Topic: Voltage Readings Chart

[stueveone]

So I've just upgraded the electrical system on my bike and did some voltage checks. Here's what I found:

Charging @ idle 12.3V
Charging @ speed 13.8V

Key OFF: Battery 12.46, black wire feeding regulator 0.07
Key ON: Battery 12.39, black wire feeding regulator 12.39
Key ON Headlight ON: Battery 12.09, black wire feeding regulator 11.53
Key ON Kill switch ON: Battery 12.09, black wire feeding regulator 11.53

Does this sound normal to you guys? Mainly, that there is about .5 volts difference in what the battery is reading vs the black wire supplying the voltage regulator?


In the upgrade I replaced: blade fuse holder, Digikey rectifier, Ford regulator (thanks pinhead), new bullet connectors, cleaned wires, new battery, etc.

[TwoTired]

It's not terrible.  But, you are probably losing voltage through the key switch contacts.  Have they been cleaned?

[stueveone]

No. And in my troubleshooting I can't remember now if the switch was passing voltage ok or not. I'll check again with a jumper and clean contacts/post findings asap

[TwoTired]

You will never get to zero volts lost, as every component has some resistive value, even if small.
The more resistance, the more volts lost with increasing current loads.

It won't hurt to clean/renew the key switch contacts.  But, just about anything under 0.5V loss is ok.  The charging system will work better with less loss going to the vreg, of course.

Cheers,