voltage regulator test?

[Kham]

so i let the battery drain completely like idiot, cable jump started, ride for 15min. but shutoff by accident (hoping to ride longer)... tried to jump start again and would not stay on when cable was remove... pushed bike home... ordered another regulator... put it in... charged up battery and all is working...
when i put a meter to both regulator, the numbers are all way off according to the chart. it said to use specific tester. is there a way to test this besides sticking the suspect back in the bike? i suspect it is still good.

[Cheese]

Does your tester have a diode testing function? If so, you may be able to measure the voltage across the diodes with the regulator removed.

[DuncanMoto]

Actually my first question would be what did you use to jump your bike?
Did you use a car and hook up directly to the terminals?

[Kham]

Actually my first question would be what did you use to jump your bike?
Did you use a car and hook up directly to the terminals?

yes. was that wrong approach? hey it worked first time but not second time.

[Kham]

Does your tester have a diode testing function? If so, you may be able to measure the voltage across the diodes with the regulator removed.

i think so but i dont know which pin is which. the chart just say to measure ohms from this pin to that pin unless im reading it wrong. i will probly stick it back in the bike when i get the chance.

[DuncanMoto]

yes. was that wrong approach? hey it worked first time but not second time.

Motorcycle electronics cannot handle car alternator power. Things get fried very easily. Too many amps. A motorcycle stator produces between 4.0 and 18.0 amps. The most common being 10 amps. Cars alternators produce 65-100 amps.

The correct approach is to charge using a motorcycle charger 800mah to 1.25 amps up to 5amps max. Or if you don't have time, or a charger, use another motorcycle to charge the battery over 20-30 minutes. Before attempting to start the bike switch the ground cable on the dead bike to an engine ground instead of directly to the battery.

Worse case (if you must use a car) Do not let the car run, but hook the batteries together in parallel for about 15-20 minutes. The motorcycle battery will charge and the car battery should not die as long as it is healthy.

Above all else. Negative cables (black) should always be last on, first off.

[Kham]

i suspect that but maybe the regulator has some sort of circuit protection and could go back to it's normal working condition?

[DuncanMoto]

i suspect that but maybe the regulator has some sort of circuit protection and could go back to it's normal working condition?

It's called a fuse and it does not always trip fast enough.

It could just be the battery. Bike batteries do not charge quickly. You can always stop by my shop for a free battery test. It'll show the health, charge and output voltage of your battery and let you know if any cells are dead.

[Kham]

It's called a fuse and it does not always trip fast enough.

there is a 30amp main fuse but i didn't see any for charging.

It could just be the battery. Bike batteries do not charge quickly. You can always stop by my shop for a free battery test. It'll show the health, charge and output voltage of your battery and let you know if any cells are dead.

you mean it could be the battery when it was completely drain that when i cable jump and pull the cable, the bike goes dead again?

i charged the battery over night at 2amp. it said fully charged. it seemed to hold the output at 12.8v which is what the manual said (2.6v).

i migh try to stopby to test for dead cell.

[Honclfibr]

Motorcycle electronics cannot handle car alternator power. Things get fried very easily. Too many amps. A motorcycle stator produces between 4.0 and 18.0 amps. The most common being 10 amps. Cars alternators produce 65-100 amps.

The correct approach is to charge using a motorcycle charger 800mah to 1.25 amps up to 5amps max. Or if you don't have time, or a charger, use another motorcycle to charge the battery over 20-30 minutes. Before attempting to start the bike switch the ground cable on the dead bike to an engine ground instead of directly to the battery.

Worse case (if you must use a car) Do not let the car run, but hook the batteries together in parallel for about 15-20 minutes. The motorcycle battery will charge and the car battery should not die as long as it is healthy.

Above all else. Negative cables (black) should always be last on, first off.

I = V/R. Current is a function of voltage and resistance. The car alternator produces (roughly) the same voltage and sees the same load as the bike alternator, therefore the current will be the same. The only exception might be if there was a short in the system somewhere.

[Kham]

that's what i thought. it's the same 12v pressure and it won't push any more current no matter howmuch the source can provide unless the pipe (or short) allows it.

[Wishbone]

[Kham]

what is that? wheel of fortune?

[DuncanMoto]

I = V/R. Current is a function of voltage and resistance. The car alternator produces (roughly) the same voltage and sees the same load as the bike alternator, therefore the current will be the same. The only exception might be if there was a short in the system somewhere.

Are you saying that I am full of crap?

Just asking. Cause it sounds like your trying to say I'm full of crap. Of sourse I'm guessing you must be an electrical engineer???

Liken voltage to the size of the water pipe. Yes cars have the same voltage.
Liken Amps to how much goes through that pipe per second. Cars produce roughly 5-10 times the amount of a motorcycle stator.

[Wishbone]

what is that? wheel of fortune?

Yeah. It says you're screwed.

No double secret on-ramp off-ramp fun

[Kham]

Liken voltage to the size of the water pipe. Yes cars have the same voltage.

no not to the size of the pipe but to the pressure. if no pressure (0 Volt), water (current) ain't gonna flow not matter what the size.

[Honclfibr]

I'm not saying you're full of crap, but this is a pretty common misconception.

Electricity is analogous to water but the variables are often mixed up. Voltage is analogous to pressure, however current is actually analogous to the water supply available at the tank. Where the size of the pipe is the circuit's resistance, or more precisely its conductance (conductance = 1 / resistance).

Increase the voltage, and more water will flow through the pipe (assuming there is enough supply), increase the size of the pipe (decrease the resistance / increase it's conductance) and more water will flow through the pipe. Increase the amount of water at the supply without changing the pressure in the supply or the size of the pipe and nothing changes, assuming there was sufficient supply to begin with. Same with electricity. Increasing the current capacity of a circuit beyond the capacity required to satisfy V/R and nothing changes.

[Kham]

i'd say the bike is design for to handle 12v so it has the right pipe size(resistance) to handle certain load (current) but at 12v pressure. the problem maybe the spike during cable jump from car?

[rbrais]

Duncan is correct. Both use 12v systems, but a car puts out more amps than a motorcycle. Never jump a bike with a car running. Charging battery to battery (without the car running) is probably ok because you are simply feeding 12v to 12v with no significant amperage output, but with a car running the amps are way too high for a motorcycle.

Make sure your battery charger has a setting for motorcycles. Walmart sells a decent one for $45. It has settings for cars, bikes etc and automatically switches to trickle charge.

If you are not that good with testing electrical parts, you may want to drop your bike off at a dealership to see what you fried. Sorry dude, but if the battery is still good and it's going dead it may be the stator. You said you already replaced the R/R and it's not holding a charge, right?

[Honclfibr]

Duncan is correct. Both use 12v systems, but a car puts out more amps than a motorcycle.

Can someone take over? My arms are getting tired.

[Wishbone]

You are all wrong.

You CAN jump a bike with a running car. You just have to first install 2 flux capacitors (in series/parallel) in order to protect the bikes electronics.

[TheIglu]

If the car wasn't running when you jumped it, you are fine.

[rbrais]

Flux Capacitors......

Well, I'm no electrical engineer, just repeating what mechanics have told me. Duncan seems to know his shit, too. AND battery chargers have different amp settings for motorcycles and cars. If it did not matter, why would they have different settings?

OK, I'm out. Good luck with your bike.

[rbrais]

OK, I lied. One morething;

You may have had a problem before jumping it, which may be why the battery died in the first place. Drains can be hard to locate. Could be something as simple as a wire that is grounding out on the frame, or a bad speedo/tach (if they are electronic); maybe a bad switch somewhere. Hard to say, but if you have a Honda, they are known for having the voltage regulators go bad because they are undersized and can't disipate heat adequately, at least on the bikes from the late 90's.

[Honclfibr]

Flux Capacitors......

Well, I'm no electrical engineer, just repeating what mechanics have told me. Duncan seems to know his shit, too. AND battery chargers have different amp settings for motorcycles and cars. If it did not matter, why would they have different settings?

OK, I'm out. Good luck with your bike.

The reason chargers have different amperage settings for cars and bikes is to avoid charging the motorcycle battery too fast. Batteries have internal resistance which generates heat, if you try to charge a stone dead battery the heat generated from the excess current consumption can boil the electrolyte in the battery, damaging the battery.

The amount of current a battery can safely draw for an extended period of time (such as when charging) depends on the size of the battery, car batteries can stand more current. So when charging a bike you limit the current, if the battery tries to draw more current then the charger can supply, the voltage at the output of the charger will drop until V = IR is satisfied.