Duff battery ???

[BSA500]

Hi,
 So last night I noticed the battery was flat. I have a reconned dynamo putting out a good charge(lights brighten on revving) and a new DVR2 reg. The strange thing is when you rev with the lights on or off the ammeter will move across just into the pos charge and then stop and drop a little, then rise and drop again. Rinse and repeat. Does this suggest the battery is duff and the reg is protecting itself from trying to push a charge into a duff battery??
 After i got to work(13 miles) the lights were bright but I will check later and expect it to be flat.
Thanks for looking

[duTch]

 is it a lead-acid battery, and if so, have you checked the acid ? (don't touch the brown stuff)

[BSA500]

Its lead acid and I last checked it 2 weeks ago. Its a few years old and I tested the lights an hour after arriving at work and the headlight is very very dim

[orabanda]

2 years is as much as i can get out of a lead cell; my tip is it's gone to God!

[BSA500]

Yeah thought as much. The fact it's not holding a charge is indication enough. It was just the way the ammeter was acting that worried me a little. I just assume it's the DVR2 looking after itself rather that trying to push current into a deadish battery.

[Topdad]

My present battery (lead acid ) is now in it's 11 th yr ,still holds charge but only for a 2 weeks now ,I keep it on a drip charge ,is this a record ?? 

[BSA500]

Batteries are a pain. I have even tried some ups gel cell batteries and the bike managed to muller that in short order 

[Butch (cb)]

My present battery (lead acid ) is now in it's 11 th yr ,still holds charge but only for a 2 weeks now ,I keep it on a drip charge ,is this a record ?? 

I've managed 10 years with a lawn mower battery in a V50. And that used to get stood for months at a time each summer with no trickle charge. Had to run the electric start as well.

[Black Sheep]

Much depends on the make of the battery. I have had a tractor battery last 15 years yet a Yuasa on a Yamaha generally lasts 1 year. The battery on the A10 must be 5 years old and still going strong. There's no definitive answer to battery life. It does sound as though your one is stuffed though. The other possibility could be a dodgy diode in the regulator allowing some back current leakage. Not easy to test.

[BSA500]

Coming back to the subject. Put a meter across the terminals while running the engine and the meter was all over the place. Again on the ammeter with lights on, they brighten with revs and then the charge cuts off, lights dim, lights brighten, cuts out lights dim etc. Is this normal for a dvr2  to act this way if say the battery had got issues????
 Anybody experience similar

[duTch]

Depending what end cover is on your dynamo, maybe check that the D /F connections are secure and not earthing out on anything.

 I had a battery issue a couple of years ago because the 'F' wire had rubbed on the iner of my alloy end cover, which made it do crazy stuff.

[Scott and Jay]

When my lead-acid battery was on the way out the DVR2 went too. I don't make a fuss about this because I realized my fuse wasn't the right one specified. In case it saves your DVR2, though - you might like to just replace the battery

[BSA500]

I will check these things thanks. I put the battery on charge last night and the lights are still dim so not taking a charge. Charging was worse this morning hardly any reaction and no lights brightening. FFS

[BSA500]

One thing I hadn't considered was the dynamo drive slipping (might explain up and down charging as speed increased). I will have a poke around tomorrow.

[Butch (cb)]

When my lead-acid battery was on the way out the DVR2 went too. I don't make a fuss about this because I realized my fuse wasn't the right one specified. In case it saves your DVR2, though - you might like to just replace the battery

That’s an interesting call. My Nimbus came with a solid state regulator (not an R2D2) in the original casing. Because the bike had been on static display for some time I had to spark (or whatever it is) the dynamo to get it charging. About a year or so later it stopped charging again – no magneto so more serious. I found the battery was toast so replaced it, all was well again. However, being of a suspicious mind I wired in an ammeter and found it was charging quite profusely. I figured that in the interim I could manage this by use of the lights (rather amusingly operated by the LH twist grip). But then at the end of the DGR trip last year I lost charging again. The battery had failed.

So I now have a new battery and another solid state regulator. I thought maybe I’d fried it when I was sparking up that dynamo, but maybe it was the death of the first battery?