Battery reading 18v

[papabear]

Hi,
Having a little trouble with a HID conversion I put into my GS500, they cone on when switched on but a minute or two later they just turn off agsin, now I put the multimeter on the battery and it read 18v+, woykd this be a regulator/ rectifier problem by any chance??

[fetor56]

Possibly it's the HID wiring or the ballast that's at fault.Have u tried connecting the HID setup to a different 12v power source(eg,car battery) with none of the GS's wiring involved.

[robfriedenberger]

.....18volts eh?

1. Check your meter with the bike off on the battery only. Should read 11-13v
2. Dis-connect any thing that you changed, and check your battery again with the bike running should be 13-14v
3. Plug in your HID kit and test again.

I doubt that your HID kit has any thing to do with your issue I think your meter is on the way out.

[DoktoroKiu]

I'm not certain with bikes, but in a car you should get 12V or less with the engine off and 13-14V with it running.  18V does sound high for alternator output, but I would definitely check these voltages without the HID circuitry to make sure it isn't normal.  If it is normal and if 18V exceeds the input range of your HID circuitry this may be causing your problem.  Like robfriedenberger said it may be your multimeter.  When was the last time it was calibrated?

I doubt it is something coming from the HID ballast, because typical output voltage across a running lamp is well over 100V and it is alternating current to boot.  There's probably a step-up transformer that would isolate the output circuitry from your battery in any case.  The fact that it runs for a short time also tells me you do have it correctly hooked up.  It could be an issue with the ballast or control circuits.

[radodrill]

Bike off resting battery voltage should be around 12.6-13V; anything below 12V is a low battery.  The output of the reg/reg (voltage when the bike is running) should be 13.5-15V

[yamahonkawazuki]

Was thinking 14.8 MAX something is amiss. Either with the bike or the meter.  Do you have something else you can tes4 with it or have access to a known good meter?
Aaron