63 honda 305, low and terrible voltage

Snakeoil · Post by **Snakeoil** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:17 pm

Have you checked your electrolyte level? I'm thinking that you are way down and that is why your battery died so fast.

regards,
Rob

bloodweiser · Post by **bloodweiser** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:56 am

yes sir, that was also fine now and from day one.

brewsky · Post by **brewsky** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:44 am

If I had a WM battery that didn't last 6 months, I would be looking for my receipt to return it for a new one

Snakeoil · Post by **Snakeoil** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:49 am

I agree with Brewsky. If the charging system is working, then the battery should have survived. LM suggested looking for a leakage path to ground which would pull your battery down when parked and you need to verify that is not play here or you will kill any battery, regardless of quality, in short order.

Not sure what the warranty on MC batteries is at Wally World but I would think that 6 mos would be within that period. The zombies at the service desk will probably want to test it with a load tester, worst case. It should fail with flying colors based on what you've mentioned here.

Go to Radio Shack and get an SCR to replace the Flintstone rectifier you have now as Davo suggested.

My experience, and others more enlightened on the subject can comment, is with a DMM set to DC volts across the battery you should see the voltage go up and down with RPM indicating the alternator is working and the battery is being charged. Another way would be to connect the DMM in series with the positive lead to the battery from the rectifier and set on AMPS. This will show current flow into the battery with the engine running and another indication of a properly working charging system. Depending on how you test, if you do not see postive results, you are running the bike off the battery and that is what is killing it for you. If that is the case, it speaks to the quality of the battery because it recovered after being run down by itself and continued to give you good service until it finally just could no longer revive itself.

regards,
Rob

Wilf · Post by **Wilf** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:08 am

Radio Shack can sell you an SCR or a silicon bridge rectifier. What you need is the silicon bridge rectifier. An SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) is a totally different animal and is not what you want.

Wilf

Snakeoil · Post by **Snakeoil** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 3:37 pm

My mistake. I thought the silicone rectifiers we use to replace the older selenium rectifiers were in fact SCRs. My electronics ignorance is once again flushed out. Sorry for the misleading info.

Thanks for keeping me honest, Wilf. I hate that Guru moniker that's been attached to my site name due to the number of posts. Maybe they just spelled Goof wrong.

regards,
Rob

LOUD MOUSE · Post by **LOUD MOUSE** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:06 pm

Is it a full wave rectifier also?. ......lm

Wilf wrote:Radio Shack can sell you an SCR or a silicon bridge rectifier. What you need is the silicon bridge rectifier. An SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) is a totally different animal and is not what you want.

Wilf