reg/rec or battery?

[Wonko The Sane]

A while back my ZZR had it's reg/rec go and it was replaced with one from a ZX6-R as that's what was available and being a similar sized 4 cylinder it was figured it'd be ok and it has.

I've noticed on the last couple of cold mornings that while the bike is as eager to start as ever, when I'm in slow queuing traffic (not able to filter / have filtered) it seems to struggle for tick over a little, if I've ridden and got the revs up enough to warrant changing gear before coming to a stop again it's fine.

I've found if I turn the lights off it recovers - this was without using heated gloves this evening, my heated gloves don't seem as effective as they were last year.

Tickover is set to about what it should be (if not a little higher)

Can't smell any burning from the area of the reg/rec, there is a little bit of heat behind the fairing in that area

I don't know how long the battery has been on the bike, I've had the bike about two and a half years, flattened it once when sorting something before even riding it, flattened it a couple of times with the previous reg/rec issue, the bike lives outside and gets used all year round.


Need to find multimeter and have a poke, who do I tell if it's reg/rec or battery?
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[mentalboy]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Interesting one.

Dead battery would normally be most obvious when first starting. Starting easily suggests the battery is OK.

But it does seem to be charging, otherwise it probably wouldn't recover when given a good run. Most of the time regulator / rectifiers seem to either work or not work.

My suspicion would be the generator itself. We had a similar situation with a GPZ500 when one of the wires for the coils in there was damaged. Still ran, still charged, voltage still went up with rpm. Just nowhere near as much as they should have done. Presume 3 wires from the generator, so check the resistance over each pair of them and check they are the same.

All the best

Katy
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[Wonko The Sane]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

Inspect the connector between the reg/rec and the alternator. It's possible that there is significant dirt and/or corrosion causing some electrical resistance. If ok, follow the trouble-shooting flow chart below (which isn't as complicated as it looks!).

https://www.electrosport.com/media/pdf/fault-finding-diagram.pdf

[Kickstart]

[Wonko The Sane]

[Wonko The Sane]

spoken to the garage I trust (I do appreciate and value your advice), he says he doubts it is the battery as it starts normally, he suggested it could be a spot of rough running and to drain the carbs to get any sediment out and change the spark plugs and air filter as they've done over 10k.

I've got plugs and filter ordered to do this weekend, see how it is then go poking around the electrics.
____________________
Looking to pass your CBT / Bike tests in Bury Lancashire? try www.focusridertraining.co.uk Would recommend.
They're also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Focus-Rider-Training/196832923734251

[Oldie]

Might be plugs but it could also be your plug caps or HT leads. Usual way to test is to spray them with WD40 when the engine is running to see if there's a change (not easy at the traffic lights of course!).

But firstly, you really must get a meter, then it's a simple job to test if the bike is charging.

[Wonko The Sane]

[MCN]

Before you bladder it you might try looking for HT leaks around the plugs and leads in a darkened shed/garage/kitchen/front room. Modern stuff isn't so affected by leaks as the stuff is made better. But maybe worth a shot.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Wonko The Sane]

[Oldie]

Great feeling when that engine kicks into life

[Wonko The Sane]