Red light on '93 dash

[rpjn59]

Hi, I'm looking at a '93 VR on line. In the sellers video there's a red light on the upper left corner at the top center display. What might this indicate, the seller doesn't know?

Thanks, Ray

Edited October 5 by rpjn59
Typo

[Marcarl]

That light indicates there is something amiss which cause can be found by checking the rest of the display. It could be low fuel, headlight burned out, over heating. It's telling you, take a look, you have a problem.

[rpjn59]

Yes, I turns out the battery symbol was on also. Seller states, "but it's charging, I checked it with a multimeter. Off verses idle, 11.5v and 12.5v." HIP...

[Marcarl]

12.5 is not charging.

[saddlebum]

On 10/7/2024 at 7:45 PM, Marcarl said:

12.5 is not charging.

13.6 - 14.8 is normal range with any charging system, 14.2 being ideal. Keep in mind it will show less if a battery is very low but should increase to normal as battery charges up providing a the battery is good. A bad battery can drag down charging voltage so charge and load test battery before condemning charging system. Dirty or poor connections  including bad wiring can effect charging output as well. so before jumping to any conclusions and replacing any expensive items eliminate any contributing cause first. If all of this checks out OK than you may be looking at a regulator or stator.

A simple but effective test for bad connections I teach my apprentices in the truck shop is as follows. 

With the key on, Clamp a test light to the batt NEG (Yes the Neg) post and with the key on touch the
point of the test light to various metal parts of the bike such as frame and engine case etc.. the test light should
NOT glow at all if it does you have a bad ground some where.
with test light still clamped to the NEG POST and while grounding the test light probe to the engine case try
cranking the engine if the light glows you have a bad ground if it does NOT your ground should be ok. I know
this all sounds kind of backwards but it works very effectively.
If at any point the light glows slowly move the test point of the light along the ground circuit until the light no
longer glows. The fault will be between the point were the light glows and does not glow. you can even pin it
down to the connection by testing the wire it self at the connection and the and the the bolt and contact point at
that connection.
If this all checks out you can use the same procedure on the positive side of the circuit and if that checks out.

(You can also do the above test with a volt meter the idea is to see zero volts, any voltage indicates you are bridging a poor or bad connection. moving the test leads closer together along the circuit until you again get zero voltage narrows in on were the bad connection is.)

To check the charging system you can follow these steps:

Check across the battery with a accurate voltmeter to verify if the problem is in the
charging system OR in the other wiring on the bike. Run the engine at about 3000 RPM, and the voltage at the
battery should be 14.5V plus or minus .5V. It goes down at higher temperature, so if it's in the 80's or 90's, you
may only get to 14.1 or so. If it's low, (remove the left body panel (side cover) and about half way up the vertical
frame section behind the motor, you will find a plug that has 3 white (with a blue? stripe) wires....this is the
connector between the alternator stator and the voltage regulator. Inspect this for burned wiring. If you find a
lead that's been overheated, you can cut the plug out, and connect the wiring directly by twisting one stator
lead and one regulator lead together, and then soldering them and taping them. If the plug and wiring looks OK,
you can disconnect the plug, and then take the stator half and measure the AC voltage (at idle) between the 3
pairs (A&B, A&C, and B&C). It should be equal, and if one pair is obviously lower, you have a bad stator. A
charging problem, though rare may also be caused by the main fuse link in the smaller red wire
that attaches to the battery by having it's link come loose. This link is in a plastic case and it's just to the left of the
battery. Open it up and make sure these screws are snug. 

Also Check out this  PDF

Testing for a Battery not Charging..pdf

Edited October 9 by saddlebum

[cimmer]

one other note here about the battery light on the dash. If the battery was replaced and the sensor not transferred to the new battery but just unplugged, it will display the bad battery light on the dash as the voltage it uses to look for a good battery will not be present. This seem to happen when the battery get replaced and people are not aware of what the sensor is for.

Rick F.

[saddlebum]

3 hours ago, cimmer said:

one other note here about the battery light on the dash. If the battery was replaced and the sensor not transferred to the new battery but just unplugged, it will display the bad battery light on the dash as the voltage it uses to look for a good battery will not be present. This seem to happen when the battery get replaced and people are not aware of what the sensor is for.

Rick F.

There is an artical in the tech section regarding what to do if the sense wire cannot be used in thevreplacement battery,k

Edited October 20 by saddlebum