Thought this maybe useful for anyone else ref battery charging system test for the F650/800 GS, maybe 700 also?
From ADVRider site. See source below
How to check a bikes charging system is next up, as well as checking for excessive demand and parasitic draw, but going to take some time.
At a minimum,
1: put your multimeter in DC voltage mode. If it has manual ranges then select the lowest setting that can handle 15 volts. if it is auto range, you don't have to worry about this.
2: Plug your leeds into the voltage jacks.
3: clip your leeds to the positive and negative battery posts. Do not hook them to the battery cables or terminals, wedge them straight onto the posts if possible because thats where we want to measure.
4: start the bike, allow to idle and read the voltage after a minute of idling. The F800GS has a charge profile set up for a gel battery even though it comes equipped with an AGM which is one of many reasons batteries don't last 5 years in this bike.
You should be seeing 13.9 to 14.3 volts at idle and when you raise engine speed it should fall to 13.8 to 14 volts. These are not desirable voltages, but they are what a stock bike puts out.
If the voltage goes higher at idle or running then 14.3, let it keep climbing but shut it down if it gets over 14.6 as it will wreck your battery.
If the voltage remains below 13.9 at idle or 13.8 at 3,000 rpm, something is up because your undercharging.
Next switch all the items on you use on the bike including heated gear, if any and especially auxiliary lights and repeat the measurements.
Falling below 13.9 at idle is ok under full electrical load, it simply means you don't want to spend much time idling without switching loads off, but it should climb as soon as you rev the engine to 3,000 rpm. below 13.8 volts at 3,000 rpm with all your expected loads on means your bikes charging system is NOT recharging the battery. Below 13.6 volts at 3,000 rpm means you are discharging your battery and something is wrong or you have too many loads hooked up to the bike.
Measuring parasitic drain is a little trickier.
1: Select the 10 amp DC amperage setting on your multimeter.
2: alligator one lead to the negative battery terminal. Clip the other lead to the negative battery post.
3: now and only now, plug one lead into the "COM" terminal of the multimeter. Plug the other lead into the 10 amp jack.
4: without disturbing the alligator clips, unbolt the negative terminal from the battery post, pull the terminal up slightly, and if there are any extra ring terminals hooked to the negative battery post, make sure you are alligatored to all of them with the main terminal at the same time.
Read the measurement with the bike off, it should be less then 3 mA, or 0.003 amps.
Now, with all loads switched off including the high beam headlight, turn the ignition on (DON'T HIT THE STARTER BUTTON). you will see a lot of current.
Switch it back off. within a second current will fall to 1.2 amps. a few seconds later it will fall to approximately 0.6 amps. Within a minute it will fall to less then 0.3 amps, and within 2 minutes should fall to that magic 0.003 amps.
Any exception to this pattern means something is hanging or something you have wired to the bike is drawing current when it shouldn't be.
switch the ignition back off
posted by Joelwisman
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/f800gs-battery-life.562296/page-4#post-17932772
From ADVRider site. See source below
How to check a bikes charging system is next up, as well as checking for excessive demand and parasitic draw, but going to take some time.
At a minimum,
1: put your multimeter in DC voltage mode. If it has manual ranges then select the lowest setting that can handle 15 volts. if it is auto range, you don't have to worry about this.
2: Plug your leeds into the voltage jacks.
3: clip your leeds to the positive and negative battery posts. Do not hook them to the battery cables or terminals, wedge them straight onto the posts if possible because thats where we want to measure.
4: start the bike, allow to idle and read the voltage after a minute of idling. The F800GS has a charge profile set up for a gel battery even though it comes equipped with an AGM which is one of many reasons batteries don't last 5 years in this bike.
You should be seeing 13.9 to 14.3 volts at idle and when you raise engine speed it should fall to 13.8 to 14 volts. These are not desirable voltages, but they are what a stock bike puts out.
If the voltage goes higher at idle or running then 14.3, let it keep climbing but shut it down if it gets over 14.6 as it will wreck your battery.
If the voltage remains below 13.9 at idle or 13.8 at 3,000 rpm, something is up because your undercharging.
Next switch all the items on you use on the bike including heated gear, if any and especially auxiliary lights and repeat the measurements.
Falling below 13.9 at idle is ok under full electrical load, it simply means you don't want to spend much time idling without switching loads off, but it should climb as soon as you rev the engine to 3,000 rpm. below 13.8 volts at 3,000 rpm with all your expected loads on means your bikes charging system is NOT recharging the battery. Below 13.6 volts at 3,000 rpm means you are discharging your battery and something is wrong or you have too many loads hooked up to the bike.
Measuring parasitic drain is a little trickier.
1: Select the 10 amp DC amperage setting on your multimeter.
2: alligator one lead to the negative battery terminal. Clip the other lead to the negative battery post.
3: now and only now, plug one lead into the "COM" terminal of the multimeter. Plug the other lead into the 10 amp jack.
4: without disturbing the alligator clips, unbolt the negative terminal from the battery post, pull the terminal up slightly, and if there are any extra ring terminals hooked to the negative battery post, make sure you are alligatored to all of them with the main terminal at the same time.
Read the measurement with the bike off, it should be less then 3 mA, or 0.003 amps.
Now, with all loads switched off including the high beam headlight, turn the ignition on (DON'T HIT THE STARTER BUTTON). you will see a lot of current.
Switch it back off. within a second current will fall to 1.2 amps. a few seconds later it will fall to approximately 0.6 amps. Within a minute it will fall to less then 0.3 amps, and within 2 minutes should fall to that magic 0.003 amps.
Any exception to this pattern means something is hanging or something you have wired to the bike is drawing current when it shouldn't be.
switch the ignition back off
posted by Joelwisman
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/f800gs-battery-life.562296/page-4#post-17932772
