handtius Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Can anyone tell me why a 10 month old Yuasa battery would just drain out? This past thursday (june 9th), a friend and I went to a bar for some food and a drink to wait out a storm that was coming in. the rain stopped and we got riding and it started to rain again, but we decided to just ride through it. half way into our commute (about 40min), my batter light comes on, then about 5 blocks from my apartment the bike just dies...it was puttering and i was just hoping to make it home...i did not. I took the battery out and through it on a tender over night. in the morning i walked back to the bike, through the battery back in and she started up fine. the battery light was still on though, so i rode her around the neighborhood for 10 minutes, she seemed fine and the light even turned off, so off to work i went, 15 minutes later, she dies again on me. so now, i park my bike, take the battery out, jump on the subway and go to work (live in nyc). i charge the battery while at work...get back to my bike after work, throw the battery in, she starts up, i ride home and then sit out by my bike to see how long she takes to die...15min...during this time, the taillight turned off and the horn stopped working (tested it right before she died). DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA WHY THIS WOULD HAPPEN? do i have a short? loose wires? defective battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstallons Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 That is because your charging system is NOT working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi_Roy Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 As he said, the charging system is not working, The horn shares a circuit with the voltage regulator. http://www.thisoldtractor.com/guzzi007/schematics/1999_V11_sport.gif The circuit goes battery, fuse 5, Starter relay, headlight relay to the Horn & Regulator. Find out why the horn is not working and that will fix your charging Check your Starter Relay, it must be a 5 pin one in that location. Check the relay sockets, could also be loose also. Relay Base Repair.pdf Charging Problems.pdf Provide a better ground for the regulator, a short wire to a timing cover bolt works well/ Good luck Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagehenry Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 The voltage regulator has two yellow wires running to it, and they have broken on mine before, as well as several others here on this board. Real easy to visually check those and rule that out, or give you a place to start It sounds like you are not real familiar with trouble shooting/diagnostics. This could be a great time to begin that learning curve, start aquiring some tools and a multimeter, pick up a book on m/c electrics, hang out here and ask questions, DEFINATELY use your "Search" function for all the previous posts here about the same issues you have, etc. That, or bite the bullet and aquaint yourself with your local reputable Guzzi dealer/independant m/c shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstallons Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 If the relay/fuse swapping doesn't get you anywhere, post for any members in your area that can help or point you toward a reputable dealer/repair facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handtius Posted June 13, 2011 Author Share Posted June 13, 2011 Hey Guys, thank you for all your input. i do have a guy who takes care of her, but he's out of town and it's too nice out for me to wait (plus, i hate mass transit when i can ride). i have a multimeter and i'm about to go check. i'm going to look into everything you mentioned and hopefully find the culprit. thanks again for all your advice. and, no...i've never been very good at circuity. down to learn though! -ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrt Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Ryan, it's not difficult to learn circuit wiring- it is certainly not voodoo or magic. electrons flow following certain rules. You can figure this out; there are some real talented folks on this website who can provide a lot of help (Roy and Henry, I'm looking at you). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baha1000 Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 I'm having a similar problem and I did the regulator grounding fix I've seen on other posts. At the alternator (I hope I'm right that it's the thing on top of the starter motor) I'm getting 12v while it's running and at the battery the same but drops to 9v as rpm's increase. Used to be a slow drain, maybe 8 twenty mile partial freeway commutes, but now with a fully charged battery, the drain happens within 10 minutes (the tach even quits working). Could it simply be just a bad alternator on this 12k mile bike? This novice appreciates your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstallons Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 I'm having a similar problem and I did the regulator grounding fix I've seen on other posts. At the alternator (I hope I'm right that it's the thing on top of the starter motor) I'm getting 12v while it's running and at the battery the same but drops to 9v as rpm's increase. Used to be a slow drain, maybe 8 twenty mile partial freeway commutes, but now with a fully charged battery, the drain happens within 10 minutes (the tach even quits working). Could it simply be just a bad alternator on this 12k mile bike? This novice appreciates your help! Uhh....... No the regulator is above the alternator. The alternator is at the front of the engine behind a silver cover w/the Guzzi emblem. The regulator is between the horns. It is an aluminum item that looks like a big heat sink. If you want to talk and or ask ?s , my Verizon # is 270-841-1774 This goes for handitus too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bbennett Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 While this comment is not a direct answer to the questions above I want to share my experience that slow "around town" driving is NOT necessarily enough RPM's to re-charge the battery. On my bike, if I have an older, tiresd battery then I need to be doing at least 4k RPM to begin to re-charge the battery. I have a little colored LED that tells me the charging state of my battery at all times. You can easily see the effect of putting on the turn signals for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baha1000 Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Duh, of course that's not the alternator. At least I now know how to remove the starter! Thanks for the advice and the color schematic should prove helpful. The relays at least "feel" like a tight fit and I'll next check the fuse. What should I read at the yellow wire connection between the alternator and regulator? Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstallons Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Did anyone post that: you can test the alternator output by disconnecting the two yellow wires coming out of the alternator and start the bike, then connect a voltmeter to these two wires and it will read around 60-70v a.c. @ or around 2500 r.p.m. ? We are testing the alternator (or causing an electrical fire) to see if it is o.k. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handtius Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 SO i was trying to test the connectinos with the multimeter and the battery wasn't even giving me a reading...so i started rooting around, looking for a burnout or something...opened the fuse box and found th3 F5 fuse melted. it's melted so bad, that i can't tell if it's no good. it doesn't seem to have blown, but i'm thinking this could be relative to my issue. gstallons, thanks for offering to talk about it. if you're around over the weekend, maybe i can call sunday if i don't figure it out by then. my work week is busy as hell and living in new york, i don't really have the ideal situation to be working on the bike at night. thanks again everyone. i'm going to keep working at this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstallons Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 You can repair this with a Maxi-fuse connector and fuse to repair this circuit. The Maxi-fuse will do a better job because ALL of the charging current goes through this fuse. If you want to search the site for this repair , go ahead. By the way; the alternator output can be tested by disconnecting the bullet connectors and checking for a.c. output ( from the alternator side) with the engine running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handtius Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 here's a pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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