friggin' newb here!

[Megan Black]

Hi all, newbie here with some very newbie battery questions for you, please let me know if I'm posting in the wrong spot.

I've been doing research and searching around for info. because I know nothing of bikes and even less of electrical systems, but I killed the bike the other day (left the key on) and jumped it from a car, and yes, I did the one thing you're not supposed to do while jumping a motorcycle from a car, started it.

Anyway, that didn't work well, and I figured I'd completely drained the battery so I took it to a shop to have them recharge it. The bike started fine but after having done what I did, I wanted to make sure I didn't hurt anything. Took it to another shop that testing the charge and said battery wasn't holding a charge like it should. I have no money and want to figure this out on my own so here's some questions:

....but before I ask them, I'd like to say that I realize I could have fried something in the regulator/rectifier or stator but I can't test that until I know absolutely that my battery isn't the problem...

Battery testing: Anyone have experience using a multimeter? my bf has one, so I hooked it up to the battery and it read around 11.8 (I have a 12V battery) and this is just after having les schwab charge it. I called some battery place that said it should be 13 or 14, but now I'm not sure if I tested it right. I read somewhere that when you test the battery, you need to unload that initial charge on the battery. Well, I just tested the battery out of the bike, but the multimeter says "load test" so I didn't know if I still had to do that. Ugh, I'm so confused about the whole testing thing. Do I need the battery on the bike to test it w/ a multimeter? Does anyone know what it should read?

Also, I read somewhere that once you've drained your battery completely, it won't hold a charge to full capacity anymore, could that be one reason why the battery isn't holding a charge like it should?

Thanks for your patience w/ my newbiness!

[inspiron]

Hi Megan,

87gsxrnut or Dave2122 are our resident gurus when it comes to bike electronics. One or the other should be along shortly.

[Megan Black]

Thanks inspiron!

did some more research and found more stuff out. someone at a shop said I should be able to test my battery w/ the multimeter on or off the bike okay, so I'm going to go ahead and believe them. Someone else mentioned that I need to test it w/ the bike running but I did another little test of my own, and was wondering if it would work just the same (maybe those guys could answer that question for me)

So all I did was, I tested the battery with the bike off, then started it up, ran it around a little, turned it on and off a few times, ran it around some more, turned it off, then tested it again. it was the same reading, if not, just a tad more. shouldn't that tell me that there's nothing wrong w/ my stator and/or regulator/rectifier? and the battery for that matter? (it went up to over 12 V the 2nd and 3rd times I tested it)

Thanks again!


ps. also found a great website with info on the charging systems: http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_garage.htm it's the section called "The Stator Papers"

pss. speaking of which, what do all those letters mean on Suzuki bikes anyway?? (GS, TL, etc, etc)

[Trapper]

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Oh, and welcome Megan, tell us about yourself.

[Megan Black]

thanks for the welcome, trappercase welp, i'm from Vancouver, Washington and i've only been riding a couple o' months, took a motorcycle class to get my sponsorship and my boyfriend is sooooooo nice that he lets me learn on and ride his tl1000r.

i've already dropped it (on the walkway ) and killed it (left the key on ) so it's sounds to me like i'm well on my way, huh!

btw, found the specs for testing w/ the multimeter when revving the engine and everything checks out great, whew!

[Nexus242]

how old is the battery?? They do have a limited lifespan of 2-4 years depending on useage.

[87gsxrnut]

Was this the TLR?

- Nut

[Megan Black]

the battery is 5 yrs. old and yup, it was the tlr

[SpeedQueen]

Welcome

[stevie c]

Yeah friggin' welcome!

[tlwisner]

Originally Posted by Megan Black

my boyfriend is sooooooo nice that he lets me learn on and ride his tl1000r.

Wow! You must be one hot mama!

Welcome Megan.

[inspiron]

[SVZuki]

Originally Posted by inspiron

welcome and +1

[Nexus242]

Originally Posted by Megan Black

the battery is 5 yrs. old and yup, it was the tlr

I'm thinking the battery is toast or at least on it's way out.

[Megan Black]

Originally Posted by SpeedQueen

Welcome

thanks!

oooh, you have an R6....lucky! that's the bike i want....should i ever get the money to buy my own got pics?

thanks for all the welcomes, i'll get a pic of the bike soon, but it's not altogether pretty, bf dropped her a couple times so the plastic is scratched/missing in a few places

yeah, regarding the battery's life, i'm very surprised that everything seems okay still after that little ditzy moment of mine

[inspiron]

We all know what motorcycles look like ... we want pictures of YOU

[gixxxer]

I think she's blonde, or slow

[Megan Black]

oh my god, how did you know i was blonde??

[inspiron]

[blackie1491]

That does not look like a TL1000R.Must be trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Nice looking bike.