Next time, Ask me which one before you got wrong idea. Again, cars and motorcycles still same thing for battery issue.
why should I ask? This thread is about motorcycle so stick with motorcycle topic, not car. Use your common sense.
Umm, sometime day was like -5F, Few days later warm up like 40F and battery already died from outside. That's why I said garage is better. Same thing, 10F cause battery drain.
ok? tell me something I don't know.
Motorcycle and car are same policy for electrical and some fuel system. Remember, some of mechanics are not 100% correct. Everyone know that battery die during drive is alternator problem. It's common.
huh what? why are you talking about a mechanical failure? That's a completely different subject. If your alternator is bad, then your motorcycle or car will most likely cannot function.
Stay on topic. the battery doesn't always die because of alternator issue. it's also because of aftermarket accessories drawing in too much current. But then... you don't know for sure... which is what voltmeter is for.
In fact, I drove school car without battery once without problem but won't starter.
I think you explain it wrong but no need to clarify it because it has nothing to do with this subject.
See, Cars and motorcycles are almost same thing. Voltmeter do nothing with electrolyte. Use your eyes to check a battery's dot (some of them don't). The led voltmeter read direct from an alternator during engine running. No matter battery was good or bad. The voltmeter still tell you that it's good. Oh yeah, the led voltmeter is safe when it tell you that alternator failed. (13.5-14volts) mean alternator good and (12.5v or less) mean alternator failed during engine running. Again, voltmeter is useless. That's why most technical use battery tester.
Yuasa Battery Tester - Cruiser Motorcycle - Motorcycle Superstore
$245 battery tester? utterly useless for 99.9999% of us. who wants to spend 30 min to take the cover out and measure for CCA and electrolyte? If it needs some electrolyte - I'll pour some Gatorade in it :roll:
$245? gimme a break. My mechanic uses some simple
$20 multimeter from radio shack that's much older than your dogs' ages combined. My other car mechanic uses same thing. Imagine if I told him that I bought a $245 battery tester. He would kick me out and say - go to dealership, rich boy.
Mind you - he has extensive mechanic experience with over 20 years. He was originally a commercial truck mechanic. He can fix any vehicles and motorcycles. He is a highly-respected and knowledgeable mechanic around here. You might learn a thing or two from him thru me.
It can read how much CCA and electrolyte they are. Voltmeter just read for volt only that perfect for alternator only.
I've never heard of anybody interested in knowing how much CCA and electrolyte the battery has. For heaven's sake.... we're just some regular Joe enjoying our days riding around. Voltmeter's good enough and that's optional. Again - if it's low on electrolyte, I'll pour some Gatorade in :roll:
The primary purpose for a
simple voltmeter is to monitor your voltage level so you can monitor if your aftermarket accessories are drawing too much power from motorcycle. It's typically 14V - more or less. It is common especially during cold season for accessories to eat more juice than the alternator can recharge which will cause your voltage to drop. The voltmeter will warn the rider. That is the primary purpose of voltmeter. It's not a battery checker or alternator checker or whatever.
When you notice your LED voltmeter is showing yellow color, you can:
1. simply turn off one of the accessories that's consuming a lot of power
2. or reduce your power for your heater equipment (jacket/pants/gloves/grips/whatever)
3. or recharge your bike with battery tender when you get home.
no problem. very simple. $10 solution.
Again, I said your alternator need to replace before it went worse.
If the alternator is bad, your bike will most likely not work. You will not be able to start it. If it did start, you will not be able to ride it because of misfiring or whatever. Again - voltmeter's purpose is to monitor your voltage level. that's it. very simple. purely electrical.
Faulty alternator is a mechanical issue. it has nothing to do with voltmeter or battery. Voltmeter's job is to tell you the voltage of your bike at its current state. that's it.
if you notice any mechanical failure or think you may have one, feel free to use any of tool you have.
Wow, You don't how to pull on shoulder quick when you notice something wrong with engine like lost power. If you can't feel anything then voltmeter is make sense to you. When you drive 60mph till battery/alt failed then feel slow down and you still have 55mph-40mph to move on shoulder. Use your body to feel is more safe and trust than looks on GPS to check voltmeter over ROAD. Like you said you don't trust on GPS and technology so use your body to feel.
Any mechanical or power failure especially for motorcycle on highway at high speed is extremely dangerous and it's a life-threatening moment. It's not the same as car. Again - why don't you get a motorcycle first and then let me know? Be careful.
Same thing, You have voltmeter that alternator is good. It will fail in anymore, no matter how far or how long you go.
no. the voltmeter tells you the voltage is low or normal. that's it. for any mechanical failure that may happen later - well shit happens and I hope tow truck's nearby.
Waste time to take motorcycle apart to get to battery to jump-start? I don''t know voltmeter have built-in jump-start.
there's no such thing as voltmeter with built-in jump-starter. Voltmeter is a simple device that connects to power source and tells you the voltage. that's it. Again - go buy a motorcycle first and see for yourself on how to jump-start it. let me know how long it takes for you to do that.
Like I said - if your motorcycle went dead and you need to jump-start it... you need to get a jumper cable to connect to your battery, right? so how are you gonna do that? you have to take the cover out, right? But problem is - the motorcycle doesn't have "pop-the-hood" thing. You need to remove several screws and nudge it around to remove the stubborn cover.. jump-start it... and then fiddle the stubborn cover back in and screw it in. that's a 30-min job and I feel sorry for others if it takes longer than that because of the way their motorcycle is designed.
You know better when voltmeter tell you that battery was not good then you still spend 30min to take battery off for replace or jump-state. Same thing.
if the voltmeter tells me that voltage is low... then I simply connect battery tender when I get home and leave it overnight. The voltmeter can tell you BEFORE battery goes dead overnite after you park.
Again, I thought you told me that you always ignored everything on dashboard and keeps watch on road for safe. That's mean you will ignored metervolt from GPS?
ok?
Did you know there is Dirt motorcycle without battery and it still running engine without problem. That's all you need is foot to kick to start a engine.
cool. a kick-start dirt bike. did you know most of (or probably ALL) dirt motorcycles are not street-legal? 99.999% of us here in this thread do not ride dirt bike. But Gruumer does. thanks for useless information.
Thanks for info. I got it figured out. Number is correct one which is on my duplicated key.
My friend got lucky and snatched a pair for $300 
