Suzuki SV650 Riders Forum banner

Always an adventure w/ me and the SV, didnt make it home last night

1K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  DougZ 
#1 ·
GGRRR. I knew it was going to be a rough one when I get to my parking lot after work, put on my helmet and it starts raining. Out of nowhere too. Hardley a cloud in the sky. I assume it isn't going to rain long and get on the 4 lane Hwy which I usually won't take if it is raining. I was right about the rain it doesnt rain long just long enough to cause a big traffic jam here in the South b/c no one here knows how to drive in any kind of weather. So I take some side roads to get home. My gas light has been on for awhile and I am getting concerned about it. I stop at a light right in front of Lowes Motor Speedway and it starts to drop rpms and sputter. I am like no..no...NO! I think this is weird my gas light can be on much longer than this w/o going dry but I cutt in front of a semi across 2 lanes and dart into a gas station a 1/2 block away. Fill up....vaaa...vaaa...vvaaa...vaaaa....NO VROOOM then dead battery. Usually my bike is always vaa,vvaa, VROOOM started and running. Question, sorry about the long lead in, could teh traffic I sat in have killed my battery? I know it happens in cars in long traffic jams in the summer often b/c at idel the car cant run your A/C, radio, etc and it kills your battery.
 
#3 ·
Wow, that sucks. I'm not riding today cause its raining. Just had the bike washed and don't feel like washing again.

Traffic sucks I will take a longer rout if it atleast keeps me moving.

I didn't think people had problems with batteries and their vehicals anymore. I thought if the engine is running then the battery isn't an issue.
 
#4 ·
Actually on a modern car they are equipt w/ so much crap that draws on the elect. system that at idel the alternator can not keep up so your battery is slowly draining. I was in a long long traffic jam last summer on my way to Savannah GA. in my old ass 70 911E and all these cars, mostly high end cars too BMW, Audie, Lex, were dead in their tracks. I asked the AAA guy why b/c we were all out of our cars walking around and stuff and that is what he told me the cause was. It made sense too. My car was fine, the POS Escorts and pickups were all fine.
 
#7 ·
Bikes don't have alternators, they have Stators. Stators only charge above a certain RPM, usually around 3000. If you are below that for too long, the battery will be drained and die. Yeppers.
 
G
#8 ·
Exactly what do you mean by Stator? I ask because every conventional(induction, syncronus) electric motor and generator has a stator. The stator is the stationary windings on the casing of the generator, in which a voltage is induced by either a permanent magnet or an elctromagnet.

I'm not implying you don't know what you're talking about. I realize it may just be a problem with terminology.
 
#9 ·
Alright, maybe someone knowledgeable can clear up a little confusion that I've always had (and I'm sure many other people have to): what is the difference between a stator, alternator, and magneto?

I'm not asking what they are applied to, I'm asking about the physical differences such as design, charging, etc. I've always been under the impression that a stator is different from an alternator because it's actually part of the engine assembly, insteading bolting onto the engine and being belt driven off the crank.
 
#11 ·
AvidSV650Rider said:
Alright, maybe someone knowledgeable can clear up a little confusion that I've always had (and I'm sure many other people have to): what is the difference between a stator, alternator, and magneto?

I'm not asking what they are applied to, I'm asking about the physical differences such as design, charging, etc.  I've always been under the impression that a stator is different from an alternator because it's actually part of the engine assembly, insteading bolting onto the engine and being belt driven off the crank.
a stator is part of an alternator, an alternator is an electrical power generating source that produces alternating current, that's why we need a rectifier,,AC to DC, a magneto is an unregulated power source that increases output with rpm, most motorcycle alternators are magneto type, they have permenant magnets rotating inside the stator to produce electricity.
 
G
#12 ·
Just to clarify what RandyO meant by unregulated, most generators use an exciter to control voltage output. The exciter does this by controling the current flowing through the rotor windings. The magnetic field of the rotor varies with the amount of current flowing through it. The stator voltage output varies with the speed and strength of the magentic field cutting across it's conductors.

The alternator/magneto or what ever else you want to call it has a voltage regulator but it works much diffrently. If I remember correctly the SV uses an SCR (either by shorting the output or more likely by controling how much of the AC is rectifed) to control voltage, I've heard of some cars using reverse biased zener diodes for voltage regulation.

See, now it's clear as mud.
 
#14 ·
RandyO said:
the SV has an alternator, the stator is part of it
Never trusting the internet as a viable source of information, I looked to see what my manual calls the charging system for my SV, and they indeed call it a generator.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top