HI! My Nokia3200 shuts down often by itself, saying "BATTERY EMPTY", but when i check the battery with a meter, it still has 3.98 Volts. Thanks for advising what can i do. Regards, Gopesa [email protected]

check for dirty ( black/gray) battery posts and terminals
clean to shiny metal
make sure they are tight and that the ground wire end is clean and tight
batteries can read as 12 volts with a volt meter and can drop to below 9 volts when under load like when the starter is engaged
new batteries are no guarantee of good battery so have a load test done on the battery

Starter solenoid, low battery, bad battery connection, bad ground, failed starter, failed alternator. Start with the battery. How many volts do you read there with a meter? With the meter still on it, how many volts while someone else turns the key to "Start"?

Move down to the starter solenoid. How many volts there when someone tries to start? Move to the connection between the solenoid & the motor itself. How many volts? Put one meter probe on the BODY of the starter motor and the other meter probe on the negative POST of the battery. How many volts do you read when someone tries to start? Hint - you SHOULD read zero that way unless you have a bad ground connection from the battery to the block.

Have the battery load tested to verify that it is still good. Using a volt meter check how far your voltage drops at the battery while cranking. It should drop no more than 9.5 volts. If it goes lower then its the battery. If that is ok, then check your battery terminals for corrosion. Clean then anyway. Once you fire it up again check your charging system by hooking up a volt meter to the battery. You should have anywhere from 14 to 14.5 volts. if it is less then your alternator is bad.
So to recap while cranking your battery must stay above 9.5 volts. Once running, the alternator should produce 14 to 14.5 volts. If that all checks out then you have a starter that is breaking down and needs to be replaced. Good luck!

Sounds as if your charging system is down. (not putting a charge into the battery). Connect a voltage ohm meter to your battery while motorcycle is running, you should see about 13.8 volts on the meter as you rotate the throttle open a little bit. If however, the meter goes down from...let's say 12 volts to about 11 volt's then at that point you will have fiqured out that your alternator is not working properly. Also, don't forget to check that the electrolyte level in the battery is up to the proper line. (you know the fluid in the battery itself). Do not put tap water in battery as this will ruin it completly! Put distilled water or electrolytic acid into it.

Good luck my friend,

kd4rua

Hi There,
9 out of 10 times it is loose battery terminals, corroded terminals. - Clean and tighten.

TEST:
Test your volatge regulator by attaching a voltmeter to you battery:
With bike off battery meter should read 12.50 +/- .25 volts - anything lower-battery needs charge
With Bike on at idle meter should read 12.80 +/- .25 volts - anything lower-voltage regulator bad
Rev to 2000 rpm meter should read 13.75 - 14.80 volts - anything lower-voltage regulator bad

Before replacing the voltage regualtor make sure the groung wire from the voltage regulator is tight and recheck with the meter.

Check your ignition wire screws, one may have vibrated loose. - Inspect / check for tightness
Check that wires connected to coil are tight .

Most of the time its just a loose connection. Find and tighten.

Ok, let's check the charging system. The battery is easy. Take the battery out of the bike and take it to an automotive parts store. Ask them to load test the battery for you. If the battery is over two years old, it could need replacing.

Once you're sure the battery is good and it is FULLY CHARGED, we can test the rest of the system. You'll need a DVOM (digital volt ohm meter) to check the system. With the battery back in the bike, connect the DVOM across the battery. Red meter lead to the positive terminal of the battery, black meter lead to the negative. Put the meter's function selector switch in DC VOLTS, 20 VOLTS or greater. Start the bike and bring it to a high idle. The meter should read 14.5 - 15.0 volts.

Now, to test the stator, follow the wires from your regulator down to where it goes into the engine cases. Disconnect the connector and look into the engine side of it. You'll see two metal contacts down in there. Set you meter's function selector to AC VOLTS, 50 VOLTS or greater. Start the engine and bring it to a high idle. Touch each one of the metal contacts down in the engine side of the connector with a meter probe. It makes not difference since we're measuring AC voltage at this point. The meter should read at least 30 volts.

Now, if the alternator (stator test) does not put out at least thirty volts, the stator is bad and needs to be replaced. If the alternator does check good but not enough voltage at the battery, your regulator may be the culprit. Make sure all connections are clean and tight and that the body of the regulator is grounded good. Recheck the test at the battery. If it still fails, replace the regulator.

Now, I've seen may problems such as your's that are intermittant. In other words, the problem is here on minute and gone the next. I fought that on one bike for over a year until we finally replaced the entire charging system and fixed it. If your bike proves to be doing that, you may wish to consider that option. Fix the thing and be done with it. I wouldn't buy the rotor, just the stator and the regulator.

Good Luck
Steve

If you have access to a volt meter you can power down and check the voltage and see if it is as high as the battery says. For example the side of the battery says 12 volts..you read 10 volts or less let the battery charge for 24 hours and test again if it is still 10 volts (while not pluged in) one cell in the battery is bad and the battery needs replaceing. If you watch the connections you could change the battery yourself for less than a third of a new unit. The units rearly go bad but the batteries have a shelf life whether used or not.

Battery is being drained by fan,volts drop below 11.7 volts ign coils shut down. Replace battery,also check output of altenator with ohm meter at battery conection ,with motor at idle..should read 13-15 volts

check the battery voltage with a multimeter, it should read approx. 12 volts. with the meter connected to the battery turn the key to on, turn on brights, turn signal and press brake lever. if goes below 9 volts, charge the battery and try again. if still goes below 9 volts replace the battery. when you get a good battery, start the bike and check charging voltage. should be around 14.7 volts at 5k RPM. if you have low charging voltage, let me know.

Check the battery first..... alot of times a person will put a battery in a chager and let it sit. They will think the battery is fully charged but it may not be... In those battery packs there are a bunch of smaller batteries all tied together. Alot of times these commercial raios will run off of around 7 volts ( check the battery). The battery will only charge up to 7 volts if all the cells inside the battery are good. What I'm saying is for you to charge the battery up fully..... check the voltage listed on the battery then use a volt meter to check the voltage after the battery is fully charged. When a battery has just finished being charged usually it will be overcharged.... a 7.5 volt battery will be up around 8.5 volts for example. So check the battery right after its charged... expect it to be overcharged. If it seems OK, put it in the raio and key the radio for a bit to try and use up some battery power.... then check it again and see if it has dropped drastically. Your problem has to do with power... the first link in the power chain is the battery... check that out... then go to where the battery makes contact with the radio and make sure thats good.... inside the radio there will be a fuse but if thats blown you will get nothing... then the power goes to the switch. Battery... contacts...fuse... switch... that how the power initially gets into the radio. Most of these problems are battery related so I would check that first. If the battery does not have enough power when you transmit with the radio the radio will shut down.... turn off. If its not getting enough current the voltage will drop and once it gets low the radio shuts off. Usually with commercial stuff you will hear a "beep" when this happens. Your problem might be power related... theres alot you can check.