Battery

[Speed]

Morning All,
Have a new yuasa battery, full up and charged, question is bike is kept on optimate all the time not being used and is all green light good, if I take the bike out for a short run then olug it back in it takes hours to go back to green and fully charged, I've not had this slow process back to charged ever on a bike so is the battery no good? have I a loose connection anywhere?
anybody have any views on this please?
Regards to all

[hairygit]

You need at least half an hour, sometimes longer running just to replace the power consumed by the starter motor! Try doing the same run but using only the kickstart, you'll notice the difference! Or better still, don't do short trips on it, short journeys cause far more wear/stress on an engine than hours of motorway speeds, plus short runs do not allow the engine to warm up thoroughly, which causes condensation, which rots your exhausts from the inside out, and leaves moisture in the engine oil, with obviously dire results long term.

[Speed]

Thank you for the reply, well noted!

[UK Pete]

Hairygit is spot on there

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Green1]

I find I need to travel for at least half hour before finding a half decent road.
Totally agree with long runs you also need the revs nice and high to charge the battery.

[Speed]

Green 1, looks like we are close by, do you ever run out to Krazy horse or Bentley?

[Lobo]

... a couple of years ago I hot wired an ammeter into my 400/4; and was disappointed to find pootling about the country lanes drained the battery. Can’t remember the threshold, but a useful 3500 rpm or so was needed simply to keep the system in check. Bottom line; back in the ‘70s we didn’t really ride with lights on (daytime) - now it’s a given. The alternator simply wasn’t up to the job of 24/7 lighting (unless at high rpm) - so here is the downfall. It’s easy enough to ‘do the math’ wrt “charge in” and “drain out”...(versus rpm).. all found easily in the various manuals. But bottom line, certainly on my old Hondas a decent rpm is required to offset the lighting.

[Bryanj]

The number that springs to mind is at least 3,000rpm to break even, I once had a 500 where occasionally the regulator points would stick open between no charge and half charge and you could see the lights dim till the next bump got them moving again

[Woodside]

years back i would red line everywhere it was more of a target than a warning...so no charging issues...
now i poodle about abit more...so it can sometimes be an issue...
note to self.....speed up!

[MarkCR750]

I have fitted a superbright white LED side light/parking light bulb in my CBR1000F to act as a daytime headlight after having problems running the headlights and heated grips at the same time, no more problems and the light is bright enough to be seen by (but not to “see with “ in the dark of course)

[Lobo]

...it all started out for me on a quite back-roads 45 min “poodle” to thr the local airfield for lunch & a gawp, bugger me, the bike wouldn’t start afterwards. Everything new on it, inc the loom. Hence my interest / delve into it all. My ‘standard ops’ now is to switch off the main beam anytime in stop/start traffic, or any generally low rpm riding.

FYI, just done a quick look at the numbers. All figures approx... and accepting the Voltage regulator has a part to play, but just trying to keep it simple...
The Alternator (max) output @ 5000rpm is 13A. At low rpms this output is significantly less...
Coils will each take 2.5A, main beam 4A, tail 0.5A, indicators 3.5A.
Straight away you can see simply running with main lights on is 9.5A, and then indicating puts you up at 13A. Add in loom / switch gear inefficiencies (old bike) and it’s all a bit tight, and certainly negative charge territory if running at low speed with main lights on.

[Trigger]

Yep, I know someone that pulls in to a filling station, full head lights on, tail light on,  just taken there hand off the brake lever, indicator still flashing and then turns the key to off. No name mentioned 
These batteries do take some stick   

[Bryanj]

I seem to remember Hondas handbook sayingto not exceed the red bad for a significant time!

[Nurse Julie]

Yep, I know someone that pulls in to a filling station, full head lights on, tail light on,  just taken there hand off the brake lever, indicator still flashing and then turns the key to off. No name mentioned 
These batteries do take some stick 

That may be the case but I never have trouble starting the bike with all the above still on !!! 🙂🙂🙂

[Speed]

Good point on the headlight as well, I ride with headlight on and hadnt considered that! you boys know yur stuff!