charging question

[jeffe]

What should be the voltage readings at the battery. At idle and at higher RPM's. And what would be the lowest you leave home with.

[skids]

Re: charging question

It's about more than just "voltage." A fully charged battery should be over 12 volts (12.5?), but old batteries can have a "skin charge" that looks good on the meter, but may not be worth a damn. Batteries must have enough capacity to hold voltage when starting the bike (load test). If your battery has no real capacity, the voltage will quickly drain while sittin at a light, leaving you dead in the water.

Originally posted by jeffe
What should be the voltage readings at the battery. At idle and at higher RPM's. And what would be the lowest you leave home with.

[skids]

I guess I diodn't even answer your question! At idle, you will see the xs11 battery voltage slowly drop from 12.5 volts to a level that will kill the black box. At high revs, it will charge at something like 14.5 volts.

[jeffe]

The battery is new this spring and has had regular service. It does start the bike up ok. It reads around 12 volts with the engine off and only goes up to 13.7 to 13.8 at around 3k rpms.

[John]

Those are good numbers. That's all mine puts out at those RPMs. In fact I put a meter on it yesterday, just to check it, as i had the seat off anyway.

[jeffe]

thanks

[HobbyMan]

just to add a note: I was reading ok voltages on my bike. Then I checked the diodes in the reg/rec and one was bad. Geezers replacement reg/rect works better than the previously working original. It only takes a minute to check them once the seat and tank are off.