Topic: How's my charging numbers?

[Cevan]

At idle I've got about 12v at the battery. By 4k, it's up to 13.2v.  I bypassed the regulator and it increased to about 13.35.  I adjusted the regulator gaps per the manual.  I bypassed it with very heavy gauge wire so I'm not sure if this is the cause for the increase. 

I checked the field coil and got 8.7 ohms.  I tested the 3 stator leads and got 3.4 ohms between all 3 pairs.

My rectifier tested good.  If I turn the key on, the field coil does become magnetized.  I checked the wiring between the field coil/stator and the two sets of plugs. 

So is 13.2v too low at that rpm?  If so, any suggestions?

[bollingball]

I think you need to bump it up to 14.5vdc at 4K About 12v??? Charge it up should be 12.6 for test.IMO What bike

[TwoTired]

You must measure charging voltage numbers with a known good fully charged battery.  A bad or depleted battery will hold voltage down untill it is fully charged.
The charge rate of the bike is low, such that a depleted battery can take 10-12 Hours  (@ 5000 RPM) to fully charge and allow the chagring system to attain peak voltage.

All you've determined so far, is that the charging system is capable of increasing battery voltage.  We don't know battery charge state, and can't tell if your charging system is capable keeping a battery at peak charge.

Batteries don't change state instantaneously, nor do you want them to.  A reservoir that fills and empties rapidly isn't too useful for that function, no?

Cheers,

[dave500]

it is charging,if you ride around town and get lots of stop lights itll end up draining more than charging,whats the charge rate at 5 grand?i have a little 50mm analouge volt meter between the guages,i mostly ride in the hinterland where i live,if i scoot into town for errands i can watch the charge rate drop at stop lights etc and switch on or off the headlight etc.,idling around town does bring your battery down,if you do a fair bit of traffic running you should charge the battery with a low spec tender type every few months.

[strynboen]

mine are also a bit low..in loading...but think with a new battery..its will work fine..mine battery are 5 years old...be care to skrev the load relæ to high..it can boil the water in battery      weak battery=veak load...if i have 13 volt at start point..it vill give stronger load..adjust load relæ are last thing to do..
honda el system test 016

i have light on in this test,,,

[Cevan]

Thanks for the advice.  I will fully charge the battery and retest.

[Cevan]

You guys are great.  I fully charged the battery, warmed up the bike ad redid the test.  At 4k I got 14.5volts but by 5k it was at 15.5 volts.  Good thing the regulator is adjustable.  Got it right at 14.5 volts.   

Now I can finally strip the bike down for a rebuild.