RichPugh
New Member
As stated, bike is a 1976 Honda CB550K w/ around 12k miles. Battery isnt OLD old but not new. Water level is good.
I bought the bike from a guy who said he "charged the battery and it fires right up". It did... for about 2 days... then it wouldnt restart with the electric push button starter, only the kickstart. Then, after I accidently left the key in the ON position after killing/stopping the bike once, it wouldnt even start with the kickstart.
SO, 2 nights ago I started the bike with cables, ran it around over 3-4k rpm for 10-15 minutes, shut it off with the kill switch (leaving the ignition switched to ON), tried to electrically restart it and... nothing. Not enough juice to electric start. It kickstarted but not enough juice to electric start. Got it home, turned it off with the ignition, let it sit for a few minutes and it DID start with the electric starter.
Yesterday morning, wouldnt electric start but would kick start so I took it for a ride (with jumper cables strapped to the rear of the seat LOL) for about 20 minutes, shut it off with the key, went and had lunch (easily 45 minutes), came back and no electric start but kickstart no problem. Rode it for maybe 5 minutes and killed it with the kill switch (accidently leaving the ignition switched ON) and the bike wouldnt even kickstart.
That brings us to today and my electrical voltage measuring. After leaving it on the battery charger overnight, came out this morning and of course, it fires right up on the 1st crank with the electric push-button starter.
- Battery voltage read 12.25v prior to starting it. Voltage not dropping at all after removing it from the charger.
- Voltage dropped down to under 10v while cranking (obviously only momentarily).
- After started, while idling around 1500rpm, battery voltage measured 11.14-11.16v steady.
- Revving it mildly up to 3k or so then letting it drop back to idle, voltage rises to around 11.5v or so then drops back to 11.14-11.16v at idle.
- Holding the R's up to around 3500 for around a minute, the voltage slowly climbed and peaked at 13.1v (may have climbed higher but sat at 13.1 for over 30 seconds).
- Killing the bike with the kill switch (leaving ignition set to ON) the voltage dropped to 10.5 and very slowly crept down (headlamp and taillamp are still ON at this point).
- Killing the bike with the ignition switch, the voltage read 11.5v steady and did not drop over a few minutes.
Am I simply in need of a new battery or is my charging system weak? Seems like if the battery was good, the 13.1v it reaches at cruising speed would keep it charged (so long as I didnt kill it and leave the ignition switch to ON).
I bought the bike from a guy who said he "charged the battery and it fires right up". It did... for about 2 days... then it wouldnt restart with the electric push button starter, only the kickstart. Then, after I accidently left the key in the ON position after killing/stopping the bike once, it wouldnt even start with the kickstart.
SO, 2 nights ago I started the bike with cables, ran it around over 3-4k rpm for 10-15 minutes, shut it off with the kill switch (leaving the ignition switched to ON), tried to electrically restart it and... nothing. Not enough juice to electric start. It kickstarted but not enough juice to electric start. Got it home, turned it off with the ignition, let it sit for a few minutes and it DID start with the electric starter.
Yesterday morning, wouldnt electric start but would kick start so I took it for a ride (with jumper cables strapped to the rear of the seat LOL) for about 20 minutes, shut it off with the key, went and had lunch (easily 45 minutes), came back and no electric start but kickstart no problem. Rode it for maybe 5 minutes and killed it with the kill switch (accidently leaving the ignition switched ON) and the bike wouldnt even kickstart.
That brings us to today and my electrical voltage measuring. After leaving it on the battery charger overnight, came out this morning and of course, it fires right up on the 1st crank with the electric push-button starter.
- Battery voltage read 12.25v prior to starting it. Voltage not dropping at all after removing it from the charger.
- Voltage dropped down to under 10v while cranking (obviously only momentarily).
- After started, while idling around 1500rpm, battery voltage measured 11.14-11.16v steady.
- Revving it mildly up to 3k or so then letting it drop back to idle, voltage rises to around 11.5v or so then drops back to 11.14-11.16v at idle.
- Holding the R's up to around 3500 for around a minute, the voltage slowly climbed and peaked at 13.1v (may have climbed higher but sat at 13.1 for over 30 seconds).
- Killing the bike with the kill switch (leaving ignition set to ON) the voltage dropped to 10.5 and very slowly crept down (headlamp and taillamp are still ON at this point).
- Killing the bike with the ignition switch, the voltage read 11.5v steady and did not drop over a few minutes.
Am I simply in need of a new battery or is my charging system weak? Seems like if the battery was good, the 13.1v it reaches at cruising speed would keep it charged (so long as I didnt kill it and leave the ignition switch to ON).
