Battery question ?

[Lebouc]

Hi all,
Like many of you guys i have issues with the GL1500 alternator, after changing it a few times i decided to go with the 90 amps and i know that i also have to change the battery , my question is :
Is that a must to put the MotoBatt MBTX24U battery or can any AGM battery do the trick ?

I see that Kimpex sells a YTX24HL-BS AGM high-performance battery and a YTX24HL-BS(gel) AGM high-performance battery . . . . and since i work in a shop where i could order one from Kimpex it might be easier than finding a MotoBatt battery , not may canadian stores sell MotoBatt batteries ?

P.S : I'm really really really tired of getting stock on the side of the road and have to change the alternator on the spot , so if i should put the MotoBatt one , i will .

Thanks !!!

[blupupher]

No need for the Motobatt, you just need a battery that can meet the CCA that the 1500 needs, brand does not matter that much.
While you may get a longer life from one brand over another, so long as the CCA meets or exceeds stock and it fits in the space, you are good.

[Lebouc]

No need for the Motobatt, you just need a battery that can meet the CCA that the 1500 needs, brand does not matter that much.
While you may get a longer life from one brand over another, so long as the CCA meets or exceeds stock and it fits in the space, you are good.

Hi blupupher,
I can't just check for the CCA , i'm gonna put a 90 amps alternator , an ordinary battery will boil so its got to be at least an AGM battery , i was just wondering if there are better brand than others when it comes to AGM batteries , but thanks for the reply !!

[blupupher]

The 90 amp alternator has nothing to do with what battery to get.
The voltage regulator will limit the amps to the battery to charge it where it needs to be.
If a battery "boils", that is due to a bad regulator, not a high amp alternator.

There is nothing special about a Motobatt battery over most other AGM batteries.
You need something that is at least 300 CCA and 20 amp hours.
Most AGM batteries for the Goldwing I see online are 350 CCA and 21-25 amp hours.

The 90 amp alternator will have the correct regulator to charge the battery at the right level.
The advantage of it over the stock is it allows you to both keep the battery fully charged while running other electrical accessories instead of the battery having to take up the slack, and possibly become discharged while riding.

[Charlie1Horse]

I bought a Duracell AGM battery from Batteries Plus Bulbs about 18 - 20 months ago and have had really good service so far. The Duracell is 21 AH and 350 CCA. I think I paid about $120.00 USD but I see that now the same battery is $175.00 USD. My 92 GL1500 Goldwing Interstate has 160K miles and still has the original alternator which is still quiet and charging plenty for me. I have changed all the lights to LED and have no power hungry accessories on board. The LEDs have a lower power demand on the battery/charging system so they tend to last longer. Good luck on finding your answers.
Russell

[Snowmoer]

Agree that the alternator output has nothing to do with the battery. You run a larger output alternator because you are running extra lights or other high draw accessories. The regulator only lets the power to the battery that the battery is calling for.

If you can get one in Canada, get an Odyssey battery for the 1500 and be done with it for a long time. I had one in my 1500 and killed it twice by having the key in the ACC position by accident. I just put it on a charger and it came back to life both times. It was still going strong after 7 years when I sold the bike. You will pay a little extra for an Odyssey. But, people that have them have posted they are still going strong after 10 years of use. I just wish they made them for the 1800!

https://www.odysseybattery.com/

[Sadanorakman]

Long reply: I agree with most of what is said here.

An alternator only generates enough current to balance the electrical load placed upon it. When electrical load is light, the alternator draws little kinetic energy from the engine, and generates little waste-heat. As electrical load increases, the alternator must generate more electrical energy to balance the load, so draws more kinetic energy (think horsepower) from the engine, and produces more waste heat. You may get to hear this happening as the engine idle revs labor a little as you switch on your electrical loads, and recover again when you switch the loads off. This is a good sign your alternator is working!

Alternators produce AC current that is then rectified to DC (it's literally why they are called alternators ). An electronic regulator (indirectly) regulates the output VOLTAGE of the alternator to balance the electrical load being applied at that instant.
It does so by controlling the strength of the magnetic field being generated by the rotor coils (the spinning coils inside the alternator), by the amount of current it allows to flow through these windings.

For example, I start my bike, and have no headlights or driving lights on. The regulator sends just enough current through the rotor coils, to create just enough magnetic field, so that the output of the alternator maintains around 14.2 Volts (a voltage suitable for float-charging a six-cell lead-acid battery).

I switch my driving and headlights on, which adds 126 watts, or about 9.5 Amps of extra electrical load (2x45 watt headlights, and 2x18 watt driving lamps). This electrical load burdens the output of the alternator, dragging the voltage downwards, so the voltage regulator detects the voltage has dropped, and increases the current in the rotor coils, to increase the magnetic field, which increases the electrical energy that is generated by the alternator (or more correctly, increases the amount of kinetic energy that is taken from the engine, and converted to useful electrical energy plus heat). The output voltage increases accordingly until it reaches 14.2V again, at which point the regulator then maintains the rotor current.

The reverse is true. If I turn off my lights, the voltage output of the alternator starts to rise, and so the regulator reduces the current in the rotor windings to lower the electrical power generated, so the output voltage lowers and again output balances the load.

If your battery has a low level of charge, it's terminal voltage will be reduced compared to a fully charged battery, and also the chemistry should be eager to accept charge (unless the battery is sulfated). This means a larger current will flow into the battery to recharge it. Maybe 10 or 20 amps depending on the construction of your battery. As the battery accepts charge, it's terminal voltage will slowly increase, as does the willingness of the chemistry to accept charge; less current will flow into the battery, so the charge is slowly terminated as the whole system achieves equilibrium.

It's a bit more complicated than this, because the battery chemistry takes time to accept the charge (saturation charging), and flooded cell batteries have different charging and discharging characteristics to AGM batteries, INCLUDING a slightly different final, fully-charged voltage.

A 50% charged flooded lead-acid 6-cell has a resting voltage of around 12.1 to 12.2V, a 100% charged lead-acid has a resting voltage of about 12.6 to 12.7V,
A fully charged AGM six cell is slightly higher at 12.8 to 12.9V.

Alternators used to be set at about 14.2V to assure a good level of battery recharge, without over charging the battery, which would lead to gassing, i.e. boiling away the electrolyte until the battery becomes dry.
.
Power consumption calculations were based upon an average of 13.5V which is about half way between the voltage of a fully charged battery with engine off, and the output voltage of the alternator when the engine was running.

If your regulator is stuffed, you may be under, or over-charging your battery. Both scenarios may leave you stranded!
Equally if the diode-pack that rectified the AC to DC fails or semi fails, this effects the output capability of your alternator.

Some alternators require a little current to flow from the battery via the battery warning light, to initially create some magnetic field in the rotor so the alternator can start doing its magic, so a failed battery warning bulb can actually prevent an alternator from starting to produce any output! Some instead have a little permanent magnetism so that enough current is generated to power the regulator from the moment the alternator starts to spin sufficiently.

Similarly, some alternators will not start to produce output until the engine revs hit a minimum. I've had cars that if I started them when warm without touching the throttle, the engine went to tickover, and the alternator was not excited until the first time the revs increased.

Some alternators may be designed to produce little to no output at engine idling speeds, so as not to place too much kinetic load on the engine at tickover. This improves engine pick-up from idle, and reduces idle emmisions. The stock gl1500 alternator has little output at low revs.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

[DenverWinger]

You're spot-on, except you have the rotor and the stator functions reversed. The regulator supplies excitation voltage to the rotor thru the brushes, varying the strength of magnetism in the rotating iron poles of the rotor which cause current to be generated in the three-phase stator windings.

[Sadanorakman]

You're spot-on, except you have the rotor and the stator functions reversed.

You're absolutely correct thank you! It's 00:45 here right now, and I'm a little fatigued! I've now corrected my post!

Yes I didn't remember to mention that most alternators are three phase, so there's like nine diodes in the rectifier pack! It only takes one of these diodes to fail to start reducing the output capacity of the alternator.