[rmrowoldt]

imported post

I HAVE no idea, but here we go. On my US 2000 GWA, I have a cd player, Satelite radio, GPS, driving lights, side marker lights (yellow), spoiler light, trunk lights, saddle lights and trailer lights. I put in a new battery last month and 2 weeks ago the wife and I took a short trip about 200 miles and my volt meeter read 13.2 volts and the bike started to shut down on us. I had everything running and turned the GPS off and after 2 min everything was fine. Am I overloading the bike's amps allowed. Someone once told me about cump-u-fire Alt and Battery???? With all the stuff that can be put on a goldwing which I have, could this be the problem???



Thanks

 

[Jason]

imported post

A few questions for you first to help with this.

1. Did the volts meter read higher than 13.2 with the engine at idle?
2. With all the bits turned off, did the volts go up then?
3. At any time while out that day did the volts read higher than 13.2?

 

[Skooter]

imported post

All the right questions Jason. One more for RM, when you disconnect the trailer does the voltage reading go up (bad connections in the plug can cause lots of problems?

 

[rmrowoldt]

imported post

Jason,

1. Did the volts meter read higher than 13.2 with the engine at idle?

With all the things turned on at idle 11.2 - 12.2


2. With all the bits turned off, did the volts go up then?

at idle, yes, to13.2 - 13.7


3. At any time while out that day did the volts read higher than 13.2?

13.7 was all the higher the volt meeter showed when rideing at any throttle speed.

Richard ( Mr. Clean)

 

[Jason]

imported post

Richard, from what you have mentioned it looks like the alternator is no performing at its best. It is most likely a borderline case at present (over 14 volts at idle would be ideal). Might be a good idea to take it out as it's an easy job and remove the rear cover to blow out the dust and inspect the brushes. Do this before it gets worse.

 

[rmrowoldt]

imported post

Jason,

Thanks fellow Wing. I did wwhat you advised and took the back off and boy was it dirty. Problem was I put everything back (even marked the case of the alt.) and the problem was the same. Ended up buying the comp-u-fire with batt. That did the trick. Just came back from a 2 day, 652 mile run this weekend and the volts never went below 13.8 and when I got home, put the bike in the garage and hooked up by battery buddy and it went stright to green.

Thanks for your help. I always can count onSteve's forums for help. Maybe when I get more experienced I can help someone too.