Hitchcocks Forum

Fitted a voltmeter gauge to my efi this morning, after my battery failure. I thing the reg/rec is faulty. Rode 140 miles and as long as I turn lights on all good, getting a reading of between 13.4 and 14.3 volts but if I turn the lights off I'm getting between 14 and 15 volts. Obviously don't know how accurate the guage is but at least I'm getting some info. Those figures are when riding, not idling. I wired the guage into the ignition circuit, interesting to note the wires going into the connector block swap over in the opposite block, good old Indian attention to detail!

These meters are not usually very accurate, you need to test with a decent quality volt meter, as long as the on charge voltage is between 13.8 and 14.8 volts it is fine.

I find the cheap reg/recs from India are fine and reliable so if you suspect yours is faulty you can always give it a go. At least you'll have a spare. When testing the voltage I always use a digital voltmeter straight across the battery and test on the centre stand, high revs, low revs, lights on/off. Over 14.5 volts may cook the battery but expect to see those higher voltages if the battery is a bit flat. Also I like to see what current is going in and out of the battery by connecting my digital 10 amp multimeter in series with the battery. Use kick start. Don't hit the starter button with your multimeter in series with the battery or you will soon be on Ebay looking for a new one. This is good for checking you have no leakage current when all is switched off.

I did wonder if the guage could be innacurate but at least it's an indication. I think I'll just ride with lights on, like I used to on my suzuki gs bikes as they had this issue.