Mike O Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Subject says it all... What are indications of slipping or broken alt. belt on a 2003 R1150RT? Mike O Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Subject says it all... What are indications of slipping or broken alt. belt on a 2003 R1150RT? Mike O A slipping belt will squeal mostly when accelerating the engine from idle. With a broken belt your red charging light will stay on, telling you that your alternator is not charging. Link to comment
Mike O Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Subject says it all... What are indications of slipping or broken alt. belt on a 2003 R1150RT? Mike O A slipping belt will squeal mostly when accelerating the engine from idle. With a broken belt your red charging light will stay on, telling you that your alternator is not charging. Much like an automobile... As I suspected. What might indications of a weak alternator be? I have an alternator light that stays on RIGHT after I crank the bike over, but if I 'blip' the throttle, it goes out. And I never see it on again. 31k miles, original belt, replaced battery several months ago. Just started seeing this anomaly this a.m. Mike O Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Much like an automobile... As I suspected. What might indications of a weak alternator be? Get a voltmeter (if you have a GPS unit, this may have a source voltage readout built in), and monitor system voltage while the engine is running. Unless you're powering a bunch of hi-draw accessories, you should be reading somewhere around 14 volts when you're anywhere above idle RPM. Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I have an alternator light that stays on RIGHT after I crank the bike over, but if I 'blip' the throttle, it goes out. And I never see it on again. 31k miles, original belt, replaced battery several months ago. Just started seeing this anomaly this a.m. Mike O That is perfectly normal. The engine/alternator has to be just above idle to kick in. You may get it more in the morning because at first cold start it idles at lower rpm. Link to comment
E30TECH Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 This happens with a lot of German cars as well Link to comment
Boffin Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I have an alternator light that stays on RIGHT after I crank the bike over, but if I 'blip' the throttle, it goes out. And I never see it on again. 31k miles, original belt, replaced battery several months ago. Just started seeing this anomaly this a.m. Mike O That is perfectly normal. The engine/alternator has to be just above idle to kick in. You may get it more in the morning because at first cold start it idles at lower rpm. Like Paul says, this is normal behaviour. the voltage regulator has to see a minimum output from the alternator before it applies the load (the battery) - until that happens the red light stays on. It takes a lower output to out the light out than it does to put it on - this stops the light from flashing and reduces the stress on the alternator. Andy Link to comment
Mike O Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Thanks everyone...In a few more miles I'm doing the alternator belt, and when I noticed this behaviour this a.m. got a bit paranoid. Maybe it was doing this before and I just never noticed. I figured best be proactive if it was an indication of things going south. Mike O (Joe, while I have a Garmin Quest, it does NOT provide anything beyond a 'charging' indication. I do have a voltmeter and will check the output tonight just to be certain) Link to comment
motoguy128 Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 My battery light always comes on when the RPM's are lower than a normal idle just after starting the bike. I never worried about it because it made sense to me and went away after I blipped the throttle. An alternator has to be checked when loaded. Without a load, unless it's completely bad, it will still output 13+ volts. Whe nit goes bad, it's unable to generate the current required to create it's 700Watt rating. Additonally, the peak output rating is at something like 3000RPM. Link to comment
DavidEBSmith Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Like Paul says, this is normal behaviour. the voltage regulator has to see a minimum output from the alternator before it applies the load (the battery) - until that happens the red light stays on. It takes a lower output to out the light out than it does to put it on - this stops the light from flashing and reduces the stress on the alternator. There's a service bulletin I've seen that says (essentially) that the light being on until the throttle is blipped is normal. Also the middle-era alternator belts (not the first ones, not the latest ones) it's OK to have some squeal on startup on cold mornings. Link to comment
Ken H. Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 That is perfectly normal. The engine/alternator has to be just above idle to kick in. While it is indeed normal, even the new hexheads do it, it seems kind of ridiculous in the era of modern electronics. I mean, if any warning light stayed on in a cage after start, we wouldn't find it acceptable. [/rant] Link to comment
Mike O Posted March 15, 2007 Author Share Posted March 15, 2007 That is perfectly normal. The engine/alternator has to be just above idle to kick in. While it is indeed normal, even the new hexheads do it, it seems kind of ridiculous in the era of modern electronics. I mean, if any warning light stayed on in a cage after start, we wouldn't find it acceptable. [/rant] BINGO...That's the basis of our comparison (and why I was a bit puzzled with the behavior). Mike O Link to comment
Boffin Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 That is perfectly normal. The engine/alternator has to be just above idle to kick in. While it is indeed normal, even the new hexheads do it, it seems kind of ridiculous in the era of modern electronics. I mean, if any warning light stayed on in a cage after start, we wouldn't find it acceptable. [/rant] BINGO...That's the basis of our comparison (and why I was a bit puzzled with the behavior). Mike O FWIW, my cage does exactly the same thing. It is quite common in Europe. Andy Link to comment
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