Alternator upgrade?

[Jc72]

Is it possible to put a better alternator on as the standard one is not doing its job, battery is always on an optimate, but if on a run with lights on and heated grips, stop for fuel and it may not start again, it's done this with 2 new batts, if lights or grips are off its ok, was thinking of an odysey battery to go in instead of the usual ones, any ideas?

[Fazerider]

The Fazer's alternator is normally well up to the task of keeping the battery charged, even with lights and heated grips on... provided it's used regularly and the engine spends some time above 5000 rpm. If yours isn't doing so  a few checks with a multimeter should help diagnose the problem. You might have a duff generator, but it's more likely to be the regulator/rectifier or poor contact/broken wires somewhere or a dead battery from standing too long... Optimates are a poor substitute for a decent thrash down a fast road.

[Jc72]

It was doing this when my uncle had it from a year old, and it was going through a battery a year, never not used for more than a week, so standing not it , and it had a thrashing when out, what do I do with the multimeter? I have got one but have no idea how to use it yet alone what all the settings mean   , I also want to fit some spot lights so that was why I was thinking to upgrade the alternator and battery

[Fazerider]

A warm bike should start very easily, so you clearly have a fault causing the problem rather than a design flaw or everyone would experiencing the same difficulty. I think it's probably best to fix the fault rather than worrying about "upgrading" at this stage. If you did somehow manage to fit a beefier generator then you may also need to change to a heftier regulator/rectifier to cope... I don't know anyone who's done this. I'd expect the standard set-up to cope with the extra load of a couple of 10w LED spotlights anyway, though if you have a 100 watts of quartz halogen in mind then that would probably prove to be too much.
If you're baffled by volts, amps and ohms the easiest way to learn is by someone showing you  rather than me trying to describe the process in text.

[andybesy]

Also checkout youtube, there are some pretty good videos showing how to diagnose electrical faults, and showing multi-metre usage.

[Jc72]

Cheers guys hopefully get the bike down my house this weekend so can crack on with it, should I just change the regulator rectifier any way? Are they expensive? And are they 1 item or 2 separate components? Sorry if that sounds silly but I currently have no idea about them.

[Fazerider]

The regulator/rectifier is one item. I don't know what you get stung for by way of sales taxes, but you're probably looking at the thick end of €200 for a new one.
I'd try to work out exactly where the problem is and if parts are needed there are plenty of breakers around as well as private individuals
selling used parts on ebay.