www.zxrworld.co.uk

Should add it's not the reg/rec' that's the problem but the load demand put on the battery from the system.

Don't know what rev's the gen kick's in on the ZXR but your using the battery for everything below that so in a city stop starting it get's very little time to actually charge the battery and is constantly replenishing what has been used.

hence why a good run always seems to do wonders

having given this some thought,

theoretically.. the smaller battery would charge up quicker, so the reg/rec has to lose more energy as heat rather than pump it into the battery, so may burn out sooner..

and given the fact that H reg/rec's and L reg/recs are physically interchangeable, and both are replaced by the same part number if using pattern rather than kawasaki parts, I guess it follows that the L unit is beefed up, that the pattern parts are L spec, that either an L unit, or a a pattern unit are fine to use with a 8ah battery, or a 10ah batter, and that if you have an H reg/rec, you "ought" to run a 10ah battery, or you may run the risk of premature reg/rec failure

NB: the alternator kicks in at idle, voltage at the battery normally reads 1v above battery voltage as soon a as the engine starts, and a battery will charge at idle in around 30 minutes.

all mine ahave pattern or L spec parts on, so had (wrongly) assumed they were the same across the board.

Im using a 12v 8ah battery on my H1 when it should be 12v 10ah.When the bike is ticking over the indicators dont flash they just light up and stay on but when you rev it up they flash,could this be why?

Ah, it's not the voltage your battery is receiving but the amperage. On a 12Hr battery a trickle charge is 1.2 which your bikes system shouldn't go much above or it would boil the battery dry (which of course what happens when you have a fault). Putting a 8Hr at .08 trickle is going to do something to the battery or the systems over feeding it, might not be apparent on bikes that are "stop / start" as the battery is under constant load/demand but on a bike touring and running for a couple of hours and being restart warm and ran again it surely would become apparent.

A 300v shock at 1amp wont kill you but up the amp's to say 45 and your toast .

The biggest load/demand on your bike is the starter motor, then the ignition system. I don't think any 12v bike will bump start with out a battery in it even if it's flat as the system needs a buffer - that's why you need to install a battery out kit (Usually two big capacitors 3,300uf). A 6v system will start but the surges end up blowing bulbs.

Reading through the workshop manual it says the charging system doesn't kick in until 4,000 RPM. I am sure car's and bikes run what they call a "total loss" system under these specified rev's.

Switch all your electrics on while the bike is ticking over (main beam) with one set of indicators going and brake light(s) on , leave for 10-15 min's and you'll find your battery although showing over 12v will probably not have enough kick in it to start the bike when cold again.
Or, you might of experienced this one - can't get the bike to start, the battery might last about 12 attempts at spinning the engine before it gives up. Put a volt meter on it and it will still read 12+ volts but have no "kick" left in it.


It's easier to see in cars with lot's of electrical toy's - at tickover with lights on , open an electric window - they suck so much juice you'll see the lights dim easily and your rev's will drop too. Same can be done with your rear demister, that's why lot's of modern cars have auto off features on them.

Just me 2p worth

Filled and charged the new brick and got it fitted in.

Hadn't noticed before that there is no strap or tie down for the battery but as it turns out it's not needed. The new one is a perfect fit and sits neatly just under the seat cradle






The terminals also run different from the last but are now the correct way making the terminal cover sit proper



All in all very happy with it.



Using the ZRX battery the bike fired up fine but now i can hear that it was "lazy" as this one kicks the starter a lot stronger and the bike fires almost instantly.

I also ran through the lights at tick over and only noticed a slight dip in the performance but the battery is new and fully charged so expected that to be the case.



Re-starting the bike was instantaneous , carb's are out of sync but no point doing that until the cam swap has been done