Battery or Short?

[RichLockyer]

Originally Posted by Occitiger

Saw varying numbers (voltage) at idle (oh it wasn't dropping all the way to 12 volts, I think the lowest was 12.6 or somewhere near there), with throttle it was always up above 14 below 15.

Perfectly normal.

I might be worth noting that it was parked on the shag carpet I have for when Im working on it. I don't know that the kick stand is having a grounding affect, but it's worth mentioning.

Wouldn't have an effect. To drain you need to complete the circuit... power won't dissipate off of one terminal or the other.

While not truly a myth or old wives' tale, it is no longer true that placing a battery on concrete will cause it to go dead. This was true in the early days when battery cases were hard rubber, but ever since the conversion to plastics in the late 60s, it's no longer a problem.
Auto parts stores store batteries on wooden planks simply because the acid fumes would quickly corrode steel shelving... it has nothing to do with grounding.

[Occitiger]

Ok I think we've wrapped this one up...

So I finally got some time this morning to pull the terminals off the regulator and as Rich mentioned the bottom terminal had some time of oily, greasy, substance on parts of it. I can only guess this to be road grime becuase there are no oil leaks above it... The top terminal on the regulator was clean enough to eat off. So I took my electric parts cleaner and clean it up. I let it dry off and blew some are to make sure I got out all the moisture. THen plugged everything back in.

This time when I start it up, well before I started it up I had 12.4 volts on the battery, start it up and as the engine was idling high the volts jumped to 14, then as the engine idle died down the volts drop to 12.5 and were variable from there. Apply throttle and the volts instantly jumped up to 14 or so and stayed there. In previous test the volts would drop to 12.2 or 12.3 at idle and would slowly climb to 13 volts with throttle applied. This morning was a vast contrast to previous test.

I should have started and tested everything before I cleaned the terminals this morning, but I didn't. However I've looked at the volts so much over the past two weeks that I doubt anything would have changed.

I'm taking it into the shop this morning so they can take a look, and it appears that the rear oil plug is leaking a bit and since I have both the prepaid service plan (ie. they've been the only ones changing the oil) and the extended warranty I'm thinking I shouldn't have to deal with any oil leaks.

Hopefully it was just a problem of a dirty regulator.

Rich,
You da man. Thanks a ton. You should incorporate yourself and start a business as a motorcycle consultant, that way you can right off all this stuff since you'd be able to file your business and personal tax return as one return this 'free' advice could save you some tax money...

Thank you much. I swear everytime I read something that you are following and advising on I learn something. Maybe they should change the name of this forum to www.rich.edu

[Occitiger]

Oh and it's also worth noting that in the middle of all this I had to purchase a new multimeter as I realized my old one was cracked out and giving inconsistant readings. I've had the new one for a week or so now (maybe just 4 or 5 days, when did I buy that thing?)... It always gave the same result which was close to, but not identical to the old meter. The new meter definetely showed a drop in volts at idle...

Anyway, the moral of the story is, check your equipment when trying to diagnose. As I discovered, half a volt makes the interpretation of the results vastly different.

Thanks all, have a great weekend.

[yo4joy]

If you're not riding the bike for at least 10 minutes at 40 to 50 mph I found that mine will drain down and sound like it's struggling to start. Since I've been taking the long way to work this week, the battery has been fully charged by the bike and starts have been excellent. I've noticed on this site that everyboby jumps on the you test it out 40 ways to Sunday before considering the habits of the rider. Sure makes a lot of bikes shops happy though.

[RichLockyer]

Now repack that connector solidly with heavy dielectric grease to keep water and road grime out of it.

[Occitiger]

Originally Posted by RichLockyer

Now repack that connector solidly with heavy dielectric grease to keep water and road grime out of it.

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