Battery issue

[Rik398]

Hey folks.

My battery is about a year old, and the bike lives outside without a cover or anything many because that is what I have always done and it has never seemed to cause any mass issues.

Basically, The other night I drove my bike back from Exmouth to newton abbot, about a 25 mile trip with both dual carridgways and some a/b roads.

The next afternoon, at around 4pm, the bike would not start due to lack of battery power. I cannot get hold of a voltmeter, nowhere seems to have one in my area at the moment, and unfortunatley, other than the guy down the road who is only open thursdays and fridays, all the agarages in my area I have had bad experiances with.

I charged the battery fully, and the bike starts, although I have not taken it anywhere yet. Now, I was wondering how I would be able to check the alternator, without having a voltmeter.

Thanks folks.

[Tango]

Voltmeter would be best.....but if you start the bike and put the lights on and rev it you should see the lights get a bit brighter (maybe) which would suggest that the alternator is putting out some kind of voltage. Whether it is the correct voltage would need the voltmeter....

Cheers,

Bob

[Rik398]

Thanks.

Yeah no change with the lights but I will try again when it is dark or something.

I read somewhere that if you disconect the battery whilst the bike is running, and it dies, then it means the alternator is gone because the bike is not supplying itself with enough power to run itself in terms of fuel injectors and stuff like that. Well tried that test and it died so dont know if the test is actually valid or not but assuming that the test is correct then the bike failed it.

alternators look pricey aswel... bike has already cost be about 800 quid in the last couple of months so not too happy but hey. I think my best bet is try and hunt down a second hand part and fit that. cheers.

[eastanglianbiker]

before you go paying out for alternator you would be better off spending less than £10 on a volt meter on ebay it might just save you fortunes in the future

[Colin the Bear]

Maplins are as near as your keyboard and letterbox

One on this page for £5.99

http://www.maplin.co.uk/search?criteria=voltmeter

[Tango]

Good advice guys......less than a tenner will get you a multimeter that could save you a lot of money.....

I'm not sure how valid disconnecting the battery is while the bike is running as a test.....never tried it and never heard of that before..... There are other components in the charging circuit that also need checking out before you go down the alternator route......Rectifier/regulator. Get a Haynes manual for your bike if you don't already have one coz it'll tell you how to check all these components out once you've got yourself a multimeter....and it could save you a lot more than the price of the manual....

If you need any help with using a multimeter just give us a shout.....

Cheers,

Bob

[Rik398]

cheers guys.

I was a bit sly and phoned the garage guy on his day off... but it really is one of those little villages where everyone knows everone and aparanatley after coming to the house he knows my dad... small world.

but yeah he was awesome looked at it for me and said that it is probably the alternator and didnt even ask for any cash... after a promise that I would use him for my next service.

He also said something quite interesting. Aparanatley the alternator (this is me being stupid) is basically a magnet rotating around the coils that are known as the Stator. Aparanatley it is a common design fault with older triumphs in that the magnet is too powerful and this can lead to the Stator failing earlier than it ideally should. He pointed me to a website where I can get my Stator fixed for about 50 quid. On the site though the guy claims to have made a complete new alternator system where the magnet is the 'correct' strength and the system should last a lot longer with a 2 year warrenty included. £220 for the whole system. Sounds fairly good considering I am only planning on owning the bike for 2 years and a new complete system from triumph, If I am not mistaken, is almost £1000, with stator for £536 and magnet bit for £420.

Bit tricky though, get my one fixed for £50 or spend £200? Im not sure how true this magnet strength thing is and I assume that a fixed stator should last around a year??? otherwise they would have been recalled or something? Just a bit of potential info that anyone who owns an older triumph may find useful.

cheers folks. I shall buy a voltmeter for future foul ups lol.

[Tango]

I must admit I've never heard this about older Triumph alternators....

Basically the rotor (magnets) rotate on a shaft within the coils (Stator) of the alternator. Normally I would expect that if the magnets were too strong the alternator would kick out a higher current that would tend to fry the rectifier or regulator. Normally failure of the Stator coils is due to too higher load being put on the electrical circuit....this causes the coils to overheat which can either open some of the conductors within the coils or cause the insulation between the conductors in the coils to break down leading to shorting within the coils...

Anyway as interesting as this may be...(insert yawning smiley please Colin)....if you don't intend to keep the bike too long I think the £50 stator rewind is probably your best bet IMHO...

Good Luck,

Bob

[oslin06]

Hi ric398,

well first of all you should never run an alternator that is not connected to the battery you may of blown the diodes?

Remove and check the brushes they may just need renewing,

as to the magnet being to strong, WHAT !!! someone is having a laugh.

[Roadtorque]

I've never heard this about any Triumph, & if you think about it, it's not likely would Triumph would put different magnets in your bike,,, the 12 volt charging system in Triumph bikes would be more or less the same across the range & controlled by the rect/reg for various machine requirements.., you don't say how old your bike is but if it's older than three or four yrs & your only going to keep it another two, then i'd go for the £50 quid option,,,,,

having said all that, I would start by having the battery checked just because it's only 12 months old it doesn't mean it's still good (fickle thigs batteries)

[Rik398]

Ok folks, update.

Got the alternator stator off, completley black and stincking and posted it off ro a repair / exchange place. Got sent back a new / this is one I fixed earlier, stator. I was happy with this because like I said 50 quid and it also meant that the problem was likley the stator due to the state it was in.

Fitted this to the bike, and now the headlight light up a bit when revving etc etc and the bike ran fine for about a wekk, starting the engine about 5 sifferent ocassions per day. I assume the battery alone would have gone flat by then? which to me shows that the alternator is now working.

However, in the mornings the bike can be a bit annoying. The bike starts first time, but as you turn it over you can tell that the battery is not really charged enough for the job, and if ever you had to have a seccond attempt at starting the bike, it would be out of juice and would not work.

However, after about half hour of riding everything is perfect again and running smoothly.

I assume that this means that the battery is not holding its charge very well over night, hence the miserable starting attempts in the morning, but later in the day works perfectly?

Thanks for the help folks.

[Rik398]

As for this being a Triumph thing, the internet is riddled with stories about alternators dying every10k miles, etc etc, amoungst other stories of the alternators being burnt out across an almost exact half. The magnet strength thing is simply one explanation, others blame the regualtor/rectifier and suggest fitting one from a yammaha blah blah.

As far as I am concerned, I am assuming the remaining problem is the battery after living with a dying alternator and the reasons I suggested above. And even if I have to spend 50 quid every 10k miles I'm not too worried.

Thanks again.

[Roadtorque]

Just as a point of interest, I've just replaced the my battery & found out that unlike new car batteries, Bike batteries have only a 6 month guarantee,,,

now that sucks ,,,,,,

[Tango]

As for this being a Triumph thing, the internet is riddled with stories about alternators dying every10k miles, etc etc, amoungst other stories of the alternators being burnt out across an almost exact half. The magnet strength thing is simply one explanation, others blame the regualtor/rectifier and suggest fitting one from a yammaha blah blah.

As far as I am concerned, I am assuming the remaining problem is the battery after living with a dying alternator and the reasons I suggested above. And even if I have to spend 50 quid every 10k miles I'm not too worried.

Thanks again.

 

Yeah...the problem now could be that the battery is not holding its charge. Just make sure that there is nothing in the circuit that could be draining it overnight (alarm, etc)....otherwise the battery could have been fried by the alternator.