Alternator

[oldsawfiler]

I should have known better from spending 2 years on the forums, but i sucked my battery dry while the bike was running. While trouble shooting my new 55w running lights and my tail light problem I ran the bat down. Jump started and left it idling to recharge while continuing to work on tail lights. (mostly just scratching my head). After about 15 min. the bike just died. Tried to restart and nothing. It had gotten hot enough for the fan to come on. The Connie's alternator is just not up to running that many amps at idle. Put Bat Tender on over night and everything is good, except for the tail lights of course 1990 Aint she a pretty Tomato (the bike ofcourse) wedshots albums http://community.webshots.com/user/sawfiler64/albums/most-recent

 

[smithr]

Yep at idle the bike may not be charging the battery much at all. Fan comes on and it killed the dead battery. You have to drive more then you think to make up for just starting the bike daily. Charger was the way to go. ---------------------------------- South Central Area Director Email scad@cog-online.org

<p align="left"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/20211686@N05/">My Photos<br

 

[slybonesjesse]

From the volt meter readings on my Connie the stock alternator definitely does NOT have enough capacity to keep up with 110watts of 2 - 55w driving lights, plus the fan, etc. Not to mention you are sitting at a stop light with the brakes lights on, turn signal etc. Going down the road was ok. But not sitting at idle. Note I never had the battery/bike die on me as I never did that for 15min. I used to get paranoid about a few min at a stop light. HOWEVER ( and I'll step on some toes here ) Some/many will tell you they run all this stuff and its no problem. My caution would be that I believe when you are at idle and the alternator is not keeping up the battery is making up the difference. And then when you ride off the battery will charge again. And while this works, and it may not leave you stranded ( so we can claim no problem right ? ) I believe that it does take its toll on the battery. I rode for months this way and then one day while performing maintenance I check the battery and found my stock original battery with about 20% water in it. Amazing it worked at all. And I am not talking a little low. I mean it had hardly anything it it at all. And so while I never got stranded I feel lucky I checked it when I did and never boiled the thing dry. - On with the story I then got one of them PC680 Oddessey batteries. I rode this way with the 110 watts of Hella FF50 glowing for probably a good year on that PC680. Since its maint free I and has black casing it kinda hard to tell, but it held up pretty good I think. So personally I think some luck is invloved as well as the type of battery, condition of the battery, frequency you perform this constant discharge/charge cycle going from stop light to stop light, and so on. My caution for anyone running like this is to get a good battery, hook up a volt meter, and pay attention. While you may not be stranded today or tomorrow your number just might some up at the wrong time if you are not. 2003 Concours, 47K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://mysite.verizon.net/slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm

 

[oldsawfiler]

I'm going to replace the halogens with some LEDs as soon as i can. In the mean time they will only be on for highway use. 1990 Aint she a pretty Tomato (the bike ofcourse) wedshots albums http://community.webshots.com/user/sawfiler64/albums/most-recent

 

[smeg1951]

The biggest killer of batteries is heat. Heat causes the water to evaporate. Charging heats the battery. Make sure that you keep the water up to the proper level and use only distilled water.