Hot battery

[Klaus]

Hi,
I was out riding today, approx 200 km. Last engine stop was 35 km from home. When I left highway and stopped for red light I could smell something like a rotten egg. Then I drove the last 5 min to my home. When I turned off my 93' GSX 600 F in the garage it smelled again and I notised smoke/vapour from the tupe connected to the battery. I removed the seat and touched the battery and it was really hot. I tried to start the engine but it could not, the starter turned a bit but not enough to start the engine. But there was light a normal. I took the battery off the bike and measured 13,4 Volts.
Anybody got an idea what is wrong?

Best regards
Klaus

[diavolo]

Sounds like the battery cooked due to low fluid -caused by being overcharged. Can you check the fluid level of the battery or is it a sealed unit?

[HemiKat]

Sounds like the battery cooked due to low fluid -caused by being overcharged. Can you check the fluid level of the battery or is it a sealed unit?

Sounds like that battery is cooked, normally when you overheat them they are done. But if you do try to add water, use distilled, the battery will last much longer if you do.

[Kreylyn]

Great site with info to help you out...

http://www.batteryfaq.org/

Krey

[96katana96]

also if you do decide to get a new battery, check the voltage when its running because you don't want to kill another one if its overcharging. for automobile its atleast charging at 14.5 volts running, with load on such as fan and headlights it will probaly drop to about 13.5 volts. but i'm not too sure about our kats, never test mines, anything over 15 volts means the regulator in the alternator is shot (i'm assuming its the same system as a car automobile, pls correct me if i'm wrong)

[Kfreak]

Possible chance of an internal short in the battery. Check your alternator for output voltage. You could have an alternator or a regulator going bad.

[BigFish]

I experienced this exact issue 2 years ago

Someone tried to steal my kat about 5 year ago. They weren't able to figure out the ignition wiring though so I wound up using two wire caps to *temporarily* put things back together. Well I forgot about it and 3 years later I had gone through 2 batteries. My mechanic noticed the charging system was charging the battery, even though the battery was fully charged. After hours of exploration he discovered that I had inadvertently increased the resistance in the line that is used to determine voltage of the battery, which is of course used to determine how much to charge the battery.

Know that a bad connection can lead to the battery being overcharged. This was fixed by installing a new ignition switch and corresponding wire.

[rexazz2]

check battery voltage after it has sat for a couple hours
you said even with voltage it would not start , so it doesnt have amps to turn it over
Battery probably is shot , system is heating it by trying to continously charge it

[Klaus]

Hi
Thanks for the reply's.
I left the battery outside for the night and when I checked there was not any water left.
Is it normal that the war level falls? Do you look for it onin a while? I only look in the winter because I charge it.
I do not know much about electricity but I guess there must be a switch in connection with the generator so when the battery is full the generator stops charging the battery? Can I check if it is broken? When I put a new battery on and starts the engine and measure it to mabye 13,4 Volts and I can still cook the new battery if it keeps charging, right?
Best regards
Klaus

[Kfreak]

You can check your alt. output with a volt meter by starting the bike and running it at 5000 rpm's with the voltmeter connected to the battery. that alone will only tell you if the alt. is putting out. Should be around 13.5 volts. The regulator is built into the alternator. That is what tells the alt. to charge and stop charging. You have to remove the alt. from the bike and take the alt. apart to get to the regulator. Then you can test it to see if it is working the way it should. The only way to check is with a variable dc power source, some wire and a 12v light bulb. If you can't check it yourself, please take it to a tv or radio repair shop.

Or it is a good possibility you fried the battery because of no water in it. Batteries get warm and do evaporate the water over time. Checking it in the winter is not enough. I check mine every week and charge it every two weeks because I have not been riding lately.

[kevin2502000]

Ok I am going to go out on a limb and please someone explain to me if a pre kat is as sophisticated as some are saying. The voltage regulator regulates the voltage only by keeping it with in 13.5v~14.5v so it doesn't overload the circuit. It doesn't have a smart technology (that I am aware of) by turning on/off the alternator. If it's spinning at least 5krpm, it's outputting voltage, if it is functioning. A bad regulator will usually cause a high voltage reading cooking the battery. It does have to be spinning at a minimum rpm to generate the power though, 5000rpm. Anyways that has been my knowledge of alternators for the last 25 years. I believe the only difference between the car and a bike is a car can run straight off the alternator while a bike uses the battery as part of the circuit so you need the battery in place to complete the circuit. Thoughts??

[Kfreak]

The voltage regulator turns it on then turns it off. He was riding at highway speeds (over 5000 rpm's) then stopped and found the problem. If the regulator doesn't work the way it should, he could have been cooking the battery as he was riding. He is in a catch 22. Is it the battery or is it the alt/regulator. It can very well be a short in the battery. I would take the battery and have it tested before buying anything. But at this point he had already damaged the battery. No water in the battery, the battery gets hot and smokes. In my opinion, once you buckle the plates in the battery, it's toast.

[DumbLuck]

Kevin has it basicly right. with an alternator, the regulator and rectifier are all built in. regulater keeps it from putting out too much voltage and overcharing, while the regulator turns the AC power generated to bike friendly DC power. the power gets generated, rectified, then regulated, then sent out to the system. running at idle, 13 - 13.5 volts, at 5kRpm under 15v. a bad battery will make the regulator think the battery needs a big charge heating it up and smokin it. put in a new battery, and check the voltages while running.

the major differnce between a car and skoot system is the amount of power (amps) they are capable of putting out. this is why it's not advised to jump a bike off a car, especially when the car is running.

[BigFish]

That's interesting, how is more amperage going to damage the bike?

[H-2 CHARLIE]

That dry battery story sounds like when i bought my bike , the battery was a saealed one and after charging it first with no water for 6 hours or more i added water and it came up in 90 min. .....it lasted another 45 days then it died ..a new one was in order - $50 for a new sealed g&s battery