so far, a thumb's-up for the little but mighty Shorai

[emzdogz]

Mike's battery, even after coming up to green light on Battery Tender wouldn't even budge my starter.
All I would get was the "click" one usually associates with a bad connection. re-did the connections. Nada.

So I was freakin' I thought I'd maybe ruined my starter, by too much cranking at this period where I'm trying to get my project bike engine running right.

Then I remembered oh! I bought a Shorai tiny battery, and it's sitting right over there! Hooked the tiny, light thing up and BOOM, starter cranked the bike right up.
I was amazed.

The bad news is I don't think I'm charging. I only checked it on the Shorai.....but when I rev it (no tach) the volt meter doesn't jump up. Just stays at about 12 (like charged battery level).

So I'm off to read threads about "no charging".

Anyway, just wanted to confirm what others have said: that little battery packs a punch, tiny though the batt itself be.

ps: I should add that I've abused the Mike's battery pretty badly, so I didn't intend for this to be an indictment of that item

 

[retiredgentleman]

emzdogz;

Curly's charging guide should help you sort it out. If not, lots of us electrical geeks here to help as well.

 

[emzdogz]

emzdogz;

Curly's charging guide should help you sort it out. If not, lots of us electrical geeks here to help as well.

I read Curly's guide and am looking forward to trying step one with a leaf from a feeler gauge tomorrow. Hoping it slaps right to the cover! Really at this point my wiring is very much just cobbled together, so it could be a number of things. I just twisted this wiring together to be sure the diagram I wanted to use actually works - which it basically does.

I really appreciate all the info available through this forum. The elec geeks, the carb geeks, the welding geeks, etc.
TIA.

 

[Unfocused]

I have a Shorai battery for my project. So small and light. It can also be mounted in any direction. Lithium Ion FTW!!!!

 

[emzdogz]

so, on step one of Curly's guide, yes a feeler gauge slaps right to alternator cover when key comes on.

 

[emzdogz]

so now I'm thinking maybe I'm not charging because right now the tail light is off my bike and those 2 wires that go back to it are just hanging there, taped off separately, but nothing's grounded. (light grounds through screws to metal frame) So the tail light wires are just hanging out there. Can't check it now, because carbs are off bike (again) but next time I run it I will hook up tail light and make sure it's grounded, and see if that wasn't the prob.

 

[grizld1]

The tail light has nothing to do with your charging problem. Go back to Curly's Guide, "work the steps," and stop looking for magic fixes.

 

[emzdogz]

not looking for a "magic" fix - I think that differs from a simple solution. Simple = good/pure. Wanting a magic fix = lazy and stupid.

The entire Curly's steps, while admirable and excellent are kind of complicated if you're not used to working on electrical stuff. I've got two open (and un-grounded) wires hanging out there, which connect in to the brown wire. I see on the wiring diagram I used that everything else which connects to the brown wire gets a ground. So....... to me it seemed logical to question this, but then again, I don't know.

I don't get it about "magic"???? that's kind of an insult, Grizld. Is that how you interpret all of my postings?

I understand and appreciate the vast scope of your contributions to the forum particularly with the carb guide.
However, sometimes when people get into an old bike project they do kind of hope that the thing will just run right with just little work (as opposed to "magic"), without having to learn to mine the metal, cast the pistons and know all the rest of it.

 

[grizld1]

Look, all you've done is to disconnect the tail light power leads. Yeah, the tail light needs to be grounded if it's going to work, but disconnecting it won't keep your system from charging any more than unplugging your toaster will keep your fridge from getting power. The brown wire is switched power. Any item that draws switched power must also have a ground connection to complete the circuit. Interrupting the ground connection to a single item will keep that item from working, but it won't keep your alternator from charging.

Sorry if I gave offense, but if you try to take shortcuts in troubleshooting you'll only run in circles and frustrate yourself.

 

[emzdogz]

Sorry if I gave offense, but if you try to take shortcuts in troubleshooting you'll only run in circles and frustrate yourself.

Point well taken. I probably didn't need to be offended, but after pulling the carbs probably 20 times over the last couple days I was a bit at my wits' end - so I apologize for being so defensive. Believe me I want to do things "right".

Need to try and attach meaning to some of the next steps described in the Curly's guide. Feeler gauge slaps immediately to sidecover when key comes on. I also tried unplugging and grounding green wire of regulator/rect. and running it like that to see if I could get the reading at battery to come up - but it did not.

Next I will check brushes.
If no joy there, then I'll go back and try to understand the sections of the Curly's guide that seem a little unclear.

Anyway, it's a new day.
Again, thanks for the tons of info you help everyone with.
Em

 

[bentleyb]

i know this is a little off topic but i was wondering what the dementions were, for the lithium ion bat. i just want somthing compact. ive been running a capacitor "lil sparky" and dont like it much, i mean it works, if i keep steady on the petrol, but it keeps stalling at idle when i flick the headlights on. im only running a headlight, tail light and ignition, any suggestions? kick start only, pamco ultimate coil and electronic ignition, the bike runs great other wise

 

[emzdogz]

www.shoraipower.com

has the dimensions of the different batteries they offer. They even make one the (big) size of a stock XS battery, I think, but the little ones work well too.
I think I may have gotten mine from www.batterystuff.com - they have the specs, too.

 

[bentleyb]

Thanks sir I will check that out.

 

[bsinnest]

Hey,

Probably not the exact same issue, but when I had to redo the wiring on my bike, I found out the hard way my bike wasn't charging. (Back of a truck heading home)

While cleaning up the wiring I removed and forgot to reconnect the 12v feed coming from the Reg/Rect.

Something simple I over looked at the time I suppose.

Good luck!