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Hi everybody! I searched for a topic like this but I can't find anything, and so I must tell you some things, see if you agree with me or not.
I bought my GSXF (or Katana, as you call it) about 2 and half years ago. I had to do some adjustments since it was more than 2 years since its last run. I ended up bring it on the road, and it runs very well now.
2 years ago I went on a tour, or at list I planned it. So, 5 days, about 200 mi a day. Before going to this trip a strange thing happened: I was in a gas station, fueled up and the bike went dead. Simply dead. Well, it must be a fuse. It wasn't but after a quick look under the seat, the bike light up, but when I hit the start button it went dead again. I played with the starter solenoid and the bike started. This was a 5 minute max problem, which I thought it had to be a temporary thing. No alarms. This was 2 months before the long trip.
Now lets' get back to the trip ...
The first 2 days were OK, the bike had a great fuel consumption: 46.2 mpg best and never went below 37 mpg.
On the third day the strange thing happened 2 months ago reappeared. Although this time, the bike did not died, just did not start. It made funny noise (the starter solenoid) and it started harder and harder until it stopped. At first, playing with the solenoid resolved the problem, but in the end I had to push the bike to start. It took my wife and I about 2 hours to start it, we head it right back home, never stopped the engine, not even for fueling. I even try to start it up with a charging station, or whatever you call it, nothing happened. Got back safe and went on digging up the fault. It took me about 2 months, twice getting the whole electrical wires back in the house for measurements and stuff, I had help from professionals, dismantle the starter motor, and a lot of ugly words to finally solve it: ground wire. I had taken it out, clean everything there, but it all came out when I used my cars battery to start (and it didn't start normally, by the way) using the standard procedure which says: lead wire to battery, ground wire to chassis (and not battery negative). When I dissected the wire it was al rusty and broke up in pieces .. unbelievable. Since then, I replaced the alternator and now things are "fine" or so I THINK.
As I dug for solutions I talked to a lot of guys who had Katanas and they all said this: Katanas electrical system is faulty! Factory faulty. Because instead of reading the battery positive directly, the alternator get its positive current from the system. As strangely it may seem, I had some measurements: 12.8 directly from the battery, 11.8 from the electrical system. Why? As I took out all bulbs and consumers, the reading got back OK, above 12.5 V. Well, if it reads low voltage, the alternator is charging high, which is correct. Don't as me why it reads like this ...
Now, a few questions...
Do you also have differences measured between battery positive current and the alternator positive current?
What is your consumption, or how many AMPS does your bike take? My bike seems to be like a US/Canada bike, headlight can not be turned off. Still, I have no fan. It take 8.5 amps, which I must say its a lot!
What are your charging readings on idle and on running bike? Mine is 14.6-14.9 on idle, about 14.2 on running (4-5000 RPM).
Does your battery heats up? As we all know, heat is not good when charging.
How many wires your alternator have? A code is welcome ..
Any other ideeas you have are also welcome.
Thanks
I bought my GSXF (or Katana, as you call it) about 2 and half years ago. I had to do some adjustments since it was more than 2 years since its last run. I ended up bring it on the road, and it runs very well now.
2 years ago I went on a tour, or at list I planned it. So, 5 days, about 200 mi a day. Before going to this trip a strange thing happened: I was in a gas station, fueled up and the bike went dead. Simply dead. Well, it must be a fuse. It wasn't but after a quick look under the seat, the bike light up, but when I hit the start button it went dead again. I played with the starter solenoid and the bike started. This was a 5 minute max problem, which I thought it had to be a temporary thing. No alarms. This was 2 months before the long trip.
Now lets' get back to the trip ...
The first 2 days were OK, the bike had a great fuel consumption: 46.2 mpg best and never went below 37 mpg.
On the third day the strange thing happened 2 months ago reappeared. Although this time, the bike did not died, just did not start. It made funny noise (the starter solenoid) and it started harder and harder until it stopped. At first, playing with the solenoid resolved the problem, but in the end I had to push the bike to start. It took my wife and I about 2 hours to start it, we head it right back home, never stopped the engine, not even for fueling. I even try to start it up with a charging station, or whatever you call it, nothing happened. Got back safe and went on digging up the fault. It took me about 2 months, twice getting the whole electrical wires back in the house for measurements and stuff, I had help from professionals, dismantle the starter motor, and a lot of ugly words to finally solve it: ground wire. I had taken it out, clean everything there, but it all came out when I used my cars battery to start (and it didn't start normally, by the way) using the standard procedure which says: lead wire to battery, ground wire to chassis (and not battery negative). When I dissected the wire it was al rusty and broke up in pieces .. unbelievable. Since then, I replaced the alternator and now things are "fine" or so I THINK.
As I dug for solutions I talked to a lot of guys who had Katanas and they all said this: Katanas electrical system is faulty! Factory faulty. Because instead of reading the battery positive directly, the alternator get its positive current from the system. As strangely it may seem, I had some measurements: 12.8 directly from the battery, 11.8 from the electrical system. Why? As I took out all bulbs and consumers, the reading got back OK, above 12.5 V. Well, if it reads low voltage, the alternator is charging high, which is correct. Don't as me why it reads like this ...
Now, a few questions...
Do you also have differences measured between battery positive current and the alternator positive current?
What is your consumption, or how many AMPS does your bike take? My bike seems to be like a US/Canada bike, headlight can not be turned off. Still, I have no fan. It take 8.5 amps, which I must say its a lot!
What are your charging readings on idle and on running bike? Mine is 14.6-14.9 on idle, about 14.2 on running (4-5000 RPM).
Does your battery heats up? As we all know, heat is not good when charging.
How many wires your alternator have? A code is welcome ..
Any other ideeas you have are also welcome.
Thanks
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