Battery light on

[Red-Duc]

Just started the bike up for the first time in 5 months to take it out for a run, Took a bit of turning over to get it to fire up as I would have expected, All was well for about 1 mile when the battery light lit up, I first thought that it was just cos the lights were on and the amount of turning over it took to fire it up must have flattened the battery and it was strugling to charge it. Few more miles down the road and light still on so came home to find out whats wrong!
Im not that good with electrics but am assuming it is the regulater or altenator, I know regulaters are a problem but thought that it was on the early ss's mine is a 97,

So how do I check the regulator and altenator or could there be anything else causing the light to stay on

Just been out and tested battery with bike not running 12.1V
Bike running on tickover 11.8V
Running full lights on tickover 11.5V
Running full lights on at 2000rpm 11.5v
running full lights on at 4000rpm 11.5V

so from that im assuming the battery isnt charging but dont know how and what to test next

[Martini]

Just started the bike up for the first time in 5 months to take it out for a run, Took a bit of turning over to get it to fire up as I would have expected, All was well for about 1 mile when the battery light lit up, I first thought that it was just cos the lights were on and the amount of turning over it took to fire it up must have flattened the battery and it was strugling to charge it. Few more miles down the road and light still on so came home to find out whats wrong!
Im not that good with electrics but am assuming it is the regulater or altenator, I know regulaters are a problem but thought that it was on the early ss's mine is a 97,

So how do I check the regulator and altenator or could there be anything else causing the light to stay on

Could be the regulator, especially as it was OK for the first mile, but first give the battery a good charge.

With the battery back on the bike make sure that the battery voltage rises slightly when you rev the engine (you should see your headlight get a little brighter).

If the battery voltage does not rise when you rev the engine it's possible the charging system (either regulator or alternator) is shot.

Before delving too deeply into these two, it's worth checking for bad conenctions. If the bike was OK when you put it away 5 months ago corrosion may have set in in the connectors or earths.

There are a number of earlier posts that go into detail about testing regulators and alternators.....

[Red-Duc]

Have been back reading some threads on testing but do you test the altenator with the engine running or not

[Iconic944ss]

As well as the fault finding link here is probably the best post on a similar line:

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/showthread.php?t=78401

Cheers - Frank

[skidlids]

Clive if you need a hand I can pop over with my multi-meter

[Red-Duc]

Clive if you need a hand I can pop over with my multi-meter

Thanks for the offer Kev, I have got a multimeter but havnt got a clue how to use it, Im reading up off the internet on how to use it and which settings you use for testing the bike, so may need to take you up on you offer of help if I cant suss the multimeter.

cheers

Clive

[Iconic944ss]

I'm afraid I dont have access to my Haynes manual that I think details the test procedure quite well, in the meantime Ive tried to copy a procedure out of the WSM that details working in Amps:

good luck - Frank

[Red-Duc]

Found the problem today, it was the charging fuse, it was not blown but one of the spades had melted away and wasnt making contact, Cleaned the fuse holder and a new fuse and it seems ok, I can only assume that there was some corrosion at the joint causing it to arc and melt the blade