I attended my first track day today and wow, how fun is that! That is a different post though. After my last session I got back to the pits and heard a very high pitch whistle, combined with the sulfur smell of dying battery. I pulled the seat off and the battery was steaming and whistling like crazy. I was able to get the battery out of the bike and get it away from everyone until it cooled down.
A little history on this battery. Its over 2 years old and is a regular maintenance free OEM battery. I use a trickle charger on it since my commute is quite short. Over the winter I noticed it would not hold its charge very well especially when cold. I figured it was time to replace it anyway.
When I prepped for my track day I just unplugged all the lights and blinkers to disable them per track rules. I didn't want to just cover them with tape, for fear of cooking the tape onto the lenses and also I wanted to remove as much stuff as possible in case I crashed.
So I am thinking the battery was just worn out and died? Or maybe unplugging all the lights caused a problem? Or maybe the regulator/rectifier is bad? I have to buy a new battery before I can do any diagnostics but was wondering if anyone has any experience with this and can suggest a place to start.
And one other thing the Superhawk is a riot on the track, lots of torque, handles great and sounds wonderful.

 

I have had alot of trouble with reg rectifiers. The original one before honda made the stronger is weak to begin with so most likely by removing/ unplugging your lights it overloaded the capabilities of the regulator. Hopefully only your battery is affected. The regs are pretty easy to test. If you need to replace it though don't go aftermarket get the improved one from honda. I've also fried a battery before kinda stinky, and mine was new .

Drew

 

Yeah, sounds like the battery got over-charged.

 

That is exactly what happened to my battery when my R/R died. So I'd say you need a new R/R.

Be sure to either get a finned replacement, or do a mod to a R1 or GSXR unit.

 

That's how I knew my r/r had gone out. 18volts at idle! Man, my headlight sure is bright (POP!). Oops.....

Yeah, unplugging everything thus reducing the load made the symptoms more obvious.

 

Those will work? That is good to know

 

They not only work they are a shitload better than the stocker avail from Honda. And a shitload cheaper! Lots of posts in the archive about how to wire them up. Good luck!