if my altornator is not working would the cover be cold or would it be hot cuz the bike wont stay charged i know this might be the wrong section for this but i dished out almost 2 grand on the bike[:@]

 

Usally best way to test if your alternator is working either charge your battery fully than ride your bike. If it either dies or runs really low on juice its probably a bad alternator. Now if you plug the battery in and it doesnt take a charge at all the battery probably isnt working. Or get a battery charger with an alternator tester built in. Sorry but best I can think of at the moment just got off 16 hours of work and a little tired.

Alec

 

throw a multimeter on the battery with the bike off. get a reading.

turn the bike on, check the multimeter. you SHOULD see a change in the reading (voltage should go up).
if it remains the same, or goes down...you know you're stator is donezo.

also, check all the wires going to the R/R. if a wire is broken/loose, it could cause the battery to not get a full charge (happend to a friend)

 

on cars all i do is with it running i disconnect the negative battery terminal - if it continues to run your alternator is ok
if it dies, time for a new one

never done that to a bike but i assume it'd be the same way

 

dude. NEVER disconnect the battery while the car is on. you can fry your ECU. The battery serves 2 main purposes. 1. holds a charge to start the car. 2. acts as a filter or buffer for the current coming off the alt. The charge from the alternator WILL spike every once in a while, and the battery absorbs the spikes so it doesnt damage any critical electronics (like teh ecu). thats why most manuals state in bold print to never remove the battery while the vehcile is running...

 

here is how to diagnose your charging system https://cbrforum.com/m_405789/tm.htm

 

Buy a multimeter at radio shack...15 bucks.

 

Nice write up thanks for the link Havoc its been book marked.