Charging/Battery Voltage Adjustment

Well, I had some of "Black Betty's" innards out last week, doing a 110,000 km service and a few other bits and pieces. I had read of someone who replaced the wire from the alternator with a larger csa (cross sectional area) cable. I was looking to do this as I had the tank off and the airbox out, and retrieving a dropped screw from the V of the engine.

Obviously the harness has joins as the wire size and colour at the alternator is different to the wire size and colour that connects to the 2 main fuses. In doing so, I pulled apart the 2 pin plug that goes into the fuse section, to do some tests with my multi-meter. I decided to do nothing this time around as it was now officially in the "too hard" basket, plus I can be a lazy bastard at times.

Anyway, I was retensioning several other plugs, specifically the switch connector on the gearbox for the neutral light, and the oil pressure switch. I also did the connectors on the plug to the main fuses - just bend it with a screwdriver to ensure good contact.

Put it all back together, and yesterday was the first ride after the service. Going up the mountain near my house and had travelled no more than 5 km, when the old girl died. Completely dead, no engine, no dash. But I did have tail lights, so I knew the battery was not the culprit.

Lifted the seat and I started going through things I knew I had touched. Lo and behold the 2 pin connector to the 2 main fuses had had a divorce. I had not latched the latch on the latchy side of the plug/socket. Felt a right goose, but hey, I can deal with it!

Put it all together, bike started, everything on the dash had reset (no big deal) and away I went.

Yes I am rambling, or is that waxing lyrical? (Bill, feel free to comment...)

Riding along and decided to have a look at the dash readout of the battery. 13.2V - wow I had never seen that before. with the 0.8 Volt drop on my bike, this means the voltage charging the battery (and supplying the rest of the electrics) was 14.0 volts. Awesome! I had seen 13.0 volts on some previous occasions, but I must have been lucky. i check this voltage every time I ride to make sure all is good in this department - I have been a long way from home with a flat battery on a freezing cold morning at the bottom of a hill - really nowhere to go after that! Battery terminals had the green gunk of no charging - happy to run the bike, so nothing was obvious.

Anyway, I suggest you all check your connectors, especially in this location, and especially to those that seem to have less than optimal charging, and ongoing startus interruptus issues. If you have a multi-meter (I suggest you buy one as part of your tool kits - they are not expensive, and answer the question), check the difference between what the dash says and the actual battery voltage. As mentioned earlier, mine is 0.8 volt. So being the brilliant mathematician I am, dash readout + 0.8 = battery voltage. If the total is around 14 volts, all is good, especially those that have lithium batteries (these require 14.2 Volts to fully charge, but a little less is OK). I saw 13.3 volts today - I would imagine a long run (my daily commute is only 61 km) would give even better results.

Talk about lucky. Happy to share - it doesn't take long to clean, retension and reseat this plug, and the upside is good. Go on, do it...

Well it's not really an adjustment, but maximising the potential of the system.