Charging problem

[HexKrak]

So about a week after installing my new maint free sealed battery she's not consistently starting again. I had to bump start to get to jack in the box this morning, but she started on her own to get to work from jack.

I'll check for a short/slow drain by checking for voltage being drawn while th bike is off between the red cable and the battery.

I don't have an amp meter that can test above 10amps (and it will kill my meter if it is above) so what exactly should I look for as far as a reading to check the power being fed to the battery, and between which points should I take such a reading.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

[KYT]

When you bought the battery new, did you follow the directions for filling the acid, and made sure to completely charge it before you installed it?

[DumbLuck]

with the skoot off, set hte meter to DC amps and put the red lead on the motor end of the negative cable where it attatches, and the black lead on the negative battery post. pre kat should show NO draw, post Kat should have only a few milliamps from the clock.

with the bike running, set the meter to DC volts, red lead to pos battery terminal, black lead to negative battery terminal. should read more than 12.5 volts, but less than 14.5. will varry some with throttle, but not above about 14.5 volts at 4k+ RPMs. if under 12.5v or over 14.5v bad alternator or internals (regulator, rectifier).

with the bike off, a fully charged battery should read between 12.5v and 13v

[HexKrak]

When you bought the battery new, did you follow the directions for filling the acid, and made sure to completely charge it before you installed it?

Sealed maint free battery. No acid to deal with
Came pre charged with a reading of 13v right before I installed.

I'm really hoping it's a slow drain from a short somewhere. Alternators are a pain to fix/replace.

with the skoot off, set hte meter to DC amps and put the red lead on the motor end of the negative cable where it attatches, and the black lead on the negative battery post. pre kat should show NO draw, post Kat should have only a few milliamps from the clock.

with the bike running, set the meter to DC volts, red lead to pos battery terminal, black lead to negative battery terminal. should read more than 12.5 volts, but less than 14.5. will varry some with throttle, but not above about 14.5 volts at 4k+ RPMs. if under 12.5v or over 14.5v bad alternator or internals (regulator, rectifier).

with the bike off, a fully charged battery should read between 12.5v and 13v

Thanks a ton, this is exactly the information I was looking for.

[The CyberPoet]

Draw on the 98+ Kats should be at or below 1/10th of an amp when the key is in the off position (the only things drawing power in that state are the clock and the fuel gauge -- the clock is a bit hungrier for power than it should be). Measure between the neutral and negative terminal with the multimeter set to DC Amps, range 0 - 5 or so (if it's drawing more than 5 amps, you have a dead short somewhere and you're battery would be toast in short order anyway).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

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