charging

[Elwood2]

Hey everyone,

I need some help. I have a 80xs1100 midnight special and the thing runs great but the battery keeps going dead. I bought a new battery and I am still having the same issue. When it is running I have no issues but if I shut it off after a 100mile trip it cranks too slow to start the bike. Any help would be great on what to do next. Summer is here and I'm a little worried about taking a long trip with her. THANKS

[jwhughes3]

Heres a thread

From last year on checking out the charging system.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...sting+charging

John

[James England]

Summer is here and I'm a little worried about taking a long trip with her. THANKS

Absolutely! Your bike is not in a fit state to do long trip if your battery keeps flattening like that.

The charging system comprises an alternator/generator. And a voltage regulator and a rectifier (in one unit). It sounds as if your battery is not receiving any charge. It's not the battery (since it is new). If you look behind the battery case, there is a block connector with 3 yellow wires. This block connector often causes problems, so pull it apart and clean the terminals with De-Oxit spray. Check it for burnt wires, breaks near the block etc. Then, start the bike and put a voltmeter across the battery terminals... you should find you're getting about 14v (someone here will provide the exact figure, I bet). If so, problem solved. If you find that you have low voltage, then you'll need to check the alternator output (many threads here about that) and the rectifier/regulator unit. Plus all the wires.

You may find it's just that block connector being corroded and dirty. It's a good idea to use De-Oxit on all the terminals on the entire bike, and certainly the charging system ones.

[CaptonZap]

John, remember the time in the camp ground when you couldn't get started, and 3Phase or Diver Ray got to that connecter behind the fuse box, and things started working?
I'll bet that the connecter is bad again, as James suggests.
Did you get a multimeter, (on sale at Habba Fl8t for $4.99. Hurry, sale ends soon. http://http://www.harborfreight.com/...ter-98025.html), and learn to use the DC volts and ohms function. From there on, you can check almost everything on these bikes. One of those smart aleck kids at the store would be happy to show you how to use the meter, and then we can tell you where to stick the probes, and what you should read, and when.
Hurry, they are open till six. CZ

[jwhughes3]

I DO remember!

That Main fuse (30amp) was having a bad time intermittently connecting and making "no starty"....its on left side under frame rail with big red wires going to it. Diver Ray Rewired a new marine grade spade type fuse holder and started right up.

John

[GLoweVA]

Elwood, Definitely need to check the charging system out. If it's not charging that battery, then your bike will run like cr*p, or not at all.

This past Friday, I was over at Nightengale's house and we troubleshoot his electrical system and found that his rectifier was bad. His connections were all good, but there was a bad set of diodes in the rectifier and I replaced it with one off my project SG. BAM! 13-14V now.\
The manaul has some good checks to see what's working and what's not.

[Elwood2]

I ohmed the stator wires today. green to brown manual said 3.5ohms + - 10% @68 degrees. I got 4.0 ohms at 78 degrees outside
As for the white wires + - 10% at 68degrees .4ohms
I got 1.0 to 1.2 ohms testing them. So I need to replace my stator correct?
Also on the plug with the white wires is one yellow wire what is it and where does it go? on my bike the wire stopps at the plug.
Thanks everyone

[GLoweVA]

Those numbers are good. I saw those exact readings on Nightengale's bike on Fri.
Now do the voltage checks at the rectifier. We saw .9v going to the field (good) and only 6v from the stator. (Bad) ended up checking the rectifier and it was bad.

[Elwood2]

looking at the solenoid I saw the 2 wires that are soldered on the (red and a blue w/ strip I think), I saw the wires were showing stress so I resoldered them to the solenoid and then I noticed the wire that connects to the positive battry cable was almost completly broken so I fixed that one with a ring terminal and bolted it to the solenoid. I started her up and volts were 11.99 to 12 @ idle and 12.4 @ 4000rpm. Tested with everything hooked up directly at the battery. Should I still test the regulator? What next?

[Elwood2]

Also could the battery voltage reading be because I had it on the charger all night?

[GLoweVA]

Sounds like you still need to check the rectifier. There's a test in the manual to check at the rectifier to see the output of the alternator. It says you should get something like 14,but as old as these bikes are, expect something closer to 13 while reving.

[cywelchjr]

Sounds like you still need to check the rectifier. There's a test in the manual to check at the rectifier to see the output of the alternator. It says you should get something like 14,but as old as these bikes are, expect something closer to 13 while reving.

No matter how old these bikes are, if you don't get 14.2 volts to 14.8 volts the charging system isn't working properly and must be fixed, as if it's lower than 14.2 it won't charge the battery as that's the minimum required to charge a 12v lead acid battery.

[natemoen]

No matter how old these bikes are, if you don't get 14.2 volts to 14.8 volts the charging system isn't working properly and must be fixed, as if it's lower than 14.2 it won't charge the battery as that's the minimum required to charge a 12v lead acid battery.

+1 needs to be up there to actually charge.

[GLoweVA]

I guess it's time for me to go thru all my connections then, because I'm not getting 14. I know my system is charging/working, but maybe it's not giving the battery it's proper juice. (i'm getting about 13ish)
I'm a daily rider and I haven't had a new battery in some 3-4 years.
I suppose what juice I am getting is enough to drive the electrics on the bike and just a little more to keep the battery up.

Aw hell, I've got to get in there to fix my intermittent left turn signal anyway, time to bite the bullet and clean them all!

[Poprock]

You'll be glad you did. De-Oxit or other good contact cleaner works great. When I cleaned all the connectors on The King of Kong the headlight brightened up by 10%. I'm running a OMP reg/rec that kicks out 14.2 v. @ 1400 rpm. Oregon Motorcycle Parts web site. Tony does a great job and is a good source on diagnostics of electrical systems.
Clean everything in the harness, behind the fuse box (change to spades if you haven't yet) and in the headlight bucket. Check your main fuse in the LH side cover as well. Best to relocate it to the spade bar you put in. There'll be room for it there.