Melted battery
Melted battery
I was touring france and spain in the summer, doin around 90mph constant on the motorway, when my bike just suddenly died. I got off and i could smell burning plastic. Eventually i lifted the seat to find the battery had swelled up and had even cracked the battery holder. So i bought a new battery and checked it every 60 mile or so, but the same thing started happening again, so after some advice i disconnected the alternator. this cured it and got me home but obviously i need my alternator connected. Can anyone tell me what the problem is. do i need a new alternator or what.[/b]
Yep, regulator/rectifier is almost certainly u/s, and is allowing the alternator to overcharge the battery - leading to a melted battery. Disconnecting the alternator will obviously prevent this happening again, but it brings its own problems ;)
You will probably need to buy another battery, the one you bought is most likely damaged already.
Buy a replacement reg/rec from Electrex. They are better than the OE ones, and a bit cheaper too.
If you have a multimeter and want to check out your charging system first there is a good fault finding chart here. Basically the voltage across the battery teminals should be between 13v at idle, rising to 14.5v as you rev it. Any more than this indicates a faulty reg/rec.
You will probably need to buy another battery, the one you bought is most likely damaged already.
Buy a replacement reg/rec from Electrex. They are better than the OE ones, and a bit cheaper too.
If you have a multimeter and want to check out your charging system first there is a good fault finding chart here. Basically the voltage across the battery teminals should be between 13v at idle, rising to 14.5v as you rev it. Any more than this indicates a faulty reg/rec.
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