Battery still draining

[OnYoLeft]

Hello All, :hi:

I've just joined this group and have found some great photos, ideas and repairs. I have an '82 Interstate that refuses to charge the battery in certain scenarios. I just purchased the bike last year and found that the 55w lights killed the battery within 15mins of riding. When I came to a stop, I would notice all the indicator lights go dim and the motor would die. I replaced them with 35w bulbs and now it lasts about an hour. The bike has 8 aux marker lights that I can ride all day with them on and never have an issue...or so I thought. I recently did the Toys for Tots Parade and had these lights on due to overcast (and for looks). At parade speed, I noticed the horn getting faint after about an hour and a half. Now, I don't know if the battery is draining due to low rpm and not charging but I was only a handful of bikes that needed to be push started after the lunch. :smilie_happy: I would never have that blowing the horn would drain the battery...and I had the radio on.

Again, this is my first bike. I would like to add the wraparound light bars on trunk and saddlebags that I have seen but I just know that it would never start back up as I'm having charging issues now.

I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and have found the techs at Des Plaines Honda to be the most helpful and knowledgeable. I have replaced the battery with a gel battery, replaced the regulator rectifier (which solved many of the initial dead battery issues when I bought the bike) and replaced the yellow 3-wire plug with a "solder and shrink tube kit" from Honda.

Having these voltage/charging issues is leading me to replace the "upgraded" dash back to the stock speaker and gauge dash so I can monitor the charging system. I've read some quick fixes on the forum about larger stators, going to LED's, and rewiring the entire bike with special relays. Seriously, does anyone have a GL1100 Interstate that has a lot of lighting and no problem starting back up after riding around for an hour, let alone two. WHAT'S YOUR SECRET? I've even bought the Goldwing repair book and followed the trouble shooting for the charging system. I get 13.6-14.8v charging at 1800-2200rpm. I turn on the radio or marker lights and it drops to 12.3-12.6. Turn on those damn aux lights and I'm lucky to get 7v. :head bang:

I've seen setups of external mounted alternators, but I'm not going that route. You can seen photos of the bike and its lighting under my profile gallery.

Headlight - stock
Auxillary lights - 2 @ 35w
Front side markers - 2 @ (those standard oblong bulb with a flat base)
Rear side markers - 2 @ 1157(6) single filament
Rear outside markers - 2 @ (those standard oblong bulb with a flat base)
Brake/Tail light - stock
Auxillary brake/tail (license plate bracket) - 2 @ 1157(6) double filament
Horn (dual) - stock

Any help and advise would greatly be appreciated. Thank you. :help:

 

[dan filipi]

You've done all the usual stuff.

I wish there was a better answer but unfortunately the charging design of these flat 4's parade riding and low rpm's will kill the battery.
Maybe the new mosfet regulator mod would help but I don't think so.
Your just running it at too low rpm to keep up.

The so called "higher output" stator won't improve anything for lower rpm output.
Your only choices are an external alternator or an extra battery like many guys put in the side bag.

 

[Winger 82]

:cool!: Have to agree with Dan on this one, low RPM's are just a killer on your battery, have rode in a few parades and ended up turning radio/tape deck off and kept the RPM's up when I could :hi:

 

[mcgovern61]

Welcome to the site from New Jersey! :clapping:

I have a buddy that rides a 76' GL1000 in parades and he initially had the same issues. Now when he rides, he turns off the driving lights and turns his idle screw in up to 1500 RPM and feathers the clutch to move the bike while keeping his battery power up. He also noticed in parade mode how often his fan was coming on and that is a big battery killer if the battery doesn't get a chance to recharge. :clapping:

 

[dan filipi]

Hold on a second, your reading 7 volts with the dual 35 watt lights on?
Something not right there.

Where are you taking the reading from?
Do you get 7 volts after the battery has drained for some time?

I'm thinkin maybe a short somewhere in those lights because I'd expect maybe drop to 10 volts but not 7.
That or there's something wrong with that battery.
Have you had it load checked for a weak/bad cell?

 

[AApple]

Something stinks in Denmark...

Mine runs @ 14v at idle, drops to around 13.5 with the high beam on, and really pulls down, to around 12.8 with the driving lights on, at idle. They do pull a lot of amps, so I usually only turn them on while I'm on the highway at speed.
If you've got something pulling your batt voltage down to 7 volts, that's barely enough to run the ignition, much less anything else.
You may want to replace your aux/driving lights with something else. You can also replace any/all of your 1157 bulbs with LEDs.
Of course, I assume you have already covered all of the basic stuff, like checking grounds/cables...

 

[joedrum]

id unhook everything except the headlight ,turn and brakes and ride it to see if it stays up .....im thinking it wont ....if it dose stay up then its probably some bad wiring or short in the extra lights or something....it also sounds to me like one weak lead on the stator ....they can get compromise real close to the winding sometimes right there at that plug that comes off the motor .....a lot of heat can build up at that spot and one of the leads cant pass current as the other two and is right on the verged of shorting the whole stator is where i think your at......i dont think your sator is putting out 100% ....it could be fix if you could find where the wire is trashed and maybe not good luck tho..... :mrgreen:

 

[jdegase]

also I'd just like to add...
you might try one of the new regulators, supposed to keep the voltage up at lower rpm much better than the old shunt style.
I purchased one off fleabay recently for around 25$ and just waiting for some snow to clear before hooking her up.
I also found some 25w bulbs for my running lights. helped the old stock system even more. think the link is in the electrical thread.

 

[OnYoLeft]

Thanks for all the advice. Since we're having a "heat wave" this week. I'll having a chance to fire it up and take some accurate readings, disconnect the driving lights and check grounds. I'll get back with the exact numbers and configurations. Thank you all!