Battery Drain

Dreamer305 · Post by **Dreamer305** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:34 pm

Howdy Folks,

I appreciate any advice you can give on this problem. I bought the Dream this spring and had some work done on it, including a new battery. About 6 weeks ago, I was riding and the bike just quit on me. There was no juice in the battery. The mechanic thought it was a bad rectifier and he replaced that and recharged the battery. Everything was fine until this morning, when the same thing happened on the way to work. After letting it set for 8 hours while I was at work, it started up fine, but then quit again with no juice.

Any thoughts on what might be draining it? My mechanic feels it might be due to running the headlamp all the time while I'm riding, which he feels the Dream was not intended to do.

Again, I appreciate any advice you might have.

joeweir1 · Post by **joeweir1** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:56 pm

What rect. did he install and is it installed properly?I also have found that running the headlight drains my battery down also.From all the info i have read on these bikes they only seem to maintain the battery and not really charge it.If you use the search for charginging systems you should find tons of posts on it.joe

rustywrench · Post by **rustywrench** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 11:38 pm

Dreamer305,
Back in the 70's I had a scrambler that I had a charging problem with and never did anything to solve it and so I recently posted that if I had known then what I know now, I would not have had to push that bike out of a canyon. Trust me, it wasn't fun. That said, I have found that these things have a pretty small battery and they will get weak after a few days and these systems struggle to recover a weak battery if at all.
One thing I've done to resolve this problem is to buy a small battery minder. It's a small charger that will trickle charge when needed and keep it up to full charge at all times. Mine came with a short pig-tail I installed to the battery and let the connector end hang out from under the edge of the seat. When not needed, tuck it under the seat out of sight and when you park it at home, retrieve the tail and plug it in to the minder. You will always have a freshly charged battery that way and that is a good place to start. Then slowly check the charge system so it will maintain the charge you started with.
My two cents worth ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,RW

e3steve · Post by **e3steve** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:08 am

Dreamer305 wrote:Howdy Folks,

I appreciate any advice you can give on this problem. I bought the Dream this spring and had some work done on it, including a new battery. About 6 weeks ago, I was riding and the bike just quit on me. There was no juice in the battery. The mechanic thought it was a bad rectifier and he replaced that and recharged the battery. Everything was fine until this morning, when the same thing happened on the way to work. After letting it set for 8 hours while I was at work, it started up fine, but then quit again with no juice.

Any thoughts on what might be draining it? My mechanic feels it might be due to running the headlamp all the time while I'm riding, which he feels the Dream was not intended to do.

Again, I appreciate any advice you might have.

Welcome to the madhouse!

Dreams have a slightly higher charging capability than CBs or CLs, as most had winkers (non US-market). These figures should stand up when applied to most 247/305 models though. So, first things first: do you have a DMM (digital multi-meter), or similar, in order to check the engine-running voltages?

Come back.

RonF305 · Post by **RonF305** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:22 am

I too keep a trickle charger connected to my 305 Scrambler. In the early 70's I had a 305 Dream that had a similar problem as yours. I remember riding home from work on dark nights with no headlamp because the bike would die if I turned on the light. I always felt it was a bad generator and just didn't use the headlight except when necessary. I sold the bike without ever solving the problem.

Dreamer305 · Post by **Dreamer305** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 8:46 pm

Thanks for the assistance. I put it on a trickle charge and I'm up and running again. For the time being, I will plan on charging it every couple of weeks until I can find the issue.

rrietman · Post by **rrietman** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:44 pm

dreamer; 305's (all models) Hate a low battery. they won't run well with a low battery. you need a good, new battery, and you need to maintain the charge between rides, period. if you do this, you will have no problems. solid state rectifiers help, they are cheep. Ricks stators sells a bettor stator if you really are up against it $$$$$. also, never use the electric start when cold, it will kill the battery and you will never get it back with the bikes charge.
Good luck
Randy
Bellingham Wa.

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