Charging Frustrations! Need advice Please

[JackBoots]

my new one looks like this

 

 

Definately different from the one I bought. Mine was stock with all the same cables and connections

[Bbennett]

The Guzzi gremlin hit me again after 2 K of no probs and I now have a re-occurence of the not charging problem. Weird thing is, it seems to only happen in hot weather when I am idling too much at stoplights. I see the tach go crazy and then I know the battery is not charging and the bike has to be push started.

 

JackBoots - did the new voltage regulator cure your heat-related charging issues?

 

Thx

Bob

 

Edit (Nov 2008): I replaced my regulator and my charging problems are finally gone. Thanks for everyone's help.

[JackBoots]

The Guzzi gremlin hit me again after 2 K of no probs and I now have a re-occurence of the not charging problem. Weird thing is, it seems to only happen in hot weather when I am idling too much at stoplights. I see the tach go crazy and then I know the battery is not charging and the bike has to be push started.

 

JackBoots - did the new voltage regulator cure your heat-related charging issues?

 

Thx

Bob

 

Well, I'm 90 miles into it with the new regulator and have seen no problems and no charge light flicker. We've had a couple of cooler days here in the Northeast so I guess I can't say that the problem is fully cured until things get warm again. I will agree that the last time my battery died I was sitting in traffic for about a half hour.

 

I never had any tach issues. Could that be a relay?

[Bbennett]

Thanks for your response, glad you seemed to have resolved your issue.

 

I really do not think it is relay issue, I just replaced all of them and the problem was unaffected

Edit: originally I left the word "not" out of above reply

 

As fate would have it, my last 2 rides have not shown the charging issue at all....but I know it is lurking!

 

Bob

[Murray]

As far as i know the charging system does not actually charge at idle so if you are spending a lot of time in heavy traffic have your nice bright 100plus watt low beam burning plus fuel injection ingnition etc etc the battery will be going backwards. Move to the Italian alps, the standard voltage regulators also use the case as an earth so all the charge current has to flow through this earth connection (current flow opposite to voltage). Migth be worth pullin the bolts out hitting them with a wire brush and maybe run a tap though the mounting bolt holes, do not use CRC/WD40 or other similar lubricant for assembly as the film it leaves behind insulates. I've had an acel votlage reg for a Hardley 90 000+kms no drama's on my 1100 sport and its a fair bit cheaper than the OEM item although I think there are now aftermarket ones that are better value yet again.

[JackBoots]

200 plus miles and a good spell of sitting in traffic on a warm day and all seems perfect.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that with the replacement of my regulator my charging problem has been solved.

 

Thank you all for the help!

[dlaing]

Thanks for your response, glad you seemed to have resolved your issue.

 

I really do not think it is relay issue, I just replaced all of them and the problem was unaffected

Edit: originally I left the word "not" out of above reply

 

As fate would have it, my last 2 rides have not shown the charging issue at all....but I know it is lurking!

 

Bob

The combination of tach going crazy and not charging does seem to indicate a bad starter relay.

The line of voltage that the regulator refers to and the current for the tach pass together through many fault prone places.

From the battery, the 15A fuse is the first potential place where a bad contact could cause a problem. (replacing fuse is cheap)

The next and most likely point of failure is the notorious starter relay, with its barely adequate 87a terminal. Replace with either a GEI or one of the relay's Ryland sells. IMHO anything else won't cut it. Putting headlights on their own set of relays is a better solution to take the high current out of that circuit

The next point of failure is the headlight relay. These are generally pretty reliable.

 

Heading out of that circuit, the tach's ground is notoriously bad.

And then there are the connections coming off of the voltage regulator. They are down low in the vicinity of water spraying off the front tire. Cleaning and protecting them is a good idea.

And last but not least is the 30A charging fuse. Look for signs of melting or buring.

[JackBoots]

More frustrations. The battery light flicker has gone away with the new regulator but I have discovered that after sitting in traffic for 30-45 minutes the battery was drained.

 

I rode home 180 miles and the battery charged while riding but it would seem that the battery does not charge while the bike idles. Is this considered normal for the Lemans?

[Slavomir Musilek (R.I.P.)]

More frustrations. The battery light flicker has gone away with the new regulator but I have discovered that after sitting in traffic for 30-45 minutes the battery was drained.

 

I rode home 180 miles and the battery charged while riding but it would seem that the battery does not charge while the bike idles. Is this considered normal for the Lemans?

 

 

yes it is normall, bike is intended to running in twisty roads, not to sit in traffic waiting for lorry to turn in one-way road My is not charging with lights on. With lights off I have 13V on Idle...

[twhitaker]

I've had a similar charging issue on my Lemans for a while and have been following this thread for advise. I swapped out the regulator for one I saved off the wrecked Centauro. The charging light would still flicker erratically. It seemed as though something bouncing around in the circuit was turning the charging system on and off. Sometimes the light would stay on, sometimes it would stay off. I checked the connections between the regulator and the wiring harness and they looked good. I thought maybe I had two bad regulators. I borrowed a third one from a friend. Same old, same old. Now I know it's not the regulator. I pulled the alternator cover off for a squizz. Sure enough one of the yellow wires broke off right where it was soldered to the stator. I brought the stator to work and had a professional solder it back together and it seems all is well.

[Greg Field]

More frustrations. The battery light flicker has gone away with the new regulator but I have discovered that after sitting in traffic for 30-45 minutes the battery was drained.

 

I rode home 180 miles and the battery charged while riding but it would seem that the battery does not charge while the bike idles. Is this considered normal for the Lemans?

 

Yes, fairly normal. Perhaps you might consider getting the European version of the left switch, which allows the option of switching the headlight off or to a 5w parking beam while you are stuck in traffick. They're not that expensive and can come in very handy. If your local dealer does not have one, I have a few on the shelf at Moto Intl.

[twhitaker]

I just bought a "Heads Up Voltage Monitor" from Signal Dynamics for $25. It's the one with the single flush mounted LED. The processor is half again larger than a Zippo lighter and the LED is small enough to mount in the plastic shroud between the gas tank and the triple tree. I also got one of their 48 LED 1157 taillights.

 

http://www.signaldynamics.com/products/Modules/HUVM.asp

[Tom M]

Here's another option for a voltmeter plus clock and thermometer: http://www.compacc.com/prod.cfm/cid/1119003/pid/19348 The same part is available from most big mail order houses.

 

[mznyc]

I like this meter http://www.digitalmeter.com/cgi-bin/websho...g=configspc.txt ,can't find link but found a comparison of various meters and many of them didn't do well in wet conditions,such as the compacc. Seems like these would fit into the look of the V11 better. http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.as...p;autoview=prod

Losing charge at idle is unacceptable,changing to the Euro switchgear may treat the problem but not cure it.

[Rosso-mandello-dave]

A month ago my battery died. Once I push started it, the bike still ran fine with plenty of headlight. I rode it home 40 miles!!

When I made it home I checked the battery. It was 11 something volts and from 2001. Probably time to replace it.

I bought a Yuasa from Batteries Plus. Part number Y something or other-15. They filled it, sealed it, and gave it to me charged.

It fits perfectly and has been in the bike for at least 600 miles.

 

The 1st sign of trouble was the charge light randomly flickering. It was very random. It might take 100 miles for it to happen and only last for a minute usually going away once I rev it up a bit. In the 600 miles it probably happened 6 times. I had seen this once before with the old battery and I didn't have any problems for thousand of miles so I figured it was just a fluke. This time it kept coming back so I checked a few things. I cleaned all the cables I could find coming off the regulator, checked the 30 amp fuse and cables to it, and cleaned up the ground wire to the regulator. Yesterday I measured the charge off the battery with the bike off,and with the bike running. It seemed to be charging perfectly so I decided, "oh well" Guzzi fluke no worries.

 

Well that was a mistake. Today I went to a motorcycle night event and when leaving the bike barely started. No low charge light or anything!! I stopped on top of a hill on the way home and stopped the bike to try and restart it. It wouldn't start. I had to roll start it down the hill. I rode it home 7 miles. I have to say that the headlight was very strong even with high beam. I would guess that if the charging circuit were bad, the charging light would come on correct?? Could I just have a bad battery?? even though it's brand new? I would have thought that I would have lost my headlight on the way home.

 

I didn't peel back the plastic cover on the yellow cable connectors at the regulator to see if they were corroded but from what I could see they looked good and I put some electrical contact grease on the male side. Should I peel back the cover and check them?

 

Can anyone help??!! I freakin love this bike but these electrical gremlins are a pain in the butt and I am getting very frustrated.

 

At the moment the bike won't start so I can't take any voltage readings. I have the battery on charge to see what happens and then maybe I can take some readings.