81 XJ550 Not Charging battery while driving

So I have been trying to find a reason for this and I cannot. Today I went for a 40 mile drive and my voltage was 0.6 V lower after my drive than at the beginning. I get 14.5 V at the battery terminals when I am at 2000+ rpms, and the stator and rectifier tests from the manual both came back within the acceptable range. I searched for phantom charges and with the key turned to the off position there is no current flowing from the battery. When I turn the key the tail running light turns on, but it would be on while I am driving so I don't think this is the issue. I have checked the grounds under the battery box and the coils and they seem to be working alright. Has anyone seen this? I replaced my fuse box and some of the cable associated with it due to issues with wires being bad, have not had any of the issues I had since then (chiefly the bike turning off if I hit a bump) I have had this problem with two batteries and after having this one checked by 3 machines seems to be holding a charge fine (although not for long if it keeps discharging like this). Any ideas?

Thanks guys. Two years ago I bought this bike and it wouldn't even start and now with your help it runs great, except the battery charging issue.

 

Are you using a acid filled battery? If so are you filling each cell correctly prior to the initial charge? The red fill tube must be inserted deep enough into each cell to visually see the acid hit the bottom. There shouldn't be any acid left when all the cells are filled. Fwiw a battery with partially filled cells will show fully charged.

Gary H.

 

Hey Gary,
I have been through both an acid battery and now I am on an AGM. The lead-acid was destroyed through the improper charging (I believe) since it was discharged so completely. The AGM seems to be much more resilient and I have been much more careful with it now that I realize the issue, but it too is slowly loosing its ability to hold charge I am sure. Like I said I took it to have the battery tested, we used two separate machines than I used our battery tester at work to test it as well. Since it happened with two separate batteries I believe the charging system (or something else) is the true culprit.

 

your alternator brushes are ka-put. get in touch with "chacal"

 

+1.

Gary H.

 

Would it be possible to get the proper voltage with a bad stator? I finally was able to get back to the wires and I am not getting any resistance from the green-brown wires... Im sorry I always try to double check my work but this one fell through the cracks... I feel like I might have to just go ahead and replace the stator, and brushes. One brush is quite a bit smaller than the other. If so, should I replace my rotor too?

 

Use the three white wire rotor connector to do a three phase rotor test. If the stator windings aren't shot imo just replace the brushes and clean the rotor.

Gary H.

 

I might try that first. Thanks so much for the help and I'll keep you guys posted. The between the three white wires I am getting peaks between 0.6 and 0.3 then the meter reads 1 after a second. I am assuming this peak is the measurement, unless I am totally wrong.

Thanks again!

 

You guys are brilliant, the battery seems to be charging just fine now! Thank you guys again.

 

I'm missing something, what caused the problem?

 

sure would be nice to know what he did to fix this.. i'm having the exact same problem.

 

Looks like to me it may have been a bad connection. He didn't say he replaced anything. I don't know what the output on a 550 is but the three phase test results should be the same.

Gary H.

 

Just because you have the same problem does not mean that you have the same cause for the problem.

 

So what was the problem because iv replaced ever component and still after riding a few hrs my bike won't start like the battery is dead I go out next day it fires up ??? The only thing left is to re wire my whole bike .

 

have you cleaned your ground wire to frame connection and all connectors?
did you replace the brushes and clean copper rings?
how old is battery?
do you have any after market lights extra gizmos that you have installed?
maybe start a new thread and tell us exactly what you have done listing all parts and work.

 

see my post to bobbers for life listed below

new thread for your problems and you will get better results, because we do not what your ride or bobbers ride is or what you have done or looked at

 

this was what one of Straitwalker's problems was.
there are many threads on this subject done recently