Triple Charging

OK, the speedo stopped working *again*. This is normally a sign that
the battery is low / dying (apparently).
This is the second new battery in about 6 months though, so I'm getting
a bit suspicious.
It's true that I have heated grips and a loobtronic thing as well as the
heated gloves / jacket, and the double headlamps, but I tested stuff
earlier:

Battery voltage off: 11.9v
Idling: 12.4v
Running 3.5k 13 and a smidge

I'm thinking there is something amiss in the charging system as they
seem a *tad* low.

Any thoughts? S Wilson is excused
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That's too low.

Too low IMHO, but I guess you've got the headlight on all the time?

Too low. How much was the smidge?

Did any part of the 'leccy bits say "Lucas" on it? And is there any
warranty left?

 

Yes and no in that order....


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
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Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

I had a similar issue with my daytona.

battery flatter than a pancake. charged it, took it to a shop, they
replaced the battery. (and didn't believe me when I said i hadn't left
the ignition on or left it in park)

battery went flat within a week, took it to a shop, they replaced
something in the charging system. a sensor or something.

Lozzo, there may be a receipt or note of what they replaced.
--
Adie
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Adie says...

The only electrical item invoiced for is a rear light bulb at the 12K
service. It might have been a warranty issue and not invoiced for.

The battery wasn't exactly tip-top when I bought it, but I knew it had
been flattened just prior to picking it up as the ECU light came on just
down the road[1] So it sat on the Oximiser for a couple of days until
the voltage was up to good again. Since then it's been good as new.

[1] It went off again after the three hot start/stops thing. Had that
removed from the memory and checked out, everything was fine.

 

Not good at all - a healthy, fully charged battery reads around 13.2V
and if you want to charge one you need to stuff more volts in there.
I'd expect around 14V on a normal charge.

Does it climb any higher if you rev it harder?

Aha, the Prince of Darkness strikes again. Replace with Bosch? ;-)

OK, first thing to do - charge the battery properly until it reads
13.2V, then repeat the above tests. Don't forget to measure how low the
voltage drops when cranking.

Depending on the outcome check the alternator, rectifier and regulator,
in that order. Although you probably need a proper workshop manual for
that.

Also, check all the connectors between the alternator and the battery
for corrosion, including the grounding points.

 

I've been fighting charging problems with my freshly aquired winter
hack. If you're handy with a multimeter you might find this useful
(it's a comprehensive fault finding flow chart thingy).

http://www.electrosport.com/Images/fault_finding.pdf

 

If the battery was flat, then I'd know there was something more wrong.
*Everything* works just dandy. Fires up first press, lights flashers,
all the other instruments. It's just the speedo....

--
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Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Never broke 14v. Bearing in mind as well that it spends large amounts
of time at 4k these days

Bosch makes motorbikes? Perhaps Megnetti Marelli isntead?

Not gonna have time for that this week.

In fact it's going in for a service this week I hope. I'll get them to
look at it all.

Yeah, I'm *hoping* that will be the case. Cheers.
--
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Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Cheers for that. Shame I don't have time to do this myself.

--
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Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
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Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

As long as it's not Ducati Eletrica...

Probably best course of action but it isn't necessarily a cheap one.
'leccy fault finding can take an awful lot of time.

 

Time is something I have virtually nothing of. Fingers crossed.

--
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Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

As a numpty of near-but-not-quite BGN status (and that's *after* I went to
college to study motorcycle mechanics in the 80s......) you might not want
to listen to me, but shouldn't you also be looking to the output of the
alternator in Watts versus the consumption of your various gadgets? If the
alternator pumps out, say, max 500W and your gizmos (plus standard kit etc)
leech 510(and twin headlights could be 120W+) then you'll always have a
problem, for example...

Dave

 

Indeed. The twin lights are OEM. Triumph complied with the EU
directives by removing two relays. I sincerely doubt they changed the
alternator. The loobman draws about 20W and all the measurements were
taken with the heated stuff unplugged. You would be quite right though.
For the record the heated gloves / jacket draw 120W total, the grips
about half that.


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

If you wan't electrical services like that you may need
a bigger alternator.

Get one off a car.

Or even just get a car

You said that you didn't have time to fix it. Do you have time for
pushing it.

"If the battery was flat, then I'd know there was something more
wrong."

Thing is the battery is flat. 11.x volts is very low. Maybe it won't
get worse in the short term though.

 

Yeah, his point is a good one:

Jacket 120W
Gloves 60W
Headlight 110W (assuming H4s on dip)
Tail light 5W
Loobman 20W
Total 315W
And that's neglecting sundries such as fuel pump, fan, etc.

<refers to handily placed BoL>

alternator output @ 5K revs 390W (CBR thou)
alternator output @ 5K revs 350W (CBR6)

OK, different bikes but they're bound to be similarish. So if you're
pootling, the charging system is going to struggle just to keep up.

 

OK it may be low, but it's not like any definition of flat that I know.
I do have time to pay someone else to fix it.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

That would be 120W for jacket and gloves together. Assuming that the
10A fuse was being maxed out. Which it isn't

I'm not. I do 120 miles a day, although top at 4k is 70mph.....
May have a point, but the issue first ocurred before I fettled the
lights and fitted the gloves / jacket.



--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Oi, if you are going to slag of Morini electrics get it right - Ducati
*elettrotecnica*
--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
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| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

480W alternator, apparently. Be glad you don't have a TT600 (300W)

Sir wants a GL1500 (660W), sir does. Or a Compufire (1325W)
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