Electrical issue (alternator) ????

[valkcowboy]

Last month less than 2 days before heading out on my 2,200 mile trip to Michigan my gel battery in my 2000 Interstate decided to give up on me (or so I thought at the time). So not having time to mess with it I bought a new one from my dealer, installed & charged it for over 24 hrs.. Not an issue on the entire 10 day trip. After getting home my Valk sat for about 2 weeks without it's battery tender plugged in (not the norm).. Then one morning I went to ride it into work & you guessed it DEAD battery!!! So I plugged in it's tender for about 3 days when I checked the battery it reads 13.0, when the bike is at idle 800 - 900 rpms it reads 13.25, even at 4500 - 5000 rpms it only reads 13.92. So I figured I needed to do some testing. I have checked the alternator fuse (good), ran a current leakage test (shows all zeros), checked the connections (all looks good). Haven't checked the alternator or the wire harness yet. Now comes the fun time. CRAP ON A CRACKER is there an easy way to disconnect the harness from the alternator to check the harness with the alternator still in the bike???

[The emperor has no clothes]

Last month less than 2 days before heading out on my 2,200 mile trip to Michigan my gel battery in my 2000 Interstate decided to give up on me (or so I thought at the time). So not having time to mess with it I bought a new one from my dealer, installed & charged it for over 24 hrs.. Not an issue on the entire 10 day trip. After getting home my Valk sat for about 2 weeks without it's battery tender plugged in (not the norm).. Then one morning I went to ride it into work & you guessed it DEAD battery!!! So I plugged in it's tender for about 3 days when I checked the battery it reads 13.0, when the bike is at idle 800 - 900 rpms it reads 13.25, even at 4500 - 5000 rpms it only reads 13.92. So I figured I needed to do some testing. I have checked the alternator fuse (good), ran a current leakage test (shows all zeros), checked the connections (all looks good). Haven't checked the alternator or the wire harness yet. Now comes the fun time. CRAP ON A CRACKER is there an easy way to disconnect the harness from the alternator to check the harness with the alternator still in the bike???

Sounds to me like the alt. is fine. It sounds like you've got something draining the battery down.

[valkcowboy]

Last month less than 2 days before heading out on my 2,200 mile trip to Michigan my gel battery in my 2000 Interstate decided to give up on me (or so I thought at the time). So not having time to mess with it I bought a new one from my dealer, installed & charged it for over 24 hrs.. Not an issue on the entire 10 day trip. After getting home my Valk sat for about 2 weeks without it's battery tender plugged in (not the norm).. Then one morning I went to ride it into work & you guessed it DEAD battery!!! So I plugged in it's tender for about 3 days when I checked the battery it reads 13.0, when the bike is at idle 800 - 900 rpms it reads 13.25, even at 4500 - 5000 rpms it only reads 13.92. So I figured I needed to do some testing. I have checked the alternator fuse (good), ran a current leakage test (shows all zeros), checked the connections (all looks good). Haven't checked the alternator or the wire harness yet. Now comes the fun time. CRAP ON A CRACKER is there an easy way to disconnect the harness from the alternator to check the harness with the alternator still in the bike???

Sounds to me like the alt. is fine. It sounds like you've got something draining the battery down.

That is what I originally thought, so I did a current test & it showed no drain on the system..

[sandy]

Instead of battery/alternator issues, it might be a dirty starter button. If you push it and it won't start, you might think battery is dead. Try cleaning the start button.

[valkcowboy]

Instead of battery/alternator issues, it might be a dirty starter button. If you push it and it won't start, you might think battery is dead. Try cleaning the start button.

LOL...Wish that was the case either time, but not enough power to truly light up the headlights..

[Bighead]

I too think there is a drain somewhere. If it were the alternator the battery wouldn't have lasted on the  trip.

[gordonv]

You said you recharged the battery with your tender.

I hope you have a proper charger to do that, and didn't just us a tender to charge a dead battery?

[valkcowboy]

I too think there is a drain somewhere. If it were the alternator it wouldn't have lasted on the  trip.

The test showed no loss of current soooo I am at a loss of where to look next. Anyone have any suggestions where to look next?

[Rio Wil]

I am thinking there is something amiss with your test of  current drain measurement.  You have a I/S which has a instrument panel and radio that have memories that need to be kept alive. This current drain (and I'm guessing) might be in the range of 20-50 ma. If your meter read "all zeros" then it is not set on a sensitive scale low enough to see this normal drain then it probably is not seeing the abnormal drain of maybe 100-300 ma from some resistive short in the bike wiring that would run the battery down eventually.




 

[Ricky-D]

I for one, think that your charging current @ 13.9 volts is too low and it is at the very bottom (of the scale) on the specifications.

With that being said, your alternator is still working, however very poorly.

It would, I think, keep a good battery charged up if there are no accessories added to the system that are "on" while the bike is running.

If you have a poorly performing battery I would expect that there will be problems - such as those you are encountering.

***

[valkyriemc]

I am thinking there is something amiss with your test of  current drain measurement.  You have a I/S which has a instrument panel and radio that have memories that need to be kept alive. This current drain (and I'm guessing) might be in the range of 20-50 ma. If your meter read "all zeros" then it is not set on a sensitive scale low enough to see this normal drain then it probably is not seeing the abnormal drain of maybe 100-300 ma from some resistive short in the bike wiring that would run the battery down eventually.

FWIW, I agree with this other than the term "resistive load", rather than "resistive short"  Even a constant  50 mils is much, IMHO

[valkcowboy]

Thanks to everyone that has commented on this issue. I still am not sure what is causing it guess I just need to ride it more, daumn poor me.. LOL  I have a very good large battery charger also have a Battery Tender brand wired on the bike. The service manual says that 0.1mA max is proper so are they not reffering to an I/S?? Seeing how the dash should be pulling some mA all the time.. I do feel that my alternator is not as strong as it should be, just a feeling...

[Bighead]

Well you can change it if you feel the need but the battery would not have held up on your trip if it weren't working. And then to go dead just sitting a few days leads me to believe there is a drain somewhere.  I am just on Battery #2 on my 97 bee that is 17 years (first one went past 10 years) and battery is as strong as ever.
Many here change them due to years but I haven't felt the need. It may strand me tomorrow but I am willing to chance it