how can i figure out my charging problem...ideas welcome

[astrokan]

My old RD04 has been a trustworthy winter hack except for one thing..today is a perfect example.
My buddy and i decided to make the most of the summer downpour by going for a long(ish) ride, 120 miles down to south coast and a nice run through the New Forest, i noticed that my left indicator refused to flash and when i parked the bike up the battery died, not a flicker, so we went for a coffee and on my return it fired up as it should do.
On the way back it was raining hard so my lights were on, the lights were getting dimmer and dimmer and if i tried to indicate or flash my lights the engine missed a beat.
As much as i hate riding without lights on i had to turn them off (not nice on the A34 with spray reducing daylight visability) the battery decided to start charging itself again so the lights went back on without a problem,
before i attempt to figure this out does anyone know if this is a typical fault and if so how do i fix it without pulling my hair out also what voltage does the generator kick out and what does the regulator rectifier put back in
i am about as good with electircs as i am at brain surgery....come to think of it i'm not much better at mechanics, thank god for the RD04.
can someone give us a nudge when summer starts, im hibernaiting.

[AIRWOLF]

If it's worse when its wet, it sounds like a bad connection/earth problem.

thats what i would be checking out first.

and check out threads on reg/rectifier.

[BIGROG]

My old RD04 has been a trustworthy winter hack except for one thing..today is a perfect example.
My buddy and i decided to make the most of the summer downpour by going for a long(ish) ride, 120 miles down to south coast and a nice run through the New Forest, i noticed that my left indicator refused to flash and when i parked the bike up the battery died, not a flicker, so we went for a coffee and on my return it fired up as it should do.
On the way back it was raining hard so my lights were on, the lights were getting dimmer and dimmer and if i tried to indicate or flash my lights the engine missed a beat.
As much as i hate riding without lights on i had to turn them off (not nice on the A34 with spray reducing daylight visability) the battery decided to start charging itself again so the lights went back on without a problem,
before i attempt to figure this out does anyone know if this is a typical fault and if so how do i fix it without pulling my hair out also what voltage does the generator kick out and what does the regulator rectifier put back in
i am about as good with electircs as i am at brain surgery....come to think of it i'm not much better at mechanics, thank god for the RD04.
can someone give us a nudge when summer starts, im hibernaiting.

As you are only about 10miles from me, if you are stuck, PM me and I will run over the basics for you, I have a multimeter here so we can check the charge rate but is does sound like a dodgy connection to me.

BIGROG

[russh]

......the bike up the battery died, not a flicker, so we went for a coffee and on my return it fired up as it should do.

Sounds like it could just be a dodgy connection to the battery. If the battery was so flat the indicators wouldn't flash I doubt it would recover enough to then turn over the engine.

Firstly clean and check the battery terminals, after a ride do either of the terminals feel hot? a sure sign of high resistance (dodgy connection)

[StumpyFingers]

As mentioned above, I once had a bike die and fail to charge with lights on Tried to jump start off another bike and found a loose earth lead.Worked fine after that.