Lucky?

[Andy M]

Now I'm not usually lucky, so thought this was worth a mention. My only bike activity over the weekend was to shift the outfit in and out of the garage so we could work on the garden. Saturday the battery was flat (not used since the Dragon I'm ashamed to say), so I rolled it down the slope and put the charger on while we worked and drove it back in about five hours later. Sunday I thought I'd take a look at why the battery was flat, did an earth current check and so on. Suddenly all is very strange, sometimes there is power, sometime there isn't. It took about a minute to fathom out that if I put the meter on the chair body it was live, leant on the main feed it was dead. Result: one broken main cable diagnosed in under five minutes, fixed in an hour and all done on a day I couldn't get out for a ride 

The flat battery I'm still to really diagnose. I've tried two. I charge both, put one on the bike and one on a shelf. The one on the bike goes flat after about four weeks, the one on the shelf holds it's charge. Swap and repeat and the one on the bike still goes dead. There is no current flow with the bike ignition off and in any case there is an isolator switch in addition. Undoing the earth connection as well makes no difference. I think I have current leakage (see below) because the battery is sitting in a metal box. We'll see if wrapping it in rubber reduces this to the normal charge every 6 weeks of no use level. I have a trickle charger, but honestly don't trust it not to fry the battery, it's better to take it for a ride once a month.

For those who claim to understand electrics, current leakage is apparently charge able to conduct itself to ground at a low rate (must be something like 10 mA)  via the battery case. Dirt on the  battery case is a known factor that will do this, I'm betting a tight fitting metal battery box makes it worse.

For those who think that the battery contains magic pixies, current leakage is where the  tiny currents the pixies eat to make power get dirty on the walls of the battery case and are inedible. The pixies therefore leave due to hunger.

Anyone else had lucky diagnostics of this ilk?

Andy

[robG]

Battery pixies are still happy and well fed on the xs , but the wiring fairies are very grumpy.Too much salt on their food ,I suspect ,and have taken to eating the wiring itself .

Eob .

[Steffan]

The black beasts pixies seem very old and tired - ie if I run with the lights on they cannot make enough power to charge the battery, if I run with the lights and the heated grips - all is lost.

Steffan

[Andy M]

AC/DC system like the green 'un? Sorry, I forgot the locals here abouts think that Faraday and Swan were a music hall act. Which side are your pixies batting for?

Andy

[002]

The black beasts pixies seem very old and tired - ie if I run with the lights on they cannot make enough power to charge the battery, if I run with the lights and the heated grips - all is lost.

Dont forget the ignition switch can be a little tempramental.
MMmmm ! Not sure that the Pixies are man enough to stoke the boiler fast enough to produce enough Elektickery for Lights AND Heated Grips !
Certainly not enough for a 55/60w Halogen Blub,thats why I put a 35/35w Halo Blub in It.


Jethro

[Andy M]

The grips are going to be something like 40W on their own. LED rear lamp would be my first suggestion, saves a few Watts (10-ish plus a fraction more averaged over the brake light use) and is vibration proof.

Andy

[Steve Lake]

too many free radicals mate!

[002]

The grips are going to be something like 40W on their own. LED rear lamp would be my first suggestion, saves a few Watts (10-ish plus a fraction more averaged over the brake light use) and is vibration proof.

Andy

Did have one...not sure if it stood up to the vibration   

Jethro

[guest7]

Talking of luck, a neighbour of mine offered me a car roof box the other day and I assumed it would be some old Thule thing - 10 foot long and 14 inches wide, etc. When he turned up with it I was astounded to see it was a three year old Halfords box. The total cost - zero.

If only every day could be like that
GC

[Andy M]

The grips are going to be something like 40W on their own. LED rear lamp would be my first suggestion, saves a few Watts (10-ish plus a fraction more averaged over the brake light use) and is vibration proof.

Andy

Did have one...not sure if it stood up to the vibration   


The LED's themselves will stand atomic bomb blasts, but that's not much use when the soldering in the holder fails. Guess it's another modern item that isn't Enfield proof. You could fill it with silicone I guess?

Andy



Jethro