weird battery readings

[cros36]

so i took my bike out yesterday for its first shake down run. went out for 30 minutes. came home everything checked out good! went back out for about an hour and a half, everything checked out good! all the bolts stayed where they should, charging system was going good. let it cool down and had some dinner. went back out at about 11 pm for another hour and a half. about an hour into the night ride, my headlight started to dim so i started home, as quickly and safely as i could. when i got home i had a battery reading of 9.something. i was too tired to go any further with it then. this morning i come out to take a look at the charging system and the battery reads 11.35.

so to recap i guess last night it was 9.mid (sorry i dont remember) and today its at 11.35. i checked 3 legs on the stator and im getting 1.4 on 200 setting and 1 on the 2000 every way that i try. so im guessing that at least its consistant? what i dont get and havent every heard of is the battery gaining volts after its been ran. any thoughts on that? i will be checking two rotor rings, new brushes but ill check them as well.

heres a run down...

74
pamco w/ green monters
mikes agm battery
bs38 (before the night run i upped the pilot to help with minor short hesitation that was occuring around 1/4 throttle ((crusing around town speeds)) and went back to 3/4 on the mix screw, still needs some work...)
autolite 63's
single 12v 35/35w headlight (had high beem on till i noticed the dimming to conserve.)
single taillight trailer style.

 

[gggGary]

A battery recovering some on it's own after sitting sounds typical to me. let us know how the troubleshooting goes.

 

[cros36]

allright here are some test results...

with my HF multimeter it zeros out at .8 on the 200 ohms setting
slip rings 6.2

battery is at 11.33
positive battery terminal to right brush is 11.33
positive battery terminal to left brush is 11.31
negative battery terminal to right brush is 0
negative battery terminal to left brush is 0

i dont know if this means anything but,
inner slip ring to ground 32.3
outter slip ring to ground 37.6

inner slip ring to positive battery terminal infinity
outter slip ring to positive battery terminal infinity

brushes are a hair over 14mm

slap test
feeler gauge, screw driver, does not slap against case, will stick a little if i place it there.

some more info on the bike that i forgot.
rectifier is new, Part #24-2085 from mikes

regulator is rg292 from advance auto

on the stator i have the top two and the bottom right with nylon screws because at some point i thought that i needed to with the regulator but have since found out that this is unnecessary but that it makes no difference otherwise so they are still in there.

thanks you for reading. to me everything seems to check out, i must be missing something, most likely something very obvious.

 

[cros36]

another thought...i just looked at the face of the new brushes and it looks as if only half is making contact with the rotor. could this be a 'break in' period or should i lightly try to flatten the surface so it makes complete contact...

again, thanks.

 

[gggGary]

inner slip ring to ground 32.3
outter slip ring to ground 37.6

What is this? Volts, ohms? With it hooked up ignition on off?

So I guess one question is was it working and quit on the third ride (something failed) or was it slowly loosing a charge all along (it's not wired right)

 

[cros36]

inner slip ring to ground 32.3
outter slip ring to ground 37.6

What is this? Volts, ohms? With it hooked up ignition on off?

So I guess one question is was it working and quit on the third ride (something failed) or was it slowly loosing a charge all along (it's not wired right)

shoot, i cant get those figures any more, i dont know. sorry. heres some more numbers. and i dont know if these test can conclude anything. thought it wouldn't hurt.

ign. off rectifier disconnected inner slip to ground 13.8 ohms
ign. off rectifier disconnected outer slip to ground 19.2 ohms
ign. on rectifier disconnected inner slip to ground 35.0 ohms
ign. on rectifier disconnected outer slip to ground 40.1 ohms

ign. off rectifier disconnected inner slip to ground 0.0 volts
ign. off rectifier disconnected outer slip to ground 0.0 volts
ign. on rectifier disconnected inner slip to ground 0.03volts
ign. on rectifier disconnected outer slip to ground 0.03volts

ign. off rectifier connected inner slip to ground 13.9 ohms
ign. off rectifier connected outer slip to ground 19.2 ohms
ign. on rectifier connected inner slip to ground 5.6 ohms
ign. on rectifier connected outer slip to ground .7-2.5 ohms (jumping around)


ign. off rectifier connected inner slip to ground 0.0 volts
ign. off rectifier connected outer slip to ground 0.0 volts
ign. on rectifier connected inner slip to ground .03 volts
ign. on rectifier connected outer slip to ground .02 volts


sorry if this is just a mass of pointless numbers. im trying to find whats going on through other research as well.

gary, nothing failed. i believe that it just started losing charge at the end of the night run. everything was in the 12v range earlier in the day.

 

[visimpact]

What numbers do u have when the bike is running at idle?

 

[gggGary]

Uh I should have said it; do NOT test for ohms in a circuit with power in it. Your meter must be tough or have some sort of power protection. The next quick test is to apply +12 to the outer brush holder. Then start the bike with a volt meter hooked up, you should get 14 volts at idle, do not run the bike long like this it will over charge the battery and can damage other components. Run it just enough to prove the rotor stator and brushes are good. Hint; I think it will. You can also do your ohms tests at the regulator plug on the harness they should read the same as what you got right at the brushes. If not you have a broken wire somewhere.

 

[jayel]

shoot, i cant get those figures any more, i dont know. sorry. heres some more numbers. and i dont know if these test can conclude anything. thought it wouldn't hurt.

sorry if this is just a mass of pointless numbers. im trying to find whats going on through other research as well.

gary, nothing failed. i believe that it just started losing charge at the end of the night run. everything was in the 12v range earlier in the day.

these #'s don't mean nothing check Ohms between rotor slip rings, voltage at battery at idle and then at 3000rpm, a lot of people have had trouble with mikes AGM batteries but do the basic tests first

 

[visimpact]

Oh I just read you have a mike agm battery....yeah bud same thing happened to my bike about fourth ride in. Left me stranded on the side of the road. Ended up being bad battery from mikes. They replaced it free and within days.

 

[cros36]

allright back to it.
viz
the bike is not running right now so i cant get numbers on that. i always thought it was kinda protocol to do a re-torque on the engine, adjust valves and cam chain. so i was unable to finish that series of things yesterday all while thinking of this electrical problem.

gggggary
i do not have any other 12v source right now, so that test will have to wait as well. and i hate to ask a stupid question like this but i think that i have already shown my ignorance twards testing ohms....where would you test on the regulator. i have the GP Sorensen r292 from autozone....

jayel
between slip rings is 5.4 ohms. i wont rule out the possibility of it just being a bad battery.

viz
again i wont rule this out. that sucks that it died on you, right around the same amount of rides that ive taken....hmm.

now guys
i gotta come out and ask this. would re grounding the brush possibly solve the charging issue? right now i have the nylon screws in there but they are not needed, but i was told that it doesnt make a difference with my setup that i installed them.

 

[cros36]

buttons it back up...fired right up like always (thanks pete)
some battery readings...stick with me here.


11.26v@12:35 upon start up
9.32v@12:37 running and dropping
cut engine @9.32v
10.55v@12:40
10.85v@12:42
11.06v@12:45 stable reading

11.06v@12:47 at start up
11.18v@12:48
9.43v@12:49
cut engine @9.43v
10.66v@12:50
10.86v@12:51
11.06v@1:01

before these start ups i replaced the 3 nylon screws with the original screws.
this leads me to believe that it is the regulator not sending juice from stator through regulator through the key switch back to the battery, or the regulator ground?

my wiring diagram with no horn (yet) and no kill switch or light on/off switch

my keyswitch
http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=342#

looking through my wiring everything seems hooked up right

1. stator black>frame ground
2. stator yellow>capped
3. stator 3 white>rectifier
4. stator green>green regulator
5. regulator yellow/orange>"ig" on key switch
6. regulator black>frame ground
7. regulator green see #4

back of key switch
labeled "B"
+ from rectifier
+ from battery thru 25A fuse

labeled "IG"
yellow/orange from regulator
power to fuse block

labeled "L"
nothing

trying to give as much info as i can. im thinking it has something to do with that green wire. what do you think? thanks!

 

[gggGary]

Charge your bike's battery, jumper from any hot wire to the brush. It is OK that the brush isn't grounded at the holder IF your regulator regulates the +12, And yes charge and do a load test on the battery. There are a lot of bad AGM MC batteries around this year.

 

[gggGary]

I stand corrected RG says the RG292 regulates the +12 and the other brush is grounded. didn't find that this morning for the RG292 but did find now the reference for the R292 regulator.

here is a late model NOT a 79, factory diagram.

 

[retiredgentleman]

Gary, your diagram is for the 80 to 83 years, which uses a variable ground from the regulator.

cros36 has the R292 regulator (70 to 79 years) which uses a variable battery + voltage. His right inner brush should be grounded and no nylon screws. His diagrams and wiring appear to be correct. He should load test his battery as mentioned.

 

[cros36]

did a load test. hooked the battery up and the needle went to "good". then flipped the switch to apply the load and i swear the needle almost busted through the tester it went down so fast. ill be picking another one up this week, not sure if im going through mikes or another source. hopefully this fixes the problem, guessing it will. thanks guys, ill let you know how it works out when i get the new one in.

 

[visimpact]

I contacted mikes when I figured out the battery had a bad cell and they sent a new one within 5 days of emailing. No charge didn't have to send the bad one back.

 

[cros36]

ill have to look at my records to see when i bought it, it was over a year ago. mikesxs is doing good on customer service but i doubt they would replace a battery purchased over a year ago, while under different ownership. ill email them letting them know that another agm bit the dust but i cant expect much more than that, and thats ok.

i know its completely backwards but im most likely going to get a walmart battery with full intentions of replacing in the spring. im broke and i want to ride, thats how broke people think...

 

[gggGary]

That works for me, I get service out of walmart and farm and fleet batteries.

 

[cros36]

-----Original Message-----
From: Crosby Clark <cros36@yahoo.com>
To: mikesxs <mikesxs@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Sep 27, 2011 9:26 am
Subject: agm batteries



hello mikesxs,
about a year and a half ago i purchased an AGM battery 61-2020. it was before the new ownership and like i said a while ago. two days ago after my 4th ride of finally getting the bike back on the road the battery died. it stays at about 11.06volts without a load, once a load is applied then it sharply goes down to mid 9's and steadily drops.


with that said i am not looking to get anything for free from you guys, hell, its mostly my fault it took me over a year and a half to get the bike going again. i just wanted to drop you guys a line and let you know what is going on with this product, i have heard that their was possibly a bad batch of these batteries that went out around that time. anyways thought i would let you guys know.



have a good day,
crosby


p.s. how are these batteries doing now?



From: Mikesxs <mikesxs@aol.com>
To: cros36@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 8:41 AM
Subject: Re: agm batteries

Hi Crosby,

Sorry to hear about your battery problems. Since we purchased the business 8 months ago, we have had about 3 or 4 bad batteries and replaced all of them for free. I'm more than happy to send you a new battery at no charge.

Thanks

Scott