Topic: CB400F not charging with Electrosport Reg/Rec

[Rexall]

I have limited time on this, so please forgive me for if I missed a significant post on this subject but... I have the endorsement class in the morning and I think.. I may have a bad reg/rec but maybe I missed something.

I have read through posts and know the charging system is a major issue with these bikes.
I read through:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=1012.0   both Harry's post on the three phase system and TwoTired's input.

and
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=87086.0

and as much as it sounds like my problem (never getting above 13V on a fully charged battery). That article refers to a bike with a separate regulator and rectifier. I have an Electrosport ESR240 reg/rec combo, Dyna ignition, 5 Ohm Dyna coils, added low voltage LED to everything except the headlight and the wiring is all new. (I wired my own harness) I dont run a keyed ignition switch, I have three toggles, 1 for ignition, 1 for brake/ turn signals and 1 for headlights.

Ive gone through my wiring and checked voltages as per se Rick's Electrics and even watched his videos on youtube.. Theres a thread here somewhere as well about the reg/rec. About the only thing I havent done is tied a paper clip on a string. Maybe Ill do that now and when I get back someone will have my magic answer.

Before I go, the wiring on the reg/rec is correct as far as i know.

The 3 whites from the reg/rec land with the 3 yellows from the stator.
Green from rec lands on green from field coil
Brown from reg/rec lands on the other field coil wire
Red from reg/rec goes directly to battery
Black from reg/rec lands on ground.

Ive checked the reg/rec as much as I can and the diodes are correct as per Rick's instruction.

I should have gone with Ricks reg/rec instead of the "deal" I got on the Electrosport I'm thinking.

Any help would be appreciated, my next step is seeing if I can bypass the rectifier portion of my reg / rec i currently have somehow and putting one together. (that sounds like it may be a pipe dream but it would be a great temporary solution for tomorrow) I saw somewhere you can make your own with some parts from the auto store.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[links56]

The black wire should go to the switched hot from your ignition switch. It is usually the sensing wire that tells the regulator how much to pass through to excite the alternator. Hopefully this helps. Do you have an exact model of the regulator rectifier so I could verify this occasionally the black and green wires are vary on different models. 

[calj737]

This PDF does not agree with your wiring connections:
http://www.electrosport.com/technical-resources/library/fitting-instructions/electrosport-esr240-fitting-instructions.pdf

According to Electrosport, the ESR-240 does not have a Brown wire. The Black should be connected to switched 12v, and the White to field coil. If your unit is as this one pictured, swap the loose white into the plastic plug and connect it to the field coil. The loose Red can go to the battery, but use an line fuse to protect the battery. And tie your Black into the toggled circuit for igntion "ON"

From your post, you say that you can not get over 13v performance. That can also point directly to a battery issue. If the battery is accepting the charge, the Regulator side of the ESR will restrict the alternator from delivering the surplus amperage.

You need to perform a quality test on your battery, and yo can also use this diagram to test your components:
http://www.electrosport.com/media/pdf/fault-finding-diagram.pdf

This makes it super easy to diagnose.

[Bodi]

What you describe and what the electrosport installation document describes differ. It should have a connector with 3x yellow, 1x red, and 1x green wires - plus separate white and black wires. No brown wire, only one white.

"The 3 whites from the reg/rec land with the 3 yellows from the stator."
- the documentation says the reg/rect has 3 yellow wires to go to the stator wires.
"Green from rec lands on green from field coil"
- Green should go directly to ground. The green regulator wire in a stock harness is an actual ground (all green wires in the stock harness are) - one field coil wire also has to be grounded. The rectifier green wire is usually a larger gauge wire (as is the red) to carry the alternator output current - connecting it to a smaller harness green is not a good plan.
"Brown from reg/rec lands on the other field coil wire"
 - brown??
"Red from reg/rec goes directly to battery"
- correct. this should not be fused. This wire carries alternator output power to the battery terminal.
"Black from reg/rec lands on ground"
- must go to switched (ignition on) +12V power

The electrosport unit grounds through the green wire in the connector and/or its mounting bolts.
The connector block replaces the stock harness rectifier connector so the unit plugs directly in to a stock harness, with the extra white and black connecting to the wires meant for the (removed) OEM regulator - the green regulator wire is left unused.
The field coil needs one wire grounded and the other wire (this is the white wire to a stock regulator) connected to the single white wire from the reg/rect.

I don't understand what the brown wire is all about. You  may have a different model electrosport unit for a different bike model? This may not work: there are different regulator systems that wire up differently.

I've installed a few of these, and I've never seen wiring colours different from what the installation document describes.

[links56]

I knew I'd seen these colors before. I have a yamaha xs650 with the same colors. I went and checked it out. I don't think this will work for your bike. On the xs650 the black wire is the ground and the brown is the sensing wire, the field gets a switched hot and the regulator cuts the green or ground wire in and out. To get it to work you'd have to isolate the field coils ground from the bike. On the Yamaha I had to use nylon screws in place of the metal ones that hold the ground brush on.

Like everyone else is saying i don't think they sent you the correct regulator, that's why I was wondering if the actual regulator/rectifier maybe had a different model number on it?

[Rexall]

Yeah it has a brown, I found my solution on honda chopper. The Brown was actually for switched ignition and the green from the reg/rec goes to the white on field coil. then the field coil green just gets grounded.. well i have voltage now but it seems too much. Im hittin 15v+ @ 5k rpm and that doesnt seem right either.

http://hondachopper.yuku.com/topic/52696/Re-just-put-a-Electrosport-reg-rectifier-ESR-240?page=-1#.VaGl1PlVgus

It came in an esr240 box and the box list has all the wiring my unit has. The wiring is not like the ones they show currently on their website so I must have an old version. Im thinking, as for the high voltage output, maybe my battery is screwed up from having charging issues and constantly having to have it on a little motorcycle charger of probably not the best quality. It could be that the reg/rec is pushing its output too high thinking there is too little voltage and overcompensating?

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, it turned out I didnt need my bike at the course afterall.. they had bikes there. Nerf.

Thanks for all the quick reply's!
-Rex
(Is it worth it to compile a list of all the electrical charging solutions including outside this forum resources into one single thread?)

[calj737]

It's not your battery if the Reg/Rec is outputting 15v, it's the Reg/Rec wiring you have configured. The Brown, if it's the sensing wiring, needs to be wired to the ignition switch BLACK so it accurately monitors the battery status. If the Brown has no clean path to POS, the Reg/Rec will put out as much voltage as the unit is capable of without limit.