alternator maybe

[XJOK2PLAY]

1stBike,

Welcome to the forum! Perhaps you can give us a few details that will help us help you by updating your signature w/ the year & model of your bike, as well as where you're located?

But for the most part, the advice you've gotten so far is solid.

If the new battery was not charged properly to begin with, and then if you only allowed the bike to idle for that time period & didn't ride it, say -

The charging systems on a Standard & Special will only put out around 20 amps max.... and that's at around 2500 rpm.

If it's an XJ, they're stouter @ 27 amps... but still not good @ idle either.... especially if the headlight and all the other lights were on & working @ idle... see? It wouldn't put out enough to charge it...

My suggestion... you're on the right track. Charge it all night. Take the charger off tomorrow. Check the voltage before doing anything. Should be about 12.5 volts. Try to start the bike. (There must be 12 volts present @ the battery at all times to energize the TCI, which in turn fires the coils.
If it starts, let it warm up, then rev it to 2500 rpm. Check the voltage @ the battery at that rpm. Should be 13.5 - 14.5... somewhere in there. If so, alt is ok... and battery should go on from that point. Headlight should also be bright when revved.

You may notice also the turn signals not flashing @ idle, either... but will when revved. That's normal. Search for a thread about that subject.

Could also be a defective battery??? A load test would show that up, back where you bought it.

Hope that helps get ya goin'.
Ride Safe.
Bob

[XJOK2PLAY]

Just now read your other thread and saw you are in Indiana, & it's an '80 Special. Post some pics when you get a chance! We LIKE pics...

[1st bike]

okay, so i will try tomorrow morning, but mostly i am hearing i should go buy a volt meter and see. should i also just take the battery with me, and have them load test that too, or just buy the volt meter to start? have both stores close by. almost don't want to put pics up....right now the bike is pink. PO painted it for his fiance and she couldn't ride it. big bike for a novice chick, but whatever, i got a good deal on it, so i am happy....pink bike and all. will take some pictures and put them up sometime soon.

[XJOK2PLAY]

HeHeHe....
Understand about the pics, then.... (Too funny...)


I'd go ahead and get a voltmeter... carry it as part of you're tool kit on the bike from here on out...

Might take the battery in and see if they'll load test it for you... should be free... if it fails, problem solved w/ a good replacement!

Keep postin'...

If you do work up the nerve to post a 'before' pic, since you forwarned us... we won't bust your chops... too bad.... hehehe

[fredintoon]

right now i have it on a trickle charger and i'll let that go overnight and see in the morning.... I should prolly buy a volt meter and check it all out, so maybe that will be my starting point. this is so frustrating but fun! Thank you all for the suggestions, it turned over right away with the new battery, and it was a little sluggish yesterday to start and today....nothing. sad.

Hi 1st,
sounds like the battery has been sucked flat which implies the bike ain't charging.
I'd do this:- take the bike battery out, run jumpers to your car battery and try to start the bike. If the bike don't crank on a car battery it's the starter circuit. If it cranks but don't start it's most likely a carb fault but check the sparks too. If the bike fires right up check the charging voltage with a multimeter. You should see the battery voltage increase from it's normal ~12V to ~13.5V at ~2,500rpm. If the Voltage don't increase with the revs the charging system ain't working.
If everything works as it should with the car battery, your bike battery is hooped.
A Q&D charging check is to point the headlight at the garage wall and rev the motor. If the light don't brighten as the engine revs up, it ain't charging.
Another Q&D charging check is to watch the tach. The tach only works if the bike is charging.

[blue giant]

What does not turning over have to do with carbs?

Check your charging voltage.


It should be between 14.2 and 14.8 volts with the engine running at about 2000 rpms

Read the post! He says it doesn't want to start. He doesn't say it's not turning over! Don't be so damned critical of others who are trying to help.

[DGXSER]

Hey Fred,

I know you to be very wise and knowledgable, but it seems like I have read that removing the battery when jumping the bike is a bad thing. Then again, maybe it was removing the battery and trying to run the bike with no battery connected like you could with a car. Seems to me there was talk that it would hose the TCI perhaps.

Then again, I may be halucinating.

[1st bike]

battery is shot, cause the light on the trickle charger is still red after like 4 hours and it is supposed to be a charger/maintenance charger, so i would imagine it charger quicker than this. I was so hopeful when i put a new battery in and it started right up. i guess i just don't see how it could be anything but the alternator if that is the case....i put in a new battery and it starts...after awhile of running and sitting, it won't start. battery dead. i will buy a voltmeter and have the bat. load tested tomorrow and let you all know what i find. this could suck a lot. i just wanna ride the damn thing for a few days before i tear it all apart. but that is half the fun, right? hopefully...

if i could get it to start i would have some better answers about the headlight and and tach...with the old battery... no headlight, ever. new battery...headlight. until today, and then no headlight with key in start position.

[bikerphil]

If the battery is disconnected when the bike is running, the regulator will be toast. DAMHIK

[cywelchjr]

battery is shot, cause the light on the trickle charger is still red after like 4 hours and it is supposed to be a charger/maintenance charger, so i would imagine it charger quicker than this. I was so hopeful when i put a new battery in and it started right up. i guess i just don't see how it could be anything but the alternator if that is the case....i put in a new battery and it starts...after awhile of running and sitting, it won't start. battery dead. i will buy a voltmeter and have the bat. load tested tomorrow and let you all know what i find. this could suck a lot. i just wanna ride the damn thing for a few days before i tear it all apart. but that is half the fun, right? hopefully...

if i could get it to start i would have some better answers about the headlight and and tach...with the old battery... no headlight, ever. new battery...headlight. until today, and then no headlight with key in start position.

The headlight should only come on with the engine running. And if your idling it will go dead doing that as the alternator will not keep up with the load till at least around 2000 RPM and in some cases 2500. One test is does the headlight come on when the engine is running, and if so, does it get brighter when you rev the engine?

[1st bike]

so idling the bike is going to actually hurt the battery i was trying to charge? i did not know that. sucks. that might be the problem. I am going to take the battery out of the bike (have been trying to charge while in the bike, but i think i'll get more of a boost with both the black and the red connected to charge)and charge overnight, and we will go from there. how does that sound to everybody? thank you all again, i am soooo glad i found all of you

[kirmit77]

i just want to know where you bought a $140 battery?!?!?! i paid like $55 for mine and its awesome.

just wondering

[Ken Talbot]

Before you spend a lot more money on another battery or alternator, I would suggest spending a few hours checking and cleaning electrical connections. Your battery may be fine, and the alternator may be working okay, but if you have enough corroded connections between the two, and on through the ignition system and the rest of the bike, it will never be right. You might even find some minor short draining juice from the battery that the alternator works hard to put in! Once you know you have good clean connections throughout, then you can start to isolate the real problem, if there still is one.

JAT...

[CatatonicBug]

damn....just spent $140 on it!

Holy Cow!! I've never seen a battery cost that much!! Even the expensive sealed ones are only just over $100. Mine was about $60 at WalMart. Charge overnight on a 2-amp trickle before the first use, and then I charge it again now and then as needed. Remember that the alternator on these bikes does NOT charge the battery. It only provides just enough juice to keep the bike running. It's not uncommon to see that the turn signals stop flashing at a stop while the brake lights are on, drawing juice at idle, and there is not enough amperage left to activate the thermal flasher. If you hit the throttle, the flasher kicks on again. A strong battery is very important with these bikes. Definitely invest in a cheap volt meter. You will need it to diagnose all sorts of things.

[1st bike]

to the question about cost of battery. i actually called two places and both were about the same (neither of them were walmart cause i didn't know what i was looking for and didn't want to get the wrong one. should have gone there, but didn't) i got it at a yamaha dealership and it is the sealed variety.

good advice about the connections. after the charge and the volt meter, that'll be my next step!

g'nite