R26 charging system

[euro518]

Hello all. I've noticed that following a short run (1/2 hour or so) my battery drips quite a bit from its breather hose. The battery is brand new and fully charged with acid just mid-way b/w the low and over full line. I've checked the current flowing into the battery with a meter and it reads b/w 6 and 6.8 v (higher number when revs are up). I've also checked all the breaker contacts and cleaned same (as described in the Motorrad R26 + R27 Reparaturanleitung. Is the voltage regulator the problem? If so, how do I check that?

-Kevin

[euro518]

[† Knut]

Kevin,

what kind of meter do you used? Simple digital or (better) analogue? It is known, that an analogue digital meter could give you senseless values even with 5 digits behind the point.

BTW, 6.8 Volts with higher rpm sounds good or even a bit low. So a "boiling" battery couldn't be, since it starts boiling at 7.4Volts. Try again with another voltmeter.

Cheers

Knut

[† odeon8]

Digits ?
At an analog meter ?
I did not know that ....
;-)
But u are right: Many digital meters do not show the correct voltage.

Thomas

[† Knut]

Thomas,

thanks for blaming me... it was too early this mornin'.... corrected in #1!

Knut

[euro518]

I'm using a new digital meter. I'll borrow either a 'professional' digital or analog meter and retest. Is testing at the battery the correct place?

-Kevin

[† Knut]

Yes as a first trial and post the values you've measured voltage at the batterie
- ignition "on"
- at idle speed
- at higher rpm (around 3000)

However, refer to page 145 in repair manual

Knut

[euro518]

OK. When I retested it with a new voltage tester (Fluke) I got roughly the same (6.0 at idle and near 6.8 V at about 3000 rpm). I then made a minor adjustment to the regulator contact (which appeared to be nearly touching) to 0.2 mm. I then retested and found at idle my reading was 5.4 to 5.6 and at 3000 rpm about 6.4 to 6.5 V.

-Kevin

[rolf]

Hallo,
what type of voltage regulator do you have?

nevertheless, you don't change the curreent correctly by minimize the distance of the gap.

F- or Z-Regulator?
Rolf

[euro518]

I have the F regulator. Can a 'bad' battery be the issue? With ignition off the battery reads 6.04 V.

-Kevin

[rolf]

Not good....but enough!

[† Knut]

.. my battery drips quite a bit from its breather hose.

-Kevin

Kevin, before going into further details.

- Please define "drips quite a bit"
- Do you charged the battery before riding - not only filling with acid, but with a battery recharger?

Even if the battery is brandnew and filled with acid, it isn't fully charged. If you ride the first miles the generator is charging and while charging the acid is warmed up and so the volume increased. The hose is a real safety item.

Make the same measurements after fully recharging the battery.

Cheers

Knut

[euro518]

Hi Knut. By dripping quite a bit I mean about a tea spoon (or a bit more). This happens after running it a few minutes (10-15). The battery was fully charged with a charger before using. After that initial start it sat in the bike for two weeks and promptly died. I checked for a ground fault and found none (using the manual as a guide). I then charged it for 48 hours with a 6 amp charger. That was about a month ago, but now I disconnect the battery after use (using an in-line fuse).

-Kevin

[euro518]

Well, after some more pondering and re-reading the manual and replies above, I believe I've figured out my problem.

In my rush to get the bike on the road this past June/July I went to a local battery shop and asked for a small 6 v battery (size matters, if you want it to fit in the appropriate place). All they had was a large 6 v 12 amp and a small 6 v 2 amp. I chose the latter. Clearly, that must be the problem. The charging system is charging with too high an amperage for the battery. According to what I've read the battery should be capable of 9 amp.

The good news is that I have one of the Blitz 6v batteries from Ulis (arrived last week). Once installed I will check both amperage and voltage to the battery.

-Kevin

[† Knut]

Kevin,

I just read your answer next to the last and there is the answer to the problem:

I then charged it for 48 hours with a 6 amp charger.

Even if the charger had an output of about 0.5 Amp you've tried to push at least (48 x 0.5) 24 Ampere-hours in a small 2 Ah battery. I assume that you've killed this tiny little thing (hopefully you've used a 6 Volt charger  )
For a gently charging it is recommended to used a max. amperage of 1/10th of the capacity and then for 10 hours charging.

Much better are automatic charger for those kind of batterys, which allows also to be plugged in the whole year. They have special programs which act as a kind of refresher keeping the battery always ready for use. It's really worth to have one.

Concerning the regulator - charge the new battery and make the measurements again (after riding a while). Then we can see what happens.

Knut

[rolf]

Na denn....2 Ah...da kann sich sogar Mek noch 'ne Scheibe von abschneiden!

Kevin...2Ah is really much (!) too less !

Rolf

[mekgyver]

a condenser or a knob-cell is really too less 

my old 4AH accu works fine, nearly over 10 jears, with lights on and all the stuff.

The reason :
the generator and the regulator have to be in proper condition, that's all 
and you have to hear and watch to your system .... never the less, that's oldie-biking 

regards, mek 

[rolf]

Licht an???
Entschuldigung, dann meinte ich dich nicht. Ich rede von dem Mitfahrer dem es trotz mehrfacher "Ermahnungen" aller nie gelungen ist sein Licht einzuschalten (auch in DK).
Es freut mich  ein weiteren Punkt der Erfolgsgeschichte der 4 Ah Batterie miterleben zu dürfen.

Dann höre weiter brav auf die blow-by Geräusche.

Was macht dein neuer Regler?

Rolf N(ewie-biking)

[isie]

firstly 2Ah is too less
Secondly a full loaded battery can be empty in a month
and thirdly Knut´s thesis of killing such battery by overcurrent / overcharging can be or not be an issue.

[euro518]

Understood (all discussions). My German is rusty but not that bad (both my parents are from Germany). As per over charging, I don't think that was an issue because the charger I used had an auto-cut out and yes, it was a 6 v charger. Finding a low amp 6 v charger is impossible in Canada. At least here in western Canada. Perhaps a few are laying around garages but none are to be had in stores. Vielen Dank an alle.

[berndr253]

Limiting the output of your battery-charger is not really a problem. If you can run with 6 Volt charger put a small 6V bulb in "line" between "+" charger and "+" battery. Then the "amperage" is limitted by the used bulb!

Calculating the amperage is done by: wattage:=amperage*voltage, for example if you want a amperage of 2 ampere and a voltage of 6 volt a bulb of 12 watt is the best choice

Bernd

[euro518]

Thanks for the advice. That would solve my problem with the charger. I've always run a 'trickle' 1.5 amp charger (12V battery tender) on my F650GS.


-Kevin

[† odeon8]

Hi Kevin,

could it be that you mean a "tickle" mode charger ?

In my old Laser Company the tickle mode was a laser
running at its lowest possible power - just keeping
it alive.

Besides, the problem with the low amps battery
is not the capacity but the high impedance
(resistance) that makes the vehicle supply voltage
too unstable. Of course , a long ride with low
RPM requires a large capacity .

Thomas

[euro518]

Hi. Perhaps on your side of the pond. We refer to low amp chargers (<2) as trickle chargers. Typically they are used to maintain batteries over the winter but also for 'gently' charging a battery.

-Kevin

[rolf.soler]

tickle -> heisst kitzeln (mit dem Laser kitzeln...)
trickle -> heisst tröpfeln (Batterie vollträufeln...)

[† odeon8]

Kevin is right.

It just sounds similar to this special laser operating mode.

Thomas