Varadero 125 Electrical Woes

[moppy]

Riiiight then. My 07 Varadero 125 will not start. I hit the ignition button and I just get a continuous clicking noise. I will mention right now that the bike dos have heated grips connected and connected directly to the battery, no relay.

The breakdown guy came over and was able to jump start the bike no problem. He stuck a multimeter on the bike during idle and it was measuring 12.8. I was told it should be 13.8 atleast? He revved it up to 3k rpm and measured again.

He diagnosed this as a shot reg/rec, something I hear is very common on Hondas. I'm assuming the battery is shot too, so my plan is to get a reg/rec, new battery and maybe a trickle charger to keep everything in shape.

If BCF could confirm a few things for me please. First of all, is the reg/rec definitely the issue? The guy who came out seemed to know his stuff, so I assume thats true.

Secondly, could someone find me the reg/rec I need to buy? I've found this which seems to suit the pictures that Honda themselves have put up.

Would that be alright?

Cheers for the help BCF.

[simonjb]

Could well be either especially as the charging voltage is so low, but before you do any of that, rather than waste money if the regulator and rectifier are fine; get yourself a standard battery charger, or better, a maintenance charger (these are useful anyway) and let it charge the battery to full.

Run the bike around a bit (don't put yourself in a situation where you could get stranded), see if the problem reoccurs - make sure that the heated grips aren't drawing any power when they're switched off and the engine is off! Even better, disconnect the heated grips for the time being, just to eliminate them as the cause.

If the problem reoccurs (and the grips are def. not to blame) you've almost certainly got some kind of charging fault, most likely rectifier or regulator. Then you should go about diagnosing and replacing whichever component is faulty. If no one on here will link you to the right component, check with the seller on ebay, and if they say it's the right part, it probably is - if it's not, they're at fault so you can get a refund.

Good luck
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Current Bike: 2008 Yamaha YBR 125

[Robby]

You problem is likely to be one or the other, so don't replace both.

If the battery is good but the rec/reg is shot, then it isn't charging. A healthy, charged battery should last for about 20-30 minutes riding with the headlight on before it feels like you're running out of fuel.

If the battery is shot but the reg/rec is good, it will keep running after jump/bump starting, but may die at tickover when the alternator isn't producing much power.

The reg/rec test is easy. Charge the battery then measure the voltage across the terminals with everything turned off. You should be seeing around 12.5V. Now start the bike and measure the voltage on the battery, it should be at or slightly above the restive voltage. No hold the bike at 4-5k rpm and measure the voltage. It should be above 13.5V.

If the voltage stays the same or drops as you rev the engine up, your reg/rec is the most likely culprit. Replace it.

[jeddy11]

As above really ^^ from what i gather from the OP is that the breakdown man revved it a bit then re tested the voltage rather than measuring at the same time as revving to 4-5k ??

That's the key if its all charging correctly the charge voltage should change the more you rev it up obviously. Sometimes the voltage can be misleading until you start revving it up a bit...
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Fuelly My Z1000SX
cbt 06/08/11 mod1 (second go) 01/08/12 mod2 21/09/12
Varadero Viking YBR125>Varadero125>ER6F>Z1000SX !!!

[moppy]

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear, he revved up to 3/4k while continuously measuring.

I don't remember what the measurements were, but he pretty immediately diagnosed it as a reg/rec failure and said it will need changing ASAP. So judging from what you guys have said, I'm guessing the voltage didn't increase when revved up hence reg rec failure.

The idle voltage was 12.8 and I THINK he said this meant that the battery was also gone.

I've ordered a CTEK xs 0.8 charger, should be here on Friday. Gonna charge, remove heated grips and see what the bike says. I'm sure the charger will let me know if the battery is too shot tov revive correct?

Thanks for the help guys, will update after charging.

[moppy]

OK then, so charged the battery (CTEK managed to finish its charging cycle) and rode into work yesterday (around 8 miles). Rode in fine, went to ride back and about 2 miles on the way back, it starts spluttering.

Managed to get it bump started once, but it spluttered out again a couple miles later, and no amount of pushing it would get it started again.

Recovery man came around, stuck a multimeter on it. I was paying a little more attention this time. Measuring around 12.5 with bike idling. It does not increase when revved.

He bypassed the battery by using his battery and it still measured around 12-12.5 and did not increase when revved.

Looks like the reg/rec is almost definitely the cause? He didn't measure the battery alone without the bike running which I assume would have given me some input on the health of the battery though.

Robby, from what you've said, the fact that it died out tickover while I was waiting at lights, does that imply that the battery is also shot?

Thank you very much for your help everyone. Just need to know if I need a reg/rec alone or a new batter as well. Cheers.