Donate!
Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register :: View Members
Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
Big Crank (Read 82 times)
Jack_650
Senior Member
****
Offline

I love YaBB 1G -
SP1!

Posts: 463
Minnesota
Gender: male
Big Crank
07/19/08 at 22:40:31
 
As long as we're on batteries I thought I would ask a side question and not get it buried on page two somewhere. I'm about due a new battery myself. I'm thinking sealed and am wondering if I can go bigger than stock. I know I'll have to make room for it in there somehow, but my question is about the charging system. If I were to go 20% or more higher in the capacity department will the charging system keep it topped off? I'm not running any extra lights and such. In fact I'm going to eventually go to LED running and tail lights to cut down on the demand to the system.

Inquiring minds, blah-dy blah, yada yada and all that.

Jack
Back to top
 
 
  IP Logged
Oldfeller--FSO
Serious Thumper
ModSquad
*****
Offline

Hobby is now
"concentrated
neuropany"

Posts: 12671
Fayetteville, NC
Gender: male
Re: Big Crank
Reply #1 - 07/19/08 at 22:56:45
 
Battery size per-se does not mean much to your charging system.  You have excess electrical alternator output to charge the battery, or you don't.

I have a riding lawnmower with a full size auto battery on it and the puny Briggs and Straton flywheel magneto keeps it charged up just dandy.  I have endless cranking power on tap, even when the engine is hot.  Crank time is a function of battery size.  

Charging is a function of running load and alternator output, with all the excess alternator output past the steady load being available to charge the battery.

What has to be a match is the running load (running lights, heaters, horns, stereos, headlight) and the total output of the alternator/rectifier system.  There must be an excess to go towards charging the battery.  

You can see this excess on your volt-ohm meter in DC volt mode with probes on the battery contacts, read the engine off steady voltage level of the battery (at least 12.5 volts) and this should go up to 14-17 volts when you start the engine and rev it to quarter speed.  The difference between the rev reading and the steady state of the battery reading is the voltage and amperage you have available to charge the battery.  You should do this test with all the normal loads like headlights, running lights, stereo etc. in play to see if you really have something left to charge the battery with.

You can lose alternator output to corroded or loose connections.  One connection everyone forgets to check is the main ground connection to the engine and to the frame.  Corrosion here will make your whole electrical system (including the firing of the ignition system) suck.

Other ways to lose alternator system output is to have a weak or bad rectifier, or to have lost some coil windings in your stator.  A volt-ohm meter check on some specific wiring connector pins can answer this question for you without tearing down your engine.

Hidden loads (such as mild shorts through worn wire insulation and corroded connections under bike or in headlight or a badly corroded fuse box) can push up your load balance to teeter in the wrong direction.
Back to top
 
 

Former Savage Owner
  IP Logged
Paladin.
Serious Thumper
*****
Offline

Hamster

Posts: 4929
Sunny Southern California
Gender: male
Re: Big Crank
Reply #2 - 07/20/08 at 05:26:04
 
Why for a higher capacity battery?

1.  Your motorcycle is hard to start.  You crank and crank and crank and it refuses to fire up.  You can crank for a couple of minutes and kill your stock battery.  Or you have a bigger battery, crank for a couple or three minutes, and still kill the battery.  You gain nothing.  The solution is to fix your starting problem so the bike starts with just a quick one second spinup.

2.  You live in a situation where you are required to park with your parking lights on.  I've done that on occasion, both accidently and deliberately -- as in turn the bike's ignition off the wrong way or park a flat grey van in heavy fog.  The Big crank handles the former for a 10 hour stretch no problem, and the latter was just for the duration of the meal.  Not really a likely reason.

3.  You take the bike camping and are tapping into the battery to run TV/radio/computer/lights.    Probably should run an auxilary battery instead as do motorhomes.

4. ???  I can't think of a reason for a higher capacity battery that does not have a better solution.
Back to top
 
 
WWW   IP Logged
Pages: 1
Send Topic Print


« Home

 
« Home
SuzukiSavage.com
09/24/24 at 00:22:18



General CategoryRubber Side Down! › Big Crank


SuzukiSavage.com » Powered by YaBB 2.2!
YaBB © 2000-2007. All Rights Reserved.