Ok! I've had my oxford solar charger attached to the bike for a few weeks now, the bike has been unused, the battery didn't have enough oomph to start her. I know it states that it will keep a healthy battery topped up but how do I check it's working properly and there's enough power reaching the battery? Without the obvious check the voltage before and after. Bit of an electrical numpty, I can read continuity in the cables and voltage from the battery but that's about it. Ta
If you use a multi-meter between the battery positive and the charger positive you'll see how much juice is going to the battery. However, This will not tell you if the battery is capable of holding the charge.
Thanks, I don't think it'll hold its charge due to the alarm, and obviously it doesn't after 3 or 4 weeks. I actually wanted to test the solar charger to see if it was actually pushing enough juice through.
I have a voltmeter wired into the bike which shows the charge in the battery or or the voltage it's receiving. I found since getting the Triumph that it's charging ability is pretty poor even at decent revs, at idle it was supplying less than a charge needed to start the bike. I cured this by splicing heavy gauge wire into those exiting the rectifier and taking them direct to the battery. My charging ability increased by over a full volt across the board.
Hi Shamus, this is a common modification on Tiger 955i's as they were a bit light on maintaining the battery.
Just a side note. I like to know approximate state of my battery when she’s sitting in the garage. I bought one of these little beauty’s. Simple install, led that uses almost no juice. Works a treat. And, it’s manufactured and sold on your side of the pond. http://gammatronixltd.com/GAMMATRONIX-12v-LED-Battery-level-/Charge-monitor-E
Having just looked at the details of this device, I'm not sure how useful it would be for our bikes. In battery level mode, the light is on green at any voltage above 12.1 volts. Well really that's quite low, for example if you have an 865 efi Bonny model the ECU will, at that voltage, automatically cut power 100% to the starter motor. To be safe with any efi bike you want standing battery voltage to be at least 12.6 volts. If it is under this voltage there is real danger of the ECU being starved of power whilst the engine is turning over. If you want to check the standing battery voltage all you need to do is put a volt-meter across the two battery terminals. However this does not tell you the health of the battery and it's ability to start the bike. You need a 'drop-test' for that. The very best way of protecting your vehicle batteries is to connect them to a battery charger/conditioner, when the bike is not in use.
So on a power thingy that goes into a cigarette lighter in a car is the outside the negative and the nipple the positive?
Sorry to hijack this thread again but to address your concern. I had one of those plastic shrouds that covers the positive posts on a car battery and said hummm. Cut a little here and there and drilled a hole for the light. Used Velcro to attach to the shelf below the screen on my TTR and voila.
My 2 Cents Bottom line: Assuming a healthy battery and no ground short (i.e.: nothing wrong with the bike's electrical system), the solar charger should be keeping the battery at around 12.3 VDC or maybe a bit higher. If a lower voltage the solar charger is simply not doing its job. My thoughts: Any battery just sitting slowly discharges over time. Totally normal. I don't know the specs of the solar charger but being 'solar powered' my guess is that it does not generate much power in the first place. Being a solar charger and assuming its working correctly it is charging the battery only when the sun has good intensity, and then the battery is normally discharging at all other times. So maybe 6 hours of useful charging, then 18 hours of normal discharge. Maybe there is just not enough useful charging hours to offset the discharge hours to keep the battery > 12.3 VDC where it needs to be. Another thing you can check is to see if there is some kind of electrical short circuit draining the battery excessively when sitting. With 'everything off and ignition off', disconnect the battery NEGATIVE cable from the battery. Then use a DC amp meter, range 12 or higher, and measure between the battery terminal and the negative lead. If the reading is anything other than zero you have a short circuit somewhere. However, this may be difficult to locate. I have used a Battery Tender Junior for years and it works great. And my batteries have always lasted for many years. If you don't keep a battery properly charged, it will slowly damage the battery.
Thanks, the battery was on its way out! Fine on any day but a cold day. In bright sunlight the solar charger gives off loads so it’s fone to trickle charge but unfortunately the battery lost its charge on cold nights so little chance of it working then
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