I'd check 'em for good moisture free connectivity .

 

+1 Sprock, sounds like the charge might only be getting from your r/r sporadically, did you make sure you cut out all the suspect wiring when you had your meltdown a few years ago?

 

At 3k rpm you shouldn't get that kind of drop (I don't think). I would think that any stops, you would drop below 3k rpm and the battery would be discharging. Highway riding would be fine but city riding would kill it. R/R may need replacement.

You don't need a special charger for a lithium battery. You CAN NOT use one that has a desulfator cycle.

 

R/R
I think my headlight used to get dimmer at idle and brighter with higher revs. Lately it seems to be same brightness at idle and higher revs. Which is right?

WIRING
Wiring looks OK and the bike performed OK the other day after I sprayed the hell out of it with WD40. So I'm hoping it's moisture related!

BATTERY
I have an 18-month-old sealed motobatt. If I charge it (with a car battery charger, in the house, not connected to the bike) it gets to 13V, then I disconnect the charger overnight and in the morning it's down to 12.5v. Need replacing?

Thanks guys.

 

12.5 overnight after being 13, I would say it's about buggered, OK for running camp lights or a spotlight but may be lacking in cca's

 

If the headlight stays the same from idle to higher revs with factory R/R, I would suspect the R/R is week and not charging properly.

 

It's an aftermarket one with the cooling fins, couple of years old. I'll have another test of the headlamp tonight!

 

Have you seen these?

Electrex battery charging problems - pdf and

Charging Fault finding flow chart - pdf

Cheers, SB

 

Thanks Seb.

I'll go through these when I get a chance. Today when I rode in voltage was over 14V with headlamps off, and sometimes over 13V with them on. But under 12V with headlamps on at idle. Headlamps seem to reduce voltage by about 0.7V.

Arrived at work and battery read 12.7V with ignition off (so she should start tonight!).

I'm also going to check my home-made connections again - I used connectors from radio control model car batteries - perhaps they're not as secure as they need to be.

 

I just installed a brand new R/R after experiencing the same issues as you Hmm. I would ride to work, and it would be fine on the restart for lunch, or the commute home. However, if I got stuck in traffic at idle, or heavy traffic where the cooling fan ran alot, the battery would discharge, and I was once left on the side of the road when the bike died and wouldn't restart. Dead batt! Rats. Time for a new R/R. I purchased an Electrosport ESR230 replacement. It has built-in cooling fins, an up-rated rectifier bridge and warrantied for a year. Buy New Regulator/Rectifier Honda CBR/ST CBR1000F (90-96)

I'll test my system at idle with low beams on (standard in US, no switch) and also with cooling fan running at idle. I know at 3k rpm it was charging at 14.7 volts when I installed it and checked it.