At the mechanics shop

[jonathan180iq]

Originally Posted by PimpS

Tell me something: as I understood mechanic: the bike went dead in first place because the lights emptied the battery during the ride, cause rectifier wasn't functioning properly. Is this reasonable?

The idea that using the lights used up all of your electrical system power doesn't make any sense. Batteries on vehicles are generally only used to start the vehicle and to be a source of back up juice during periods of low output by the alternator/generator/stator. Once cranked, the stator is the thing that is making electricity flow through the bike, not the battery. (Although the battery is part of the circuit.) So suddenly having the bike die on you, while riding, sounds like something other than just the rectifier. As Alan mentioned, I would suspect the battery would be the faulty link, since you said all of the fuses were fine.

If your mechanic checked the battery while it was still attached to the bike and the bike was running, then the reading he would get across the terminals would be 12.5-13.7 volts. He would assume that the battery was fine, even though it very well might not be taking the charge. And a drained battery, or a battery with failing cells, can short out the whole system.

I had the exact same thing happen once while driving a Ford Focus down the road. It suddenly would just cut out while riding. Trying to force it through the episode, I gunned it, solving the problem for all of 3 seconds until the car shut off completely and I had to drift to the side of the road. Upon inspection under the hood, I could see that the battery was actually bulging along the sides. Something in the internals of the battery had failed and everything was shorting out. I removed that battery, had it properly disposed of, and installed a new one. That was 3 years ago and there hasn't been another issue since.

As mentioned, before you do anything else, you need to have the battery taken off the bike, charged fully, and then load tested.
If that ends up being the problem, it should be much cheaper than 190€.... At least I hope so. Who knows with those zany Euro prices

[alantf]

[attachment=0:k37lu9ad]img036.jpg[/attachment:k37lu9ad]Pimp, will you print this circuit diagram, and show it to the mechanic? Ask him to explain how the battery could charge if the rectifiers were faulty - see if he can even identify the rectifiers - and if he comes up with an explanation, will you let me know what the explanation is? I'm dying to know.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by jonathan180iq

it should be much cheaper than 190€.... At least I hope so. Who knows with those zany Euro prices

Around €50-60 in Spain. ($80-90)

[alantf]

I 100% agree with Jonathan. If he tested aross the battery with the bike running, and got a good voltage reading, then this proves conclusively that THE RECTIFIERS ARE FINE. Unfortunately, IT DOES NOT PROVE THAT THE BATTERY IS FINE. How many more times do we have to tell you REMOVE THE BATTERY FROM THE BIKE AND HAVE IT LOAD TESTED. This is (as Jonathan, also, pointed out) THE MOST LIKELY CAUSE. Phewwwwwww! :yes:

[PimpS]

Hmmm... I'm getting strange feelings now. SO, if the rectifier isn't the case nor battery, what else could it be?
Load tester? Does load tester measure amperes or watts? What should load tester show, how many of the units (amperes or Watts or something else...?)?

Skunkhome: war in Yugoslavija wasn't about banks, checks... Actually, war that was here was, sad but true, really a cookie to some other major countries, it was a classic war thing; let's sell and test our new weapons, let's make bussines better (major drug link from asian parts (afganistan...) went through yugoslavija to western world. Having war in this part, was a real favour to criminals, since situation waqs out of control...
I don't know about you guys, but the reasons which are told to be the right reasons for war, such as join the army to make peace, your country needs you, defend our politics, since is the only and right one, is just a crap. Wars are actuallly forced through greedy corporations, even individuals, who made huge profit and control out of it, human sacrifices are just the colateral damage. Naomi Klein and the book Shock Doctrine is a way to see these things differently. Take a 4 hour of your time and watch Zeitgeist the movie, and Zeitgeist Addendum... Whole new perspective of the social system, that we live in...

Ok, lets leave the politics, don't want to push any of your buttons, but stay alerted and open minded.

[jonathan180iq]

Originally Posted by PimpS

Hmmm... I'm getting strange feelings now. SO, if the rectifier isn't the case nor battery, what else could it be?

We believe the battery to be the problem, my friend.
That needs to be properly tested first, before you can make any other diagnosis.

[PimpS]

ok
Thanks guys!

[alantf]

Originally Posted by PimpS

Hmmm... I'm getting strange feelings now. SO, if the rectifier isn't the case nor battery, what else could it be?
Load tester? Does load tester measure amperes or watts? What should load tester show, how many of the units (amperes or Watts or something else...?)?

I'll try and explain simply. A load tester is a piece of equipment that has a voltmeter, and a built in, switchable load (usually a resistor) The battery is taken off the bike so that the battery, and only the battery, is tested. The operator connects the terminals to the battery, and reads the voltage. He then switches the resistive load on, for a given time, then checks the voltage again. That way, knowing the size (ampere hours) of the battery, he can tell if it's good or not.

One step at a time....have the battery checked first, then let us know. If your mechanic hasn't got a load tester (and I don't think he has) you may have to search around, maybe a big workshop that services cars, and sells batteries. But this is DEFINITELY the first step.

[mrlmd1]

All of this can be caused by something very simple - you may have had a loose battery connection which intermittently prevented any juice from coming/going from the battery and the causing the bike to die. It can either be the pos or neg connection, and it also could be at the engine ground.
Before you do anything else, simply check your battery terminal connections - clean them up 'till they shine and reconnect them tightly. And clean up the engine ground. This may just solve your problem. There is most likely nothing wrong with either your battery of your charging system with all the confusing testimony from glancing through this thread.

[alantf]

But still get the battery load tested. It's usually free, and it's one thing you can then cross off your list.

As for confusing testimony, we've been telling him all along that it's NOT the rectifier. The only confusing thing is why the mechanic did the wrong test, then told pimp that he needed an expensive repair!

I don't know if you've read the previous posts, but you'll see that I advised him to have the battery load tested first, then let us know. We've a hunch that it's a faulty battery, but no way of knowing, without a test. If the battery's faulty, then that was the problem. If it's ok, he can put it back on the bike, knowing that that's not the problem. Then we can lead him, step by step, through the next steps, such as making sure all the connections are tight, and getting his assurances at each step. That's the only logical way to go about fault finding for someone who's not up on electrics. The main thing we've been telling him over and over again is that the mechanic carried out a non valid test, and the faulty rectifier was the least likely of all the culprits. Given the nature of the original fault, he's got to be certain that the battery's good. I'd hate to have him THINK he's found the fault, then break down again, miles from home. I'm only advising the sequence of tests, in the order that I was taught to carry out in my job. I always carried a small load tester, so that I could first check the back up batteries on electronic panels, and it saved me hours of searching.