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[Mr Black]

Hi,

I've been merrily using my Classic bullet C5 for a couple of months now as my daily ride to & from work- about 6 miles each way. Everything was absolutely fine up 'til my journey home last night.

I stalled at some lights and when I tried to restart with the button, it laboured and wouldn't catch- as if the battery didn't have enough power.

Pushed it out of the way, looked at the battery/connections and surrounding wiring and all seemed fine. tried a few more times to start with the button and you could hear the starter trying to engage and electrical clicking (presumably from the rectifier?) but there wasn't enough charge to start it. I thought it best to call out the relay/repar service at this stage.

Waited a bit and tried again and it reluctantly started with some labouring from the battery. Possibly stupidly I turned it off again to make sure it wasn't a one-off and i'd just be stranded elsewhere and but it wouldn't restart. Tried with the kick starter and after many kicks it almost came back to life again. The AA/Rescue service turned up but rather than being equipped to diagnose the fault, just relayed me home.

Chatting with the driver he's convinced the problem will be with a faulty alternator not charging up the battery, but looking through my manual, I can't find any reference to this- unless they refer to it as something else?

Any thoughts?

[papasmurf]

Duff battery? Battery not charging? (should be charging at 14ish volts, just above tickover.)

[Mr Black]

But if it's not charging- what would be causing that? (assuming the battery is OK)

[papasmurf]

Voltage regulator is the first suspect.

[Mr Black]

TTT motorcycles (My nearest service centre) thinks it sounds like a duff battery. Hopefully a nice easy fix

[ChrisD]

Mr Black – maybe it’s a failed rectifier input from the alternator.

I had a ride recently (1996 535cc) when, it transpires, the white wire onto the rectifier slipped off (it is under the seat so I didn’t notice).
The first thing I noted was that the ammeter never went above ~2amps and didn’t fluctuate even when the flashers were on. That was a worry but since I was in semi-desert, I had to go on (near Oudtshorn in the Karoo.............South Africa).
Then the flashers failed, then no headlamp, then cassette lights and finally it started to misfire. If I revved it more, and turned off what was left of the lights etc, it kept running but eventually stopped. That’s when I got the message, but too late. The white wire from the alternator (3-wire) had been bouncing up-and-down on the rectifier terminal and sparking all the time so the terminal was now just a nubbin – so trailer back home for me! A trip ruined for lack of a pushfit terminal.
A salutory lesson in what electrical mishap indicators you should NOT avoid.
ChrisD

[ric]

Had a recent charging problem with my B5. The problem lay inside the Reg/Rec connector block unit.
The white plastic block containing the red and black wires had not been correctly assembled at the factory. The tang on the black female spade terminal had not engaged within the plastic block so when the wiring loom side of the block was connected the female spade was pushed out of the way instead of engaging with its male counterpart.
Vibration and arcing eventually ate away both halves of the spade joint until the charging current could no longer arc across the gap and the battery charge failed completely.

[Mark M]

Mr B, I don't think 6 miles each way is enough to re-charge the battery after an electric start from cold at the beginning of each journey. Especially if you run with the lights on as well. You're simply not working the engine hard enough to create more charge than you have lost through starting and other loads like lighting. Re-charge the battery and see if the problem persists. If so, try loading the electrical system less, ie, only use the sidelight rather than the main beam when riding or fit LED bulbs to reduce load. Or best of all do more miles on the journey to work at higher speeds! This is not exclusively an Enfield problem, a lot of Japanese bikes would struggle to charge adequately under the conditions you describe.

REgards, Mark

[ric]

Before opting for a new battery just remove the battery cover and check the voltage across the battery terminals and then check them again with the engine running. That should quickly tell you if it's there's a charging problem or not. If there is that's when it takes a bit longer to solve the problem, but almost everything can be checked with a cheap multimeter (part No.98060)

[Mr Black]

Thanks all,

I fitted a new battery as the old one didn't seem to be charging properly. Started immediately but as a precaution i'll get myself a multimeter and make all the checks you kindly advised.


Strange thing now is that as I was riding along this morning, it seemed a bit fluttery, almost as if there was an air bubble in the fuel pipe or something.

When I was taking the old battery out it did fall off the battery shelf and one of the connectors broke off at the cable. I've fitted a new one but perhaps haven't crimped it on enough (although it did feel tight). Could this have any bearing on running??