Topic: Charging problems!!!!!!!!!!

[weltzing]

alright i replaced the stator and the regulator on a cb360 and yet the charging still isnt working...im not sure wut is next i get power all the way to the wires coming out of the regulator which are about 21 v but test the battery when the bike is on and only get 12v and should be running like 14 or so....where could the problem be>?? all wires seem to be connected well.....

[Mainer4]

I had a similar issue with my CB400F.  I thought my Stator was probably bad so I checked the manual for what the stator resistance should be and then ohm'd it out, turned out it was 9.6 ohms against a factory specific 4 ohms.  This didn't make sense because the stator should either be correct or "open".  Then I looked more carefully at the connector which turned out to have corrosion on one of the 5 spades.  I pulled the spade out of the connector and sanded the corrosion off and put dielectric grease on it and the remaining spades.  Put it back and rechecked - got the right resistance and confirmed the system was charging the battery!  Sometimes it is just the simple stuff.   

[weltzing]

ok i will try that but i have another question which wires are the ones that are actually coming from the regulator to the cylinoid that are supplying the power from stator to battery?? i dont understand how i have power from stator to rectifier to the regulator but then no power to the battery???

[kirkn]

Hmmm....

A 360 has a permanent magnet alternator rather than the electromagnet alternator of the SOHC fours and is quite different.

On a 360, 3 wires come from the alternator stator - pink, white & yellow.  Pink connects to one side of the rectifier.  Yellow connects to the other side of the rectifier.  Together, they supply the full-wave AC to the rectifier which then converts this to DC.  Yellow ALSO connects to white ONLY when the headlight is turned on.  Thus, the white is added to the yellow and sent to the rectifier.  Yellow ALSO connects to the regulator, which we'll get to in a minute.

The rectifier has one connection to ground (the green wire) and one connection (red w-white stripe) which goes to the solenoid where it meets with the big cable from the battery (+) and also with the red wire that supplies the key switch and all the rest of the bike.

So, pink & yellow (plus white) supply the AC to the rectifier.  DC out from the rectifier on the red w-white to the starter solenoid / battery / bike load.

Back at the regulator, it has the yellow we discussed, a green ground wire, and a black wire which is the battery voltage downstream from the ignition key.  The regulator "sees" the battery voltage on that black wire.  If the voltage there gets too high, the regulator shunts the output from the yellow wire right to ground, meaning that the yellow wire isn't supplying the rectifier any more.  Thus, the battery voltage drops and the rectifier "sees" the drop and stops shunting to ground.  And so on...


So, if you run the motor with the alternator disconnected from the rectifier, you should see some large AC voltage between the pink and the yellow.  I dunno what, but 21 VAC seems maybe a bit low...

Next, unplug the regulator so it cannot shunt anything to ground.  That takes it out of the equation, and for testing, you won't need to worry about overcooking the battery.  Don't run the system without the battery hooked up, even if the rectifier output (red w-white) is hooked to the solenoid and the rest of the load.

You can test the battery voltage as you have done, with it all hooked back up (except the regulator) and you should see 13 ~ 15 volts across the battery.

You can test the rectifier by using a diode tester.  There are 4 diodes - they each must conduct one direction but not the other.  Unplug the four wires.  Test between Y-G, Y-R, P-G and P-R.

Finally, or rather, this should've been FIRST - the battery must be good and capable of ACCEPTING the charge.  If it has a dead cell or is permanently drained, you'll NEVER see a proper voltage at the battery.

Good luck,

Kirk

[weltzing]

wow great info! ok yes when i unplug the regulator i get a jump in vac's at the plug of the rectifier meeting the alternator.....when i plug it back in it drops to about 20-30 somewhere in there i cant remember.. then i test at the regulator and get like 21 give or take i believe...then testing the battery while running still only 12....then there is a two wires a red and red/white coming from the cylinoid to the controls...the red stays at 12 and the red/white goes from 30-up to 90 if you rev the engine.....so when i test again i have to unplug which wire from the regulator so it isnt grounding it out??

[weltzing]

its also a brand new battery...so if i unplug the green wire from the regulator, and test the battery then, i should have a higher reading at the battery correct because it cannot ground anywhere?

[kirkn]

Unplug the yellow and the black wires from the regulator.  Leave everything else connected - pink at rectifier, yellow at rectifier, green at rectifier, red/white at rectifier, red/white at starter solenoid, red at starter solenoid, big (+) cable at battery.

Check volts on battery, set to DC not AC.

Further, when you're giving your readings, what are you measuring between?  "21 at the regulator" doesn't mean enough - 21 between black wire and ground?  21 between yellow wire and ground?  Is the connector made up and you're jamming the test lead into the connector?  Is the connecor disconnected and you're measuring one side?  It'd be helpfull to have you spell it out, rather than "plug it in, it drops to 20"  What it?  

Good luck, and report back!  

[kirkn]

its also a brand new battery...so if i unplug the green wire from the regulator, and test the battery then, i should have a higher reading at the battery correct because it cannot ground anywhere?

Maybe.  The regulator may still be shorted internally and grounding somewhere else.  You're better off unplugging the yellow and black wires from the regulator.  That way, it is guaranteed out of the loop and not influencing anything.

[weltzing]

k i unplug the black and yellow wires from the regulator and then check other wires.....im using DVC and the measurments are, battery 12, pink wire on rectifier plug in=13.5, yellow was 12, red was 22, and green was 0. then i checked the other yellow green and black from the regulator and i didnt get anything....does this help?

[weltzing]

I FIXED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the wire that has red/white and red coming from the sylinoid going to the rectifier was damaged. the red/white wire was broke off from the ear piece that goes onto the sylinoid so now power was getting to tit, soldered it and now charges great!!!! thanks for all the help and information!