Battery/charging red light ON

[newrider1949]

Hello all, 2 day owner here!

Charge light stays on, but when metered at battery terminals, charge voltage seems fine and rises with revs which is pretty normal. Any ideas why light stays on?

TIA

Larry
Victoria BC Canada

[triton28]

Hello to you Larry from Nova Scotia;
There is a single Green/Blue wire located down in the area of your turn signal relay which when the bike was new would have been connected to an electrolyte sensor located inside the battery. This sensor is/was a push fit through the top of the battery where the fill plugs go and the tip of the sensor would have been immersed in the electrolyte and the Battery light on the dashboard would not have been illuminated provided of course the electrolyte was up to/close to the full designed level.
If you do not have this sensor, and the Green/Blue wire is NOT connected to a 12Volt + source then the light WILL be illuminated.
This light does not indicate level of alternator output voltage only the level of electrolyte OR the fact that the electrolyte level sensor is not present.
If you connect the G/Bl wire to 12V+, or to a working electrolyte level sensor, then the light should be off.
Look at part 27010B of the attached parts illustration.
Dave
https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/kawas ... -equipment

[SgtSlag]

Welcome to the forum!

I recommend attaching a Voltmeter directly to your Battery terminals, with a relay to break the connection when the key is off, and mount it where you can keep an eye on it. The Battery can die and leave you sitting, without warning!

When you first turn the bike's key on, the headlight will be off, so the Voltage reading will be accurate enough to judge the health of the Battery:

12.6 Volts+ -- good, healthy Battery;

<12.6 Volts -- Battery needs testing/possible replacing, the sooner, the better! Below 12.4 volts, it likely will not start the bike...

Also note that the OEM Alternator will not produce enough Voltage/Current, at idle, to charge the Battery -- it will drain it, keeping the bike, the lights, etc., on while idling. The engine will also run hotter if you are idling in stop-n-go traffic, leading to the radiator fan running, draining more amperage from the non-charging Battery.

Solutions/Suggestions:

1) You can have the Alternator re-wound to produce higher current output, but you still need to monitor the Battery, and this is an expensive option.

2) Install an AGM Battery -- expensive, but extremely reliable, and maintenance free.

3) Replace most/all of your incandescent bulbs with properly fitting LED bulbs, preferably with higher Lumen output (lower wattage, higher/brighter light output). This can be a bit complicated due to polarity issues, along with color output issues (use Red LED's behind Red Lenses; use Yellow LED's behind Yellow Lenses; use white LED's in the instruments and in the Headlight, only!).


4) Replace your Halogen headlight bulb with an LED replacement: Lumens can double, for a 20 Watt power savings from the headlight, alone; color/temperature can be more like Daylight (4,000-6,000 Kelvin; the higher the number, the more blue it will be, so 4,000 - 5,000 K is my personal preference), or yellowish, like Halogen bulbs (2,000 - 3,000 Kelvin, with 2,000 K being much more yellowish). Try to avoid exceeding 1,800 Lumens, as you may get ticketed for having too bright of a headlight, blinding oncoming traffic (consider a ticket a safety wake-up call before a blinded driver hits you head-on!).

By reducing the wattage consumed by your lights, by replacing incandescent bulbs with appropriate LED's, you can increase the charging voltage and amperage delivered to your Battery. By replacing all bulbs, except for the instrument cluster, with LED's, my Charging Voltage increased by more than 1 Volt, which helps, tremendously. It also frees up Watts for accessories, such as a heated vest -- keep an eye on your Voltmeter as long as you have that vest turned on! You want to ensure that the heated vest (or other accessories) does not drain your Battery, leaving you stranded on the roadside. You may want to cycle the vest on/off, to keep your Battery alive, or avoid riding when you need that heated vest running more than your bike can manage. Cheers!

[newrider1949]

Thanks for all the advice! Thanks to Dave,it turns out the battery sensor wire needed to be connected to a 12v source so that the red battery light on the dash went out. Did that today and all is well, alternator and battery are fine.

Thanks for the reply

Larry