Posted by TomO on June 11, 2008, 11:48 am
Maybe some of you knowledgeable folks have run across this before.
I finally had to replace the battery in my '84 Venture Royale and wound
up with a small problem. This bike has a sensor that was plugged directly
into the battery by removing one of the caps and replacing it with this
sensor. The lead also has a 680 ohm resistor in series with the wire
before heading off to the instrument panel.
The new battery that I found is a 'sealed' battery and doesn't have any
removable caps. I tried for a little bit to open one of the holes, but
was unsuccessful. I guess I was worried about making too much of a mess
out of my new battery.
Without this sensor installed, I have a battery warning lamp lit on the
cluster, but charge voltage appears normal ( as viewed on the instrument
cluster volt meter ).
The question is whether or not this sensor has anything to do with the
regulator, or is it only there for the idiot lamp on the panel? Should I
try to drill a hole in my new battery to insert the sensor?
I did try grounding and also connecting the sensor tip to +12v, but the
idiot lamp glared on in both of those cases.
Thanks
--
TomO
Posted by Mark Olson on June 11, 2008, 12:02 pm
TomO wrote:
> I finally had to replace the battery in my '84 Venture Royale and wound
> up with a small problem. This bike has a sensor that was plugged directly
> into the battery by removing one of the caps and replacing it with this
> sensor. The lead also has a 680 ohm resistor in series with the wire
> before heading off to the instrument panel.
>
> The new battery that I found is a 'sealed' battery and doesn't have any
> removable caps. I tried for a little bit to open one of the holes, but
> was unsuccessful. I guess I was worried about making too much of a mess
> out of my new battery.
>
> Without this sensor installed, I have a battery warning lamp lit on the
> cluster, but charge voltage appears normal ( as viewed on the instrument
> cluster volt meter ).
>
> The question is whether or not this sensor has anything to do with the
> regulator, or is it only there for the idiot lamp on the panel? Should I
> try to drill a hole in my new battery to insert the sensor?
>
> I did try grounding and also connecting the sensor tip to +12v, but the
> idiot lamp glared on in both of those cases.
My 1982 GPz550 had the exact same sensor. The only purpose of the sensor
is to indicate a low electrolyte level via the warning light. It has
nothing to do with the function of the regulator. There's really no way
to make it do anything useful if you have a sealed battery. The sensor
is looking for a voltage somewhere between battery + voltage and ground,
you could experiement with a potentiometer to see what voltage the warning
light likes, or you could just put a piece of black tape over the light...
--
'07 FJR13AW '99 EX250-F13
OMF #7
Posted by TomO on June 11, 2008, 12:19 pm
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:02:15 -0500, Mark Olson wrote:
>
> My 1982 GPz550 had the exact same sensor. The only purpose of the
> sensor is to indicate a low electrolyte level via the warning light. It
> has nothing to do with the function of the regulator. There's really no
> way to make it do anything useful if you have a sealed battery. The
> sensor is looking for a voltage somewhere between battery + voltage and
> ground, you could experiement with a potentiometer to see what voltage
> the warning light likes, or you could just put a piece of black tape
> over the light...
Thanks for that. It sets my mind more at ease knowing that I'm not over
or under charging. I'll play around with ways to disable the circuit at a
leisurely pace then.
--
TomO
Posted by Who Me? on June 11, 2008, 12:32 pm
> Thanks for that. It sets my mind more at ease knowing that I'm not over
> or under charging. I'll play around with ways to disable the circuit at a
> leisurely pace then.
One more little thing to consider: That battery light might also be your
"idiot" light for the alternator/charging system. If that is the case, it
would be a good idea to fake out the sensor.
If the sensor is the ONLY thing that triggers the battery light, the secure
the sensor out of the way and black out the light.
Posted by TomO on June 11, 2008, 12:52 pm
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:32:34 -0500, Who Me? wrote:
> One more little thing to consider: That battery light might also be your
> "idiot" light for the alternator/charging system. If that is the case,
> it would be a good idea to fake out the sensor. If the sensor is the
> ONLY thing that triggers the battery light, the secure the sensor out of
> the way and black out the light.
Good point. At least, for now, I have a voltmeter on the panel also. If I
see that meter drop below its normal 14v while running at speed, I'd know
I have a problem.
I will plan on faking out the circuit anyway just because it's annoying
to have that idiot light lit. Actually, on this machine, it is an LCD
display with ( I think ) 8 different icons for various conditions. If any
of those are triggered, then there is also a flashing red LED to alert me
that I need to look to this display to see what is wrong.
I know, way too much data for a motorcycle, but I still like the old
Venture. I find it to be way more comfortable for any trip over 2 hours
than my V-Star.
--
TomO
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> up with a small problem. This bike has a sensor that was plugged directly
> into the battery by removing one of the caps and replacing it with this
> sensor. The lead also has a 680 ohm resistor in series with the wire
> before heading off to the instrument panel.
>
> The new battery that I found is a 'sealed' battery and doesn't have any
> removable caps. I tried for a little bit to open one of the holes, but
> was unsuccessful. I guess I was worried about making too much of a mess
> out of my new battery.
>
> Without this sensor installed, I have a battery warning lamp lit on the
> cluster, but charge voltage appears normal ( as viewed on the instrument
> cluster volt meter ).
>
> The question is whether or not this sensor has anything to do with the
> regulator, or is it only there for the idiot lamp on the panel? Should I
> try to drill a hole in my new battery to insert the sensor?
>
> I did try grounding and also connecting the sensor tip to +12v, but the
> idiot lamp glared on in both of those cases.