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Old 30-11-2020, 04:57 PM   #1
MotoNik
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M600 voltage question

Hi folks,

Just fitted a volt meter on my M600, as I suspect it's over-charging. It's reading around 13.7-13.8V while idling, and 15.0-15.3V while riding. Mostly bang on 15.0, in fact.

My feeling is it shouldn't really be higher than about 14.5V or thereabouts. What's the general consensus?

I'm going to assume the regulator is probably duff, or failing, but wanted to check the collective wisdom before ordering a replacement.

Thanks in advance!

Nik
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Old 30-11-2020, 05:05 PM   #2
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Reg rect gone duff mate!

I think 14.2v should be the max

Did the bike come with warranty?
Lol!
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Old 01-12-2020, 10:49 AM   #3
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Make sure your new voltmeter is accurate before spending cash on a new rectumfryer.
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Old 01-12-2020, 01:24 PM   #4
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Make sure your new voltmeter is accurate before spending cash on a new rectumfryer.
A good point from mjgt. I recently bought a cheap digital voltage meter that plugs into the car's cigar lighter. I checked it against a multimeter and it consistently under-reads by 0.5 - 0.6v. Not a problem now I know, but I might have been worried if I hadn't checked it first.
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Old 01-12-2020, 04:10 PM   #5
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If buying a new Reg/Rect proceed with caution. Lots of fakes on Ebay. I bought one from Electrex and it went on fire......ended up going down the MOSFET route and no problems ever since. Lots of info on here.
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Old 02-12-2020, 12:57 PM   #6
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Thanks for the replies gents. I seem to have notifications turned off, so hadn't realised I'd so many responses!

The voltage meter is a cheap one off ebay, so not expecting it to be mega accurate, but I'll verify it by borrowing a multimeter from work. Or attaching it to my Multistrada, and see what it reads on there (as that has an onboard voltmeter, which ought to be fairly accurate).

I've seen lots of inexpensive Reg/Recs on ebay, but I'm guessing this would be a good bet...

https://www.electrexworld.co.uk/cgi-...2ehtml#SID=439
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Old 02-12-2020, 01:01 PM   #7
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Cheap one on ebay...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Voltage-R...6/192635304970
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Old 02-12-2020, 02:23 PM   #8
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hhhmmmmmmmm

Quote:
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If buying a new Reg/Rect proceed with caution. Lots of fakes on Ebay. I bought one from Electrex and it went on fire......ended up going down the MOSFET route and no problems ever since. Lots of info on here.
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Old 03-12-2020, 04:16 PM   #9
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Thats a Fake it is likely to burn out really quick,, I tried a few cheap chinese ones like that all duds
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Old 03-12-2020, 08:22 PM   #10
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Both the genuine factory and Haynes manuals quote that at 3000rpm the voltage output of the single phase alternator should be between 13.5 to 15.5v

As others have said, I would be checking all the connections along the wiring but like a lot of the wiring on the early bikes it is another case of it being undersized for carrying the intended current.
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Old 04-12-2020, 05:18 PM   #11
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Nik, just wondering why you think it was over charging in the first place that made you want to fit the meter, and what is it reading when the engine's stopped i.e. the static battery voltage?
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Old 05-12-2020, 11:13 AM   #12
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Having owned an M600 years ago where the RR went pop, and the previous owner (Pedro!) having been suspicious that it might be over-charging, I wanted to check it out.

Looked at it yesterday, having sat in the garage untouched for 24hrs, and it was reading 12.2v (with ignition off). Battery was new in Feb when I recommissioned the bike.
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Old 05-12-2020, 11:16 AM   #13
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I should add that when I went over the bike in Feb/March I cleaned all the connectors, so everything should be a in pretty good shape.
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Old 05-12-2020, 12:15 PM   #14
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Looked at it yesterday, having sat in the garage untouched for 24hrs, and it was reading 12.2v (with ignition off). Battery was new in Feb when I recommissioned the bike.
I would say really you would want to know what voltage it was showing when you parked up to give you an idea of what it’s lost in the 24 hrs.

Then I would be doing a ‘drop test’ on the battery to check its load capacity is ok - just because it’s showing normal (or close to normal) voltage it doesn’t mean it’s any good.

Along with properly checking the battery capacity, I’d do an earth leakage test to make sure you have no residual current drain in the circuit.

If the above don’t show anything untoward then personally I would go back through the connections and also get a meter to check out the Alternator and RR measurements.
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Old 05-12-2020, 10:20 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MotoNik View Post
Having owned an M600 years ago where the RR went pop, and the previous owner (Pedro!) having been suspicious that it might be over-charging, I wanted to check it out.

Looked at it yesterday, having sat in the garage untouched for 24hrs, and it was reading 12.2v (with ignition off). Battery was new in Feb when I recommissioned the bike.
15.3V would be a bit on the high side really and i thought maybe the meter could be reading a bit high but then 12.2V is on the low end for a bike that was running within a day or so. The higher charging voltage would eventually ruin your battery by boiling the electrolyte, maybe already on its way down.
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