Battery Charger

[William55]

I've bought a new battery and have to fill it with acid and it says to charge it for 3-5 hours before use. It seems it should be a 12v 1.4 amp charger but my charger is 4 amp. Can I use it and for how many hours. I was thinking of 2.5 hours like a quick charge. Please advise as I want to get it done today.
 

[Dave Milnes]

The charger will charge at a lower amount as needed. The figure given will be the maximum it can output.
Put it on and have a look after 10 minutes settling time and see what it is charging at. If it has dropped to less than 2 amps give it a couple of hours or if it has dropped to around 1amp let it run the full 4 hours.
The battery is fully charged (dry) but when filled depletes if not boosted. A good charger should boost high initially then drop as the battery charges to about 1/2amp trickle when fully charged. Some are not as intelligent.

[roadster]

There are different types of charger and the old style large rectangular box type with an ammeter on the front are not particularly good for any battery and especially not good for a small scooter battery. If your charger is the modern electronic type which is usually more like a small brick with some leds to indicate the charge state it will usually be much better because it contains electronics which will monitor both voltage and current and the best ones will also detect what type of battery is connected and charge in the appropriate way. A battery which is properly charged when new will last longer than one which is charged too quickly and the old fashioned chargers I describe used to make it far too easy to overcharge just by leaving them on for too long. If your charger has an automatic standby or maintenance mode it is far safer than 'dumb' type.

[russtygid]

My x9 has ceased charging. Everything else working OK. 30amp fuse OK. Connections seem good. Battery OK. Some years ago I had to change reg/rec as output was erratic. This time no charge at all. Any ideas welcome, it would happen at Christmas.
Best Saesonal Greetings to all.

[unchained]

Unplug the red plug under the inspection cover at the front of the seat well and measure the AC voltage to earth from all 3 pins from the stator coil end. They should all be about the same voltage (cannot recall what it should be though)and increase with the revs. If these are OK it is probably a dud Rec/Reg again.

Bob

[russtygid]

Unchained, thank you for your advice. All three yellow wires record output on the meter. The outer two exactly the same reading, the centre one slightly less. All three increase with revs. So the generator is giving some output. Trying to test the reg/rec for diode condition was not a success. It appears to be completely dead. There is no continuity from one plug to the other on any wire in either direction. No sign of heat or burning on any of the reg wires or plugs. Can the contents of the heat sink sever all the continuity ?.

[roadster]

The problem is that the regulator part is an unknown electronic black box so testing continuity from input to output doesn't give you much information. You should be able to test the inputs by measuring resistance of each of the three inputs to ground. There should be no resistance in one direction but if the meter wires are reversed there should be very high resistance and each input should read more or less the same. You don't say what readings you get from the open circuit alternator output but it should start at about 18 volts AC and get higher quickly as its a no load reading.

[Dave Milnes]

Regulators fail with regularity, I think that's why they are called regulators.