Topic: Is this right? Seems ok, but out of spec?

[Dothedew]

Charging issues. Thought it was my antique recifier. Replaced with a solid state reg/rec combo. Still not charging. Thought before I ordered the reg/rec combo that I checked the stator output on all yellow wires. I thought I was getting 50-60 volts on all of them, but I must have missed one. Rechecked and got a dead wire.

Pulled apart the stator, expecting to find something broken. Can't see anything. So I ran a continuity test, and came up with .9 ohms on all 3. I believe spec is .5, so is this ok? I'm thinking now it was a bad/corroded bullet connector. Will reassemble tomorrow to find out.

Is the .9 ok? It tests the same on all 3 wires, regardless of probe location (swapping leads in various combinations.)

[Dothedew]

bump

[Bodi]

Resistance readings that low are not very accurate without expensive measuring equipment. I think it's fine with all readings equal.
Look for a problem in the wiring harness between the alternator and the rectifier.

[cameron]

We probably need more complete readings to really diagnose your charging problems.. but IN GENERAL...

(out of spec) + (system works fine) = (no problem)

wheras..
(out of spec) + (system broken) = (obvious target for correction)

[Dothedew]

Thanks Bodi. I traced back through the wiring in the side cover. The bullet connecters were hard and brittle. Suspected a bad connection, so I cut them off and soldered together directly. In the process, I found a small peice of insulation from one of the yellow wires was gone and exposing bare wire, probably shorting out. Fixed that, put back together, and voila. Began charging.

But its charging almost to well. I bought the new reg/rec from carpy, and wired it in, thinking it was the problem. Now that the alternator wiring is sorted out, its putting out about 13V at high idle (2000 rpm or so), but at 4000, its over 16V, what gives!?

[Spanner 1]

Our bikes have 100+ year old wet battery technology which works best with 100 year old electromechanical  technology = stock regulator, so why mess with that ever for 'solid state' regulators/rectifier combos... ? (I'm a stock reg. 'booster' at every chance  ).

[Psychonaut]

Is the charging issue at all rpms? At idle mine does not charge. At 2k and up I am ok. I checked everything on mine, diodes, a/c volts, ect. Everything was good.

[Dothedew]

I wanted to upgrade the charging system because the old one wasn't cutting it. I drive to work with drive times under five minutes, in town, which means a lot of idling. When I am moving, it isn't very fast, but in order to keep the battery charged, I would have to turn 3500 rpm or greater. Not only is this bad for fuel mileage, its noisy. I want the new system to be at least attempting to charge off idle to help aleviate this problem. (This was last year when the system was charging ok)

I read somewhere that if there is any voltage drop across the 12v keyed source (black wire to regulator) that the regulator would overcharge. While it may be 14.5 at the battery, if the regulator only see's 12 or so, due to voltage drop, it'll keep hoping up until it see's 14.5 or whatever, which may actually be 16 at the battery. I'll check into this, may even install a relay to help re-power some stuff.

[Spanner 1]

Unless you get a new job farther away than a 5 min. ride, I don't think changing-out the reg. for a solid state unit will help you with your charging issues..... IMHO.
Much better would be to buy a 'battery tender' type charger and put it on the bike everynight.. if you must do very short rides everyday.

[thrutheframe]

sounds like you need to find a longer (funner,faster) route to work... sometimes sacrifice is needed.

[cameron]

Dothdew:

Listen to me.. hear me. I can solve this problem.

Get a Scorpion.

That is all.

[Dothedew]

I sometimes choose a route that takes 10 minutes if I'm early (nice day, nice weather). I know the reg/rec won't solve the problem, but it would certainly help.

I've think I've narrowed the overcharging issue down. I've noticed almost a 2 volt drop from the black wire feeding the regulator, to the battery. Seems I'm loosing a bunch somewhere. Careful investigation revealed a dirty ignition switch (where the key goes). Cleaned that up, and I picked up 1.2-1.4 volts, which is better. However there is still a drop.

Thinking about wiring in a relay, rather than relying on the switch to power the system. I'll use the switch to power the relay, and the relay to power the bike,so to speak. I've done this on my old halfton headlights, and the difference was night and day (no pun intended). I figure this way, when the relay is engauged, bike is getting whatever voltage the battery is at, not a dulled voltage. Thus, the regulator would also see full voltage, and would stop charging when its suppose to.

Don't mean to toot my own horn but *BEEP BEEP*