charging question..help.

[5speed]

I have a friends 92 kawasaki vulcan 500 here. I stored it for the winter for her.
We were heading out for a ride yesterday and her's wouldn't start. I boosted it and it started but when I unhooked the battery cables it quit.
I repeated this a few times with the same result although it gradually took longer to quit. the idle was going up and down on it then it would quit.
I pulled the battery out and noticed all the cells were down on acid. I assumed I found the problem.
I topped them up with distilled water, let it sit over night and when I put the trickle charger on it, it was showing fully charged.
I tested it with my multi meter and it's showing 6 volts.
So I called her and told her I think her battery is toast and she told me this is the third battery she's bought for the bike in the 4 years she's had it.
Between that and the cells being down on acid I'm thinking the bike is overcharging the battery.
Now the stupid question..
I looked up a voltage regulator for her bike and it has both a voltage regulator and a rectifier / regulator listed.
question A...does the bike have both or one or the other?
B. Is there a way to bench test them?
ETA..I was boosting off the battery in my truck but it wasn't running.

[pidjones]

It has either a rectifier and a regulator, or a reg/rect combined. Find out if it has a PM alternator or excited rotor. If the later, high chance of brush or commutator problems (usually easy to fix) or field or stator winding problems (not easy). On the excited field coil system, the regulator adjusts current to the field windings (which are electro magnets) to control the amount of charging. With the PM system (like our older GLs), the permanent magnet rotors constantly create current flow (as long as the bike is running) in the stator, and the regulator dumps anything not needed to ground. Rectifiers on either system convert AC two or three phase to DC.

[Track T 2411]

I looked it up on Partzilla.com. The rectifier is shown as part of the 'chassis electrical' and the regulator as part of the charging system, so one of each...

[gltriker]

Start with a new battery, again.

[Track T 2411]

Start with a new battery, again.

Yeah, the battery will probably not recover...

[gltriker]

Start with a new battery, again.

Yeah, the battery will probably not recover...

I'd bet there will be a significant amount of battery gasses corrosion damage on all electrical connections around the battery, too.

snip " she told me this is the third battery she's bought for the bike in the 4 years she's had it. "

When you receive a new battery, whether wet charged or dry charged, ALWAYS correctly and completely fully charge it first.

[5speed]

Start with a new battery, again.

she is getting a new battery...but does the cells being down on acid indicate an issue?
How does one determine if she has charging issues?

[Whiskerfish]

First thing is to see what it is doing. Charge the new battery and install then start it up and measure voltage at the battery. nominal for a fresh fully charged battery is about 12.8 With the bike running you should see a steady climb to 14.5 or so at the battery terminals. Depending on the draw to start it may have dropped down but a fresh battery with a good charging system should recover in just a few minutes.

[5speed]

First thing is to see what it is doing. Charge the new battery and install then start it up and measure voltage at the battery. nominal for a fresh fully charged battery is about 12.8 With the bike running you should see a steady climb to 14.5 or so at the battery terminals. Depending on the draw to start it may have dropped down but a fresh battery with a good charging system should recover in just a few minutes.

okay. If it is up past 14.5 Volts then we have problems?
If this was a car with an alternator I could sort it out, stators, rectifiers are outside my wheelhouse.

[Whiskerfish]

14.5 is about ideal. pushing 15 or more is doing damage to the battery by overcharging.

[5speed]

14.5 is about ideal. pushing 15 or more is doing damage to the battery by overcharging.

sounds good.
she is getting a dry battery tomorrow. I'm going to fill it, let it sit over night then put it on my trickle charger then go from there.

[gltriker]

14.5 is about ideal. pushing 15 or more is doing damage to the battery by overcharging.

sounds good.
she is getting a dry battery tomorrow. I'm going to fill it, let it sit over night then put it on my trickle charger then go from there.

Is the dry battery an AGM style? If yes, a typical trickle charger may not be suitable to first time activate charge it sufficiently.

[5speed]

Is the dry battery an AGM style? If yes, a typical trickle charger may not be suitable to first time activate charge it sufficiently.

that I'm not sure of. she said it is $90 so I'm guessing it's old school.

[pidjones]

AGMs don't come dry in my experience - always filled and charged (at least 70%).

[Track T 2411]

AGMs don't come dry in my experience - always filled and charged (at least 70%).

Depends on where/how you buy them. If you buy it through Amazon, etc. it's usually shipped dry, and requires charging.