So I'm an electrical idiot

[tt_four]

I know you guys hate to hear negative things about me, but it's true 

I'm having some battery issues, and I figured it was finally time to start learning how to mess with it. I went to home depot and bought this one.... http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202353293/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=multimeter&storeId=10051 All I need is something to tell me how batteries are working, nothing special.

So I'm looking at this thing, have full intentions of reading the instructions, but I was curious so I turned the knob to one of the settings, plugged the leads into two of the holes, and stuck it straight into an outlet like a 6 year old hahaha. Of course it resulted in sparks, a blown circuit, and the tips aren't looking as pretty anymore. Anyway, I read through the instruction manual and unfortunately still have NO idea what I'm doing. Electrical manuals don't help people who don't know what DCV, V.ohm.mA, and 200mA are.

So can anyone give me a super basic rundown of what I do with this thing to test a battery on a motorcycle to see what the current charge is when it's not running, and when it's running? I've learned that the V with a horizontal line with 3 dots under it is DC voltage. This is the battery I have... 12V 700ma.... http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDetail/120315_Battery-Nicad-Wired and it should be able 14-14.5V if the regulator/rectifier is working right? So for 12V I'm guessing I want to put this on that V-... setting, maybe the 20 setting since that's the one first spot higher than 12, and stick the red lead in the 10A/250V spot?

Any help I could get would be great!

[PachmanP]

So for 12V I'm guessing I want to put this on that V-... setting, maybe the 20 setting since that's the one first spot higher than 12, and stick the red lead in the 10A/250V spot?

Any help I could get would be great!

That sounds about right. V with the solid and dashed lines is right. 20 or 12 should work ok. The lead's do not go into the middle one "COM" hole. Red or black in which ever of the other holes doesn't really matter for your purposes. You might get a minus sign on the reading, but you only care about the absolute value anyway.

As far as what you should expect to see, around 12 with the bike off. 13-14 with the bike charging, but I'm not sure you get enough juice to charge idling on the the stand.

[Twisted]

It is all good. We all need to be stupid at something.

[Jared]

Once you get familiar with your meter :

Resting voltage of your battery should come back to about 12.6 volts after it sits awhile after cranking. With the engine running at  5000 rpm you should see 13.5-15.5 volts at the battery.

[bill14224]

I know what caused your shower of sparks.  You put the meter on amps (or ohms) and connected it either across the battery or the regulator output.  That put a direct short on whatever it was you were connected to.

The meter you bought can only measure up to 10 amps DC, which isn't enough to measure cranking current for sure and probably not enough to measure full charging current either.  It also has to be in SERIES with the battery, regulator, or whatever you want to measure the current through.  It's not convenient, nor can those tiny probes carry heavy current.   

A current clamp is easier to measure current with.  You just clamp it around the wire you want to measure the current through.  It measures the current inductively.  You don't have to put it in series with the wire as you do with a standard ammeter.

In any event, you should have right around 12.6 volts DC across your battery if it's in good shape and charged.  When the bike is running that voltage should climb to 14V or so as you rev the engine up to 3,000 rpm or so.  If you damaged your voltage regulator in your mishap the battery will either go dead while riding or it will overcharge and boil the electrolyte (water/acid solution) away as the battery heats-up.

As for the abbreviations, AC or DC mean alternating or direct voltage or current.  mV stands for millivolts (1/1,000 of a volt)  mA, milliamps.  You won't use millivolt or milliamp ranges with a motorcycle.  You need to measure amps and volts  Oh, and never try to measure ohms on a live circuit.  Power must be disconnected when measuring resistance or you'll blow the fuse in the meter.  Since you had a mishap I would open the meter and check for blown fuses.  Best of luck to you!

[bombsquad83]

I think when you stuck that thing in the outlet, it was set to measure current (just like Bill said).  This effectively shorts out the circuit, causing it to put waaaay to much current for the wires and leads to handle.  In current measurement setting, the multimeter has very little resistance to current flow (because it doesn't want to alter the current that it is trying to measure in the circuit).  NEVER put your multimeter in current mode and then place it directly across a voltage source!  You might have fried your multimeter, but we will know that when you go to use it correctly for the first time.

OK, so you want to measure the voltage on your battery.  Set it to the VDC setting, which is the one you described.  You don't need to plug the red lead into the 10A/250V hole though.  This is for measuring large voltages and currents (so that the multimeter isn't damaged).  You don't need this for measure voltages such as those found on your bike.  Put the red lead on the + terminal, and the black lead on the black terminal.  You should be reading something in the 12V-14V range.  I don't have my manual handy, but you should look to see what voltage to expect when the bike is not running.  Then turn the ignition on and measure again.  You should see slightly less voltage since the battery is not a perfect voltage source, and it will drop voltage under load. 

EDIT: After looking online.  Here are some numbers.

Voltage with the bike off should be 12.5V or higher.
Unplug the spark caps and crank the bike, if the voltage drops below 9.5V, your battery should be replaced.
To check the charging system, test the voltage with the bike running.  Others have already said the voltage should be 13.5-15.5 at 5000 rpm.

[Paulcet]

Just a little clarification: Yes, you do need to plug one of the leads into the COM (center) hole.  Preferably the the black one. 

And I'm pretty sure you have blown a fuse in the meter. There should be two of them. Hopefully the meter itself is fine.

[tt_four]

Haha, the meter seems fine, I was still playing with it after and it gives me readings for testing the resistance through my arm and my tongue, so I assume it's ok haha.

I spent some time on youtube and figured a little out before I got to read these too. Tested some stuff out on the bike this morning, unfortunately I didn't think to rev the bike up a bit(also doesn't have a tachometer so I would've just been guessing). The readings I got were:

Battery charge with the bike turned off:                                       11.75v
Power switched turned on(power to headlight and taillight only:        0v
Bike started, choke turned on:                                                        13.0v
Bike started, choke turned off:                                                    5.7-6.0v

I'm gonna call Baja Designs tomorrow and see if that means anything to them, whether it's a bad regulator, problem with the wiring, or if the battery they just sent me is no good. The closest test to having the engine revved up to about 5k rpm is when the choke was on, although I'd assume that was still only about 2500-3000rpm, but it still gave a good amount of charge from what I can tell. When I bought it I asked the guy if it would charge just from running the bike, and he said it would. I took the bike for a 4 hour ride after that and it didn't charge up, and today I was out for almost 6 hours and it's still not charging. I'd like to get the bike inspected before too long, but obviously I'll need a headlight while the bike is parked for that to happen haha.

[Jared]

Charge the battery up - check the level and make sure it's filled  up to the correct level first. Once the battery is charged up and known to be good-  do the rest of your tests again.

Chapter 9 of your clymer manual will help you out. Clean the battery connections and make sure they are tight.

[yamahonkawazuki]

I know you guys hate to hear negative things about me, but it's true 

I'm having some battery issues, and I figured it was finally time to start learning how to mess with it. I went to home depot and bought this one.... http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202353293/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=multimeter&storeId=10051 All I need is something to tell me how batteries are working, nothing special.

So I'm looking at this thing, have full intentions of reading the instructions, but I was curious so I turned the knob to one of the settings, plugged the leads into two of the holes, and stuck it straight into an outlet like a 6 year old hahaha. Of course it resulted in sparks, a blown circuit, and the tips aren't looking as pretty anymore. Anyway, I read through the instruction manual and unfortunately still have NO idea what I'm doing. Electrical manuals don't help people who don't know what DCV, V.ohm.mA, and 200mA are.

So can anyone give me a super basic rundown of what I do with this thing to test a battery on a motorcycle to see what the current charge is when it's not running, and when it's running? I've learned that the V with a horizontal line with 3 dots under it is DC voltage. This is the battery I have... 12V 700ma.... http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDetail/120315_Battery-Nicad-Wired and it should be able 14-14.5V if the regulator/rectifier is working right? So for 12V I'm guessing I want to put this on that V-... setting, maybe the 20 setting since that's the one first spot higher than 12, and stick the red lead in the 10A/250V spot?

Any help I could get would be great!

set one to 20dcv be good to text moto batteries

[tt_four]

Talked to Baja, he said to charge up the battery, do the tests again and see how fast the battery drains when i just turn the lights on. I'll call them back after that. Sounds like I'll most likely need a new regulator. Been too busy to charge the battery, but I'll probably do it tomorrow, it's supposed to rain anyway so it'll give me something to do. It's been 70 the past 2 days and I haven't even gone out for a ride haha. I spend all winter looking forward to this weather, then it gets here and I just go .......eh...