|
|
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| | [[Category:Electrical & Lighting]] | | [[Category:Electrical & Lighting]] |
| | The following is important information for the DIY rider. Quite often a seemingly impenetrable electrical problem can be traced to a battery that is no longer serviceable. This should be the first thing you look at. | | The following is important information for the DIY rider. Quite often a seemingly impenetrable electrical problem can be traced to a battery that is no longer serviceable. This should be the first thing you look at. |
| | + | |
| | + | Here are the classic symptoms of battery failure: |
| | + | |
| | + | *Gauges on (neutral, oil and temp) but the starter won't catch |
| | + | *Tach starts bouncing, and then the engine starts to act like it's out of gas. |
| | + | *Engine keeps coughing, but tach is much higher than it should be, or it is bouncing wildly from low to high. |
| | + | *Bike surges with turn signal on. |
| | | | |
| | Sometimes a battery just dies. Not necessarily from neglect, age, or use. It just dies. This normally comes from sulfates building up along the bottom and shorting out a couple of the lead plates. It's difficult for many people to trouble-shoot because they'll just toss a voltmeter on the battery, see that it shows 12v DC and right away say it's fine. The truth is, if the resting voltage (after sitting, not on a charger) is below 12.2, that battery needs to be replaced. Below 12v and it's dead, for all practical purposes. | | Sometimes a battery just dies. Not necessarily from neglect, age, or use. It just dies. This normally comes from sulfates building up along the bottom and shorting out a couple of the lead plates. It's difficult for many people to trouble-shoot because they'll just toss a voltmeter on the battery, see that it shows 12v DC and right away say it's fine. The truth is, if the resting voltage (after sitting, not on a charger) is below 12.2, that battery needs to be replaced. Below 12v and it's dead, for all practical purposes. |
Revision as of 13:38, 22 October 2007
The following is important information for the DIY rider. Quite often a seemingly impenetrable electrical problem can be traced to a battery that is no longer serviceable. This should be the first thing you look at.
Here are the classic symptoms of battery failure:
- Gauges on (neutral, oil and temp) but the starter won't catch
- Tach starts bouncing, and then the engine starts to act like it's out of gas.
- Engine keeps coughing, but tach is much higher than it should be, or it is bouncing wildly from low to high.
- Bike surges with turn signal on.
Sometimes a battery just dies. Not necessarily from neglect, age, or use. It just dies. This normally comes from sulfates building up along the bottom and shorting out a couple of the lead plates. It's difficult for many people to trouble-shoot because they'll just toss a voltmeter on the battery, see that it shows 12v DC and right away say it's fine. The truth is, if the resting voltage (after sitting, not on a charger) is below 12.2, that battery needs to be replaced. Below 12v and it's dead, for all practical purposes.
To confirm the death, do a little more investigating. Here's a bad battery (this one died WHILE the bike was running!). It's being tested with a multimeter to find the voltage drop.
Fresh off the battery tender. 13v is good.
Ignition on. 12v. Only a slight drop.
...and starter thumbed. This is the "drop" part of the equation. You shouldn't see lower than
about 10v DC.
6 volts isn't good. Time to head to the battery store.
