I was at my mechanics shop the other day and talked with someone who had bought a small dirt/road bike for $75 because the owner could not get it to start. Turned out that a simple charge of the battery and it ran great . It got me thinking because batteries seem to only come up in topics about storage or no start OR NO CRANKS. I run two 55w halogens off my R* as well as the 65w High beam. That’s a bit of power being pumped out. Now, on my wings and my Valk, this is no issue at all, but the R* I wasn’t sure about. So I check on the status of my battery. It was at 75% capacity. I put the trickle on it and let it go to 100%. I then ran it for about a week using the extra lights all the time. I got to ABOUT 75-80% when I tested and then did the same top up with the trickle charger and took several runs with out the extra lights. Turns out that my observations were that more power and an easier starts in all conditions. It never occurred to me that the extras may be taking power away for the battery instead of the coils or other parts. I hear little about battery maintenance but will add it to my weekly checks and will make sure it is toped up when needed.

Just my observations .

Ride safe

Depending on what year R* you have,you may want to think about upgrading your stator. The newer Roadstars have (2005 & up I believe) have a higher output stator and Regulator/Rectifier. Just a thought.


W. Coyote

You can always check the voltage with everything on and the engine running at 2K rpms or so and see if the voltage is at least above 13.5 or so. If it is then it's at least charging just not as fast as it could. The biggest thing the charging system has to do is replace the charge that is drained when the starter is used which can be quite a bit.

A lot of folks use 35 watt bulbs in their driving lights which draw about 3 1/2 amps less than your 55's.

Once the battery open circuit voltage reading drops below 12.8 the remaing charge percentage drops pretty fast IE. a reading of 12 volts = 20 - 30 percent charge.

The best thing for the battery is to keep it connected to an automatic charger whenever it's at home - like the one from Yuasa or Deltran (Battery Tender Plus).

Scott B.