Rrrrrevvvvvvvs

[DanceLikeAMon...]

I've been reading somewhere on here that a bike doesn't start charging it's battery until it's running at something like 5000 revs.

That got me thinking. I don't do a huge amount of travelling on the bike, and when I do the car driver in me likes to keep the noise down, so I ride around at about 3.5 - 4k revs. It's a GS500, so it's not exactly built for racing.

Should I be pushing the bike more? Does it do any harm to run at such low revs?

[Slinn84]

it doesn't harm it at all, quite the opposite actually, a cold enginme needs to be run slowly with less revs until the engine oil has time to fully warm up and circulate so for short journeys this is fine
also you'll save a lot on petrol, high revs obviously use more petrol so you'll get much better fuel economy

as for the battery not charging up i'm not totally sure. at idle tickover the battery should measure 12v ish, get a voltmeter onto it and see what happens when you rev it up a bit, it should go up which means the battery is getting some charging, i aint no electrician so i dont know what the science of it is but this is advice i took when my old cbr battery seemed to be dying way too quickly

[instigator]

I ran my er5 around glasgow for 8 months, doubt I got it above 5000rpm THAT often and for any prolonged period.

Never had to touch the battery.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Depends on the bike. Some will barely charge at low revs. Some will not kick in to charge the battery until they have hit certain revs (eg, not charging until the revs have gone past 3000rpm once, had this with a car). Generally you will be fine though, as long as you are not running anything extra to draw current. Larger headlight bulbs, heated grips, etc, will all add to the current draw.

All the best

Keith
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[Method]

I normally find its not the revs but the time that has any affect on my battery.

Admittedly it is completely shagged and means i have to bump start it, if i have left it for more than 3 hours at a time

But on my NSR and on my GS500, i find that it will only start to actually charge the battery ( rather than just re-fill it from the generator ), is after about 30mins riding?
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[DanceLikeAMon...]

I see. I probably only ride it for about 10 minutes a day (just to work and back), and an occasional 45 minutes at the weekend.

Might be a good idea for me to invest in a battery charger then. Don't fancy a flat battery on a freezing cold morning.

[Nath]

Just once or twice a week take the fun route home from work.

For me this was the ringroad as whilst still not a long journey I was thrashing it all the way filtering through the moving traffic like a nutter Probably safer just to go for a blast through the countryside, and avoid the rush hour traffic at the same time
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[kb-zxr]

Can I throw in a question?


I recently fitted LED rear bulbs to my bike. Apparently LEDS draw low current, is this gonna effect my electrics anywhere, or over any period. They have been in for a few days now and so far have found no effect. There was a warning on the pack saying that some bulb diagnostic lights may come on because of low current consumption, but I dont have one of these warning lights

Thanks, Kurt

[Kickstart]

Hi

Some cars have a warning light to tell you a bulb has gone out. Some of these are so sensitive that they will illuminate just because you have used a different make of bulb, let alone an LED bulb.

Should not make any difference to the electrics on your bike. Give you ever so slightly more electrical power in reserve.

All the best

Keith
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[pipnet11]

5000rpm!!! mine redlines at 5,500rpm! lol. Enfields have a low output alternator and it is charging the battery hard at about 1500rpm

/edit - Just another thought, my Suzuki GS125 would start, from cold, without the battery connected (kick start), and still tick over with all the lights on (just). So all the battery did was keep the lights on when I stopped.
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[Bezzer]

You should find the bike starts charging a touch either side of tickover, from 13.2V (a good fully charged battery gives out 13.2v not 12v) and should rise to the top end of 14v at around 5,000rpm.Under 12 and above 15 and somethings wrong.
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I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite so sure.

[california_rookie]

That seems an odd statement to me as the one time I had a dead battery on my Mitsubishi, it would rev past 4,500rpm without sputtering from lack of spark.
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[Bezzer]

What's an odd statement??, I'm talking about bikes, cars max output comes in a lot lower as they usually are only capable of half the revs of a bike. If you're battery is buggered it doesn't really matter once the engine is running as it is taking it's power from the alternator, which is why you can jump or bump start a vehicle with a flat battery which then carries on running.
The battery is there to start the vehicle and then to act as storage to be used when the actual power output is low and needs back up. When it is isn't being used as such then it is being recharged by the system when there is spare output ready for the next time it's needed. That's why short distance, low speed journeys flatten your battery it's not getting chance to recharge/recover.
What are you on about with your Mitsubishi.??
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I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite so sure.

[Sheepy1209]

I'm still running in my Suzuki DL650, and I'm not supposed to take it above 5000 rpm. Surely my battery would be flat by now??

[Bezzer]

The 5,000 is just a generalisation dude, the higher performance higher revving bikes are around that mark for maximum alternator output, if it's a lower revving bike then the max output will come in at lower revs and with an even lower revving car then lower still.
To check what it is put a multimeter across your battery terminals, run the engine and watch the volts rise as your revs rise, when it peaks somewhere bet 14-15 volts just look at the revs it takes.
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I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite so sure.

[8316]

[Nb]

[Sheepy1209]