Just the battery?

[coldstart]

Hi folks. Got some symptoms from my AT I can´t figure out. Hope you can help me!

On the end of a 400 km trip, the ATstarted to run badly, almost as if it could not get enough gasoline...Ran like this for about 20 km, then died when i pulled the clutch to stop. Tried to start again, but the battery would not give enough to turn the starter. (Batery is old)
Well, that was no wonder, as it turned out one of the conections from the battery (-) was completely loose, in fact of the pole.
Reconnected, got som power from a portable starter-aid. Fired up and went the last km home with no problems.

Recharged the battery, went for one trip some days later and everything was fine.

Next time I took it out I stalled it after firing up, and again there was not enough power to start again. Got it sorted with starter aid, everything was fine, but after about 10 km, it acts like mentioned earlyer, and stops when i pull the clutch. Same procedure with starter aid, but can only go 1 km, before it dies again.
Take the battery out, charges for some hours, and everything is fine again.
Have not touched the bike since.

So it seems the battery is not beeing charged when the bike is running,right?
Can this be just the battery beeing in to bad shape, ( remember it does take charging from the batterycharger......) or is there something wrong with the reg/rect or cdi? (Which I dont understand anything about, or what they do....)

Thanks for your time.

[fatowl]

It's probably the battery that's not holding charge. They will often hold it long enought to get started after being on the charger all night. If you have a multimeter, measure the voltage across the battery when running. it should be around 14 -14.5 v, even when you put load on (lights and things). If it is, the the altenator is doing it's stuff. If less than this, then the charging circuit is at fault.

[Annette]

HI coldstart, sounds like it might be the battery. When the regulator goes/is going you start to blow bulbs regularly. And then when you press the iginition there is absolutely nothing at all.

[coldstart]

Ok. Bought this multimeterthing today, problem is I don´t know how to use it

Fooled around until I got some readings that I think makes sence...Put the cables in the holes marked "CAT III 600V" and "CAT II 1000V", (also marked "COM" and a sign I belive is called "Omega".....) and turned the wheel to a position marked "V-" with ...under the "-". Does it make sence to you?

The readings i got from the battery was 12,45 when not running and 12,07-12,20 when running the engine (up to 4000 rpm)

Something wrong with the charging....?

[Whealie]

If the battery has had it,t hen it has had it. It might start it once or twice but then will be used up. A good battery will allow you to turn the bike over time and time again for 15 minutes or so with no sign of its running out.
But why has the battery died. Could be age but could also be a sign of the reg rec going. First signs are some funny smells every now and then. Then bulbs start to go.

[coldstart]

Ok.
Facts:
Battery is not dead. Can take charging, and I just started the bike with no problems. Over a week since I ran it the last time.

If I take it for a spin it will be ok for some miles, then it will start to lose power, stop and not have enough power to start again without som charging.

Think I have the right connecting/position on the multimeter and the readings second time was 12,75 V when not running and 12,06 and slowly sinking when running the engine. Turning to high-beam sent the readings down to 12,01.
Reving to 4000 rpm gave about 12,16.
Should be about 14,5 if iI remeber correctly from another post here....

So, reg/rec. CDI or alternator.....????

[Zenarchy]

I bookmarked this video recently that you might find helpful (other members might be able to tell you if there's anything different you need to consider for the AT):

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/1...attery-two.htm

Also this link I bookmarked has quite a lot of info (though it's for bmw's a lot of it will still hold true I think):

http://www.largiader.com/articles/battery.html

My battery shows a current of around 12.75 (with it off the bike). I think bike batteries loose a small percentage of their charge when not being used each day (around 1% if my memory is correct), so after it being standing for a while it might be lower.

By the sounds of things, it's something to do with your regulator or the alternator not re-charging the battery while you're on the move. When the engines running the voltage should increase (as shown on that video) rather than go down as you say.

[GSPD750]

Ok.
Facts:
Battery is not dead. Can take charging, and I just started the bike with no problems. Over a week since I ran it the last time.

If I take it for a spin it will be ok for some miles, then it will start to lose power, stop and not have enough power to start again without som charging.

Think I have the right connecting/position on the multimeter and the readings second time was 12,75 V when not running and 12,06 and slowly sinking when running the engine. Turning to high-beam sent the readings down to 12,01.
Reving to 4000 rpm gave about 12,16.
Should be about 14,5 if iI remeber correctly from another post here....

So, reg/rec. CDI or alternator.....????

You mentioned your battery is old. Sounds like it is unable to hold a charge properly after all the mucking around with it. Just replace it. It's cheaper than a reg/rectifier at this moment. Correct, chould read
14.5 or so when running...but replace the battery first and go from there as you need one anyway.

[Zenarchy]

To add to gspd750's suggestion - I seem to remember reading somewhere very recently that even when batteries appear to be OK (following the advice in that video), they can still misbehave and when they're swapped out with another battery it somehow inexplicably solves the problem (though I think they were talking about bus batteries or something iirc the principal is probably the same). Bearing in mind the cost of a regulator or fixing the alternator it might be a good idea to try a different battery first anyway, even if it looks OK.

[powergap]

Hello there its the regulator /rectifiyer thats gone 99% sure. its not charging the battery and when you ride the battery gets weaker and weaker till the bike miss fires stalls and wont start again ,get a new rectifiyer bolted on there and all will be well if it was a battery problem then the bike will still try to charge it and would show 14.5 volts at least
cheers Mike
{who has had to replace a few in his time}