Decided to drive the Rush to the office and back today, the lovely lass on the telly this morning promised a nice day so of course it started to rain as i left the village! luckily it was a very light shower and didn't really get wet.

Had an argument with a speed bump on the way there and then a raised manhole cover on the way back both times the front number plate was knocked off luckily its only stuck on with D/S tape, need to find a better position for the front number plate, maybe in the boot or behind the seats!

Drove home in the dark and noticed that with the lights on the battery light on the digidash was flikering a bit at the lower end of the rev range (tootling along about 3k) flicked to the volt reading on the dash and it was hovering around 11.9 - 12V, does anyone thing there maybe something amiss or is the alternator just not up o the job?

A good run from a fault finding point of view and i'm getting much better at flicking up and down the gbox with the klickshifter (and also remembering to get it into 1st before you stop!).

A crap run from a drivability point of view as plodding through the morning traffic was not much fun, didn't fancy the country lane route as the roads were wet and i didn't want to risk a smash , oh for the clear open road on a sunny day

Also as i've now swapped the rear bulbs for LED ones the indicators go double time, so i need a different flasher relay to compensate.

So a few more 'development' runs should see me with a nice list of upgrades for the winter lay-up

I'd expect to see 13.5v, though this may be down to a bad connection.

If in doubt have a look at: http://www.motorcycleinfo.co.uk/resources/6795/assets/documents/Motorcycle_Elec_Fault_Finding_Chart.pdf

I used this chart to fix my chrging issues.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks Mackei, i'll try these out at the weekend

Good effort getting out there.

Regarding power, I had a similar problem. My bike alternator wasn't expecting EFI, fuel pump, LC-1 etc etc. so after a long motorway run in the dark my battery was all but flat.

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=136205

HID bulbs are not a bad idea, although I don't know about fitting them in a seven. They drop the current draw and as longa s they are adjusted they don't seem to blind anyone. The rear light LED's and indicators don't really buy you so much power drop.

I modified the regulator going for a FH012 (actually a FH010) which is a more modern MOSFET design, and so is really efficient (modern R1's and zx10r type). Transistors have moved on a bit since my engine was designed (like in 1988). According to my megasquirt log-files my voltage stays up nicely now.

I wrote some stuff on it here
oldskool_suzuki_link


You might not need to go to these measures. It might just be a shagged alternator, a tired battery, or something else.

Matt

digital flasher realy will cure your indicators hyperactivity.

ATB

Agriv8