What's my chances

[nd4topspd]

This last week I've been barely starting each time I spin it over. Well today max let me down and I had to get a jump. I checked and tightened all grounds a couple days ago thinking that was the problem. Got jump started and drove home from work and started looking again. Decided to pull the battery and holy cow it was dry:bang head: Ran down to the local ace hardware and you know they don't have battery acid so I got the next thing that came to mind. Distilled water. Topped it off and gave it a 5 min charge then went back together. Drove around town for another 30 min then parked it for the night in hopes it starts right up in the morning to head back to work:confused2:

 

[mattness]

id check your reg, sounds like your battery is boiling your acid? do you smell rotten eggs or anything?

do you ride with your brights on or off?

hot where you live?

old small finned reg still?

also after riding it a while, does your headlight seem dim at idle... and super bright when youre revving it?

 

[nd4topspd]

I'm leaning toward blaming it on the 105 temps here in sw Kansas lately. Also I've been parking it inside our generator room at work for 12 hrs a day where the temp reaches 115-120 threw the heat of the day. I'm thinking that ain't happening anymore. My reg is only a year old purchased from Python. I always run on low beam. My lights used to dim every now and then but since my 1300 swap it hasn't been a problem.

 

[mattness]

it sounds like you have experience with this, so I'll post this for anyone else who hasnt experienced this before, because it WILL happen!!!

well the regulator gets hot because electricity that is wasted turns into heat, if it gets too hot the regulator will fail, heat does funky things to electronics.

regs can either undercharge.. or over charge, either one will leave you stranded eventually. usually the first warning sign is a dim headlight. when the reg is cold, youll have no symptoms, unless its really really bad. it isnt until theyre warm do you find out that there's a problem. they can go undiagnosed for a long time. usually on your first big trip, or interstate run.


it likely lowered the resistance in the reg and sent too much voltage to your batt, however, you should have smelled the sulfur burning? unless its been happening slowly over time and it was unoticeable. you can ease off some of the voltage by keeping it in 5th gear, with your brights on, blowing your horn the entire time that you ride.

you can buy a battery from walmart and replace it every time it messes up, when my reg was going out on my magna i rode it until the battery broke into pieces on the inside. 400 miles from home.. what choice did i have?? i kept returning them LOL.



undercharging would not cause your battery to boil the sulfur out... how old is the battery?
did it have any "caps" popped out? maybe the mod monkey said it was time for a batt upgrade.

reasons theyre hard to diagnose
- cold weather keeps the reg cooler, so it wont overheat and fail
-short rides dont allow enough time for the reg to overheat
- the battery will recharge itself as it sits from the chemical reaction of the sulfuric acid.
- it takes a long time for the battery to be damaged.
- if undercharging, your bike will use more power than the system is charging, but as you finish your ride and it sits for a while, the battery will recharge itself. you usually dont get a "surprise stranding" until the battery is really bad.
- its a silent killer, noone inspects their battery but supposedly dannymax, thats it.

the main symptom for overcharging and undercharging is the dim headlight, youll likely never notice, because during the day you cant see your headlight, and at night its cooler outside, and youll most likely be taking a short ride anyway.

you will be stranded, and it will suck.

after a long ride on a hot day, when you rev your bike up, the headlight should get brighter and then dim at idle, no reg is perfect. but it shouldnt be tooooooooo drastic. if you suspect foul play, get it checked out

 

[nd4topspd]

Thanks for the info:biglaugh: I need all the advise I can get lol
There was no signs of battery acid on the outside of battery. Also the caps are just the push in type and none was pushed up. My battery has made 2 seasons and it was a cheapest knockoff I could by at my Yamy dealer so I'm probably lucky it made it this long. The overcharging is something I am going to pay close attention to and do some testing this weekend. So if I check the voltage at the starter during the heat of the day what should I see with engine off and then with it running?
Well I'm off to see if max will fire this morning and get me to work. Thanks againunk:

 

[Mod Monkey]

The Mod Monkey recommends that you do the R1 R/R upgrade and purchase an Odyssey PC680 battery. This will definitely make sure that your charging system is up to snuff and the PC680 is the best battery for the Vmax, IMHO.

 

[zippo6]

mmmmm, roast Monkey....

 

[vmax626]

I had the same problem some time ago and wound up having to re wire the charging system and buy a new battery on top of replacing the reg with a "R1" regulator and do the "crimp fix" just because the stock reg. took a sh!t on me but, now ALL of my hot start and charging problems are gone, gone, gone.:eusa_dance::eusa_dance::eusa_dance:.
<<Dave>>unk:
P.S. The monkey is right about this one.