Re: Battery draining

Posted by kandrtech on Mar 12, 2013; 12:51am
URL: http://vintage-and-classic-hondas.81.s1.nabble.com/Battery-draining-tp4037720p4037732.html

The direct answer to your question:  short rides shouldn't prevent your battery from being adequately charged.

An example.  Per the Service Manual, the starter draws 120 amps.  Let's assume that you crank the starter for 5 seconds.  That is 120 x 5 = 600 amp-seconds taken out of the battery.  A "rule of thumb" is that you have to put 10 percent more back into the battery to recharge it.  600 x 1.1 = 660 amp-seconds.

Now, the bike starts - and the battery is being re-charged.  If only 2-1/2 amps is going to the battery, you only need about 4-1/2 minutes running the bike well above idle to recharge the battery.

This simple approach assumes that you're not idling your bike around town (the higher the revs, the greater the output from the alternator) AND that your charging system is working properly - so do that voltage test.  Output should be at 14.5 volts.