tight.

  Occasionally you will see connections that appear clean, but are corroded at the points of contact.Baking doda and a little water will neutralize any corrosion, and careful scraping with something sharp will remove the corroded outer layers of degraded metal. A couple drops of gear lube on the terminals will help them avoid corrosion and oxidation.

[andy230]

However, am I right in thinking your SR is kickstart only??  So you don't really need a battery at all!!  (I mean "NEED"  ie, to get you where you're going!!)

So if its only powering your lights, and you try NOT to leave your lights on without the engine running!, then it doesn't have to do too much...
Thus be a tip-top, shit-hot, expensive, sealed, gel job etc...

a

[boze]

the battery was bought about 3months ago, it was 18 quid. it was brand new and i filled it with the electolyte it came with etc and charged it properly. i was thinking it might be the regulator/rectifier? but do ya really think its just a crap battery? this would be a lot simpler!!

andy230: do you mean i should buy a good quality gel battery?

Damo

ps yes it just has one fuse and if thats blown then NONE of the electrics work at all!

[peterj]

ps yes it just has one fuse and if thats blown then NONE of the electrics work at all!

Hi Damo

If it's wired stock, then the fuse should be in the positive lead from the battery. That means that the electrics (but not the spark, which doesn't need the battery at all) from the battery die when it blows. When the bikes running, the alternator continues to feed the electrics, but from experience the voltage goes all over the shop like you described. I've also seen the similar symptoms on my SRX with a dead flat battery though.

I'd start off checking/rechecking the fuse, then all the connections between the battery and the rest of the loom, including the earth lead (I usually add an extra one from the -ve terminal to the frame to be sure). If everything is OK, then I'd try charging the battery again (trickle charge is best as a full car rate of charge will seriously reduce the life expectancy), then see if it's holding charge by either putting a voltmeter across it, or if you can't get one, a head light bulb.

If it won't hold charge you need another battery (unless - not recommended - you change to a capacitor) regardless of whether that's the only fault. If your regulator/rectifier wasn't working you would probably get either no lights at all with the engine running, or instant bulb death.

You might find some useful info here

http://www.slash5.net/sr500.html

This bikes better than an apprenticeship isn't it?

BTW maybe I've just been lucky, but I usually get 3 years or so out of the cheapest no name battery I can find on my SRX, and it often goes a couple of months between runs these days (I use a pushbike round town, and the nearest corner is about 300miles away so I don't go in for short fun rides that often). I didn't own an SR long enough to find out how long one lasted in it.

Best luck with it, hope it turns out easy and cheap.

[themoudie]

Aye damo,

Same as previous mails, Sally's lights etc. went awry but she ran well. Checked electrolyte levels, topped up, charged with Optimate, all looked well but after 30 minute run nothing. Battery appeared OK. Checked rectifier/regulator and purchased new one (£40-00).

Made no difference. Took battery into work and got the workshop to put a hefty load across (tester) cells broke down with direct shorts between plates. New battery (YUASA) (£18-50), still problems as new rectifier/regulator only giving 11.5 volts at 5000rpm. Replaced with original rectifier/regulator and 14.5 volts appeared at 5000rpm. Supplied with XT600 rectifier/regulator rather than SRX600 rectifier/regulator. BEWARE!!!!!!

New battery first and keep the electrolyte checked weekly after your commuting runs on dual carriageway, A-roads, etc.

Cheers, Bill

[guest27]

If you only have a car charger and it does not have a low enough rate of charge a headlight bulb wired in series with the battery when you charge it will cut the current nicely and stop you buckling plates.

R

[boze]

hey cheers folks, ill try these out asap butitll be sunday before i can, im on night shift as yuo can probably tell by the ungodly hour in which im posting this!! im just home and am off to bed! ill check the fuse before i go to work tomorrow night as thats easy enough then ill trickle charge my battery from 5am sunday morning till monday evening and hope that does it!! if not ill get me a new battery!

cheers

Damo

[peterj]

Supplied with XT600 rectifier/regulator rather than SRX600 rectifier/regulator. BEWARE!!!!!!

Hello Bill

Not that this will help Damo, but your XT one should have worked fine. I've been using an XT one in my SRX for a couple of years now. The one you had must have been a dud.

Before the XT one I had 3 years out of an even more ancient Z250 unit with half the fins cut off so it would fit under the tailpiece. The original one died after much trials tracking down a shorting headlight bulb.

Any single phase reg rec should do the job as long as it didn't come off something with an even punier alternator, and that would be quite difficult to find I'd guess.

I presume you got a refund.

[themoudie]

Evening Folks,

This saga continues!

Thank you peterj for your words of wisdom. However, I'm a bit 'chicken' when it comes to Jap electrics.

After re-fitting the original rectifier/regulator to Sally SRX600 1986 all appeared well. However, last week after a run of 100 miles the smell of 'rotten eggs' greeted me about 5 miles from home and on inspection a boiled dry battery, new Yuasa!

Re-filled, re-charged battery and it held the charge.  Put battery back in bike, checked the charging voltage, 16.6 volts at 1000rpm. No variation in charge with lights on or off or revs to 6 grand. So removed original rectifier/regulator and replaced with new XT600 unit (previously mentioned)still sitting on shelf. Voltage at tickover 12.5, dropping to 11.6 and falling with lights coming on and doing the same when revved to 6 grand.

Weather was so good today had to go for a spin. All went well until lighting up required on run home of ~ 25 miles. Dipped beam lasted about 5 miles! Remainder of run was completed at 'toot sweet' pace, with Kat on the Boy Bros acting as rear gunner.

After running without lights for a minute the neutral light was glowing again. Have removed battery and trickle charging it. No loss of fluids this time!

The resistance from the charging coil is 0.6ohms as per spec.

So does anybody have a known working rectifier/regulator suitable for a '86 SRX600. I'd be happy to contribute to 'Team Kickin the Butt' unless you intend doing the B'Ol Dor in 2008.

Any other advise or gems welcomed. I'm chicken about any other single phase rectifier/regulator as I'm not sure how to recognise the beasties.

My regards, Bill

[guest27]

Sounds like an on going bugger and where is Bikeseamus when he is needed?

However from my little knowledge - which can be a bad thing.

12V battery will trickle charge on 12V but to fully charge needs 13.5 to 14V, hence the max charging voltage is usually around this figure.  16V would be too high - as you know.
So just confirming your observations really - regulating at 16V will boil the battery and regulating at 12V will not keep it charged.

Sure there should be some amps in there as well.

Bugger all use as a reply really.

R

[002]

I'd go for Regulator/Retumfrier.....!
If it over charged with the one and under charged with t'other then the alternator would seem to be working.
That is with out knowing figures to check the unregulated output from alternator.

Try Electrex,have had good service from them in the past and reasonable price too.Around £50 if memory serves...Check them out on their website,dont know address.

Jethro

[themoudie]

Rog and Jethro,

My thanks to you both for taking the time and effort to post replies.

The values for voltage at the battery at 5000rpm are 14 - 15 volts with no mention of lights 'on' or 'off' and the value of charging coil resistance of 0.4 - 0.6 ohms are taken from the Yamaha workshop manual.

I shall have a looksee at the Electrex URL.

Autumn fast approaching up here. Frost forecast and the woodburner lit. First mouse of the autumn also poked it's head from beneath the floor boards in the living room Little Nippers primed with bread and peanut oil ready for the first scalp

Goodnight, Bill.