Battery not charging - why?

[Ruralman]

Hi guys, hopefully someone can help with this.
I put a new battery in the Tiger about a year ago. Over the last few months it seems to go flat and taking it for a ride does not charge it up. I have bought a trickle charger and if I hook that on when I get back from a ride then its usually right for a while, but if I leave it for a week it will often start OK but then after a trip it can struggle to start.
It did it to me when I went down to Milton (17km) to get a warrant - the garage gave it a charge up so I could get home and when the battery went in they put a meter on it and it was registering between 12-13 volts from recollection (that was a while ago)
Even running without the hotgrips or extra lights going doesn't seem to make much difference - in fact the hotgrips (oxford) aren't that bloody good anyway but I'm begining to wonder whether I shouldn't stop bagging the Oxfords (had the daytona ones on my Transalp which worked really well) and suspect the heat from the grips is another symptom of the same problem.
Do you reckon I've just ended up with a dud battery ??
If its something in the bikes ability to charge it up then whats the likely cause and what do I do (or rather get done $$$) about that??
Thanks
Bruce

[junkmanjoe]

could just have one dud cell in batt,

[Frodo]

Have you checked your charging circuit? I had an F650 where the voltage regulator rectifier died. This is not an uncommon problem. Had one go on a previous Suzuki I owned. Most VRRs are made in Japan, so your Tiger could have one of those. Get a voltmeter and check the voltage at, say, the battery. Should be between 13 and 14 volts from memory (check your manual). If it is above or below the range, the VRR is probably buggered. Note that a stuffed VRR can cook your battery too. And in the Suzuki, it took out the alternator wiring.

Its relatively simple to replace the VRR. The BMW one cost about $300, from memory.

Cheers

[buggsubique]

If you have a digital multimeter or a mate who knows what they're looking for then check:
1. AC voltage out from the stator (to see if the stator is f*cked).
2. DC out from the rectifier (to see if the rectifier is cooked).
3. DC into the battery (do this at the battery end to see if there are any bad connections on the way, like a corroded plug or broken wire etc).
4. If all that is fine, then the battery should be charging but may just not be holding charge. So then check:
5. Current draw from the battery when bike is completely turned off. Could be a stray current flattening your battery over time or the battery is just stuffed and wont hold any charge anyway so get a new one.


Not sure what sort of Voltage you're looking for at the stator, maybe around 90VAC or so? The DC side should be around 12-15V, ideally around 14V I think, a bit less at the battery. Good luck!

[Underground]

http://www.electrosport.com/technica...ng-diagram.pdf Try this link and follow all the steps

[awayatc]

another 2 cents worth.....: sounds like said above that battery is not charging...you can check that with multimeter in 2 sec.(terminals connected to battery terminals= certain voltage 12 hopefully. Start engine and voltage should jump to about 14 v or so if charging....If votage remains same=no charging)
Usualy it is a dirty/corroded connection or no earth.....( To check this I usualy connect lets say a jumperlead from negative battery to good earth on frame/engine....and then check battery voltage with running engine again..)
Anything other then that is following above posted advice..
Good luck

[Underground]

http://http://www.electrosport.com/t...ng-diagram.pdf

[Ruralman]

Thanks for those replies - I will check those out, hopefully this week, and see what the answer is.

[98tls]

How old is the battery?

[Ruralman]

How old is the battery?

Well I bought it just under a year ago

[Tony W]

Well I bought it just under a year ago

Is there a 2yr warranty, like car batteries ? Sounds like a dud.

[FJRider]

Just check all connections are clean. Crap on the terminals restricts charging ability... A mix of baking soda and warm water does wonders in this regard...

[Ruralman]

Well I checked the earth wire on the battery and the battery end of it came off with a slight wriggle - ah hah I thought - so I repaired that, started the bike up and left it idling for a while with the hotgrips turned on high - when I came back one of them was luke warm and the other hadn't even got that warm.

So that looks like the end of the first "cheap fix" opportunity. I will give the terminals a clean but I really don't think there's enough there to be an issue.

The other puzzle was that I noticed that when I revved the bike up the lights actually dimmed, and then brightened again when it returned to idle. Turning the grips off didn't make any difference to this. I doubt that this is normal???? Does this suggest one of these voltage regulator things is knackered?

It would be very handy to have one of those multi meter things

[awayatc]

well you found one thing obviously wrong with your wiring.....all the right aswers to your next question have allready been provided in response to your first problem.
Up to you to act on it....
Yes multimeters are handy and quite inexpensive.....
Good luck

[Ruralman]

Thanks for all the advise
In the end the problem got fixed almost by accident today when I took it in to Honda Otago.
In the process of testing everything it looks like the problem was a bit of corrosion in the plug points of a joiner that links the alternator/stator to the Regulator/Rectifier. After this plug had been pulled apart and put back together a few times during the testing we suddenly got a decent output at the battery, so it got pulled apart once more given a good scratch and then squirted with the protective stuff.
I have also replaced the battery which seemed a bit dodgy (and I can use the old one on my sheep scales anyway so that wasn't a big deal).
On the way home my hotgrips actually worked reasonably well - first time in a long time!! (although I still don't reckon they're as good as the more basic Daytona ones I had on my Transalp)
If it had been a rectifier needing replacement the genuine Triumph part was just over $700 !!!! - they reckoned they could have wired in an aftermarket version for under $300.
Just shows how much effect a little bit of corrosion inside something thats out of the way, well protected etc, can have on the system.