Topic: 750K not charging. Scratching my head...

[Bonz55]

DC

[TwoTired]

Tested negative battery lead to white and black wire this time with key on...

Black - 24v
White - 11.8v

What were these wires connected to?

Measuring 24v from a 12v source almost certainly means wiring errors.
Any green wires near your reg?

[Bonz55]

The wires I tested were connected to the regulator. Figured you didn't want the read from the alternator with the engine off.

There is a green wire that isn't connected to anything. I have a 2nd green where the turn signal relay is connected that is also free and hanging.

[scottly]

Tested negative battery lead to white and black wire this time with key on...

Black - 24v
White - 11.8v

What were these wires connected to?

Measuring 24v from a 12v source almost certainly means wiring errors.
Any green wires near your reg?

Measuring 24v from a 12v source would indicate a measurement error, not a wiring error.
Bonz, can you take a pic of your meter?

[Spanner 1]

Looking at your pic. of the reg/rect, the Green wire ( from the R/R ) must go to both Ground AND the green from the field coil, or no charge.... check that. The Green wire from the field coil is the green that goes from the motor side of the 8-way plug to the alternator ( dissapears into the engine case ). R/R green must be connected to this alternator Green AND ground... report back !

[TwoTired]

The green wire should ultimately connect to batt neg.
the reg needs that connection as reference to the black wire to sense what the battery voltage is.

I don't know what your aftermarket reg uses for wire color and function.
I do know the the stock reg uses black as the voltage sense for the battery charge status and measures that voltage between its black and green connections.
The white wire on the bike goes to the alternator. The amount of voltage the reg sends to the alternator on this wire determines how much the alternator can deliver to the rectifier and ultimately the battery.  At idle the white wire should get whatever is recieved on the black wire connection (battery voltage). When the engine is revved, the white wire varies with battery charge status, and the rpm of the alternator, due to battery charging.

The regulator you have should have come with wiring instructions.  Or wire color function assignments.  Care to share those?
How stock is your bike's wiring?

Cheers,

[750K]

Have a look at the second post by harry on the electric FAQ's it is a great clear step by step fault tracing diagnosis, read it and print it off. It helped me figure out my low charging issue a couple yrs ago, everything checked out but the voltage reg. I cleaned the reg points and adjusted the arm and problem was solved.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,1012.0.html

[MetroRedneck]

The wires I tested were connected to the regulator. Figured you didn't want the read from the alternator with the engine off.

There is a green wire that isn't connected to anything. I have a 2nd green where the turn signal relay is connected that is also free and hanging.

With the reg/rect you have, that green wire will not go to anything.  It was originally used for negative with the factory reg.  It is connected to the frame ground through the main harness.  Use it for something else later if you need.  With this combined unit, the reg/rec share the green in the main connector harness that originally only went to the rect.  In your photo, you have everything correct. 

I have 3 of these cheap amazon/ebay reg/rect and on 2 of them the black and wire wires were wired backwards.  You already confirmed that was not your issue.  I would temporarily bypass the entire wiring harness and connect the black wire on the reg/rect direct to battery positive with a jumper and check the white output with the key on.  This will confirm if your regulator is shot.

[Bonz55]

The wires I tested were connected to the regulator. Figured you didn't want the read from the alternator with the engine off.

There is a green wire that isn't connected to anything. I have a 2nd green where the turn signal relay is connected that is also free and hanging.

With the reg/rect you have, that green wire will not go to anything.  It was originally used for negative with the factory reg.  It is connected to the frame ground through the main harness.  Use it for something else later if you need.  With this combined unit, the reg/rec share the green in the main connector harness that originally only went to the rect.  In your photo, you have everything correct. 

I have 3 of these cheap amazon/ebay reg/rect and on 2 of them the black and wire wires were wired backwards.  You already confirmed that was not your issue.  I would temporarily bypass the entire wiring harness and connect the black wire on the reg/rect direct to battery positive with a jumper and check the white output with the key on.  This will confirm if your regulator is shot.

Another stupid question. By "bypass" do you mean... do not plug the RR into the wire harness at the 6 prong plug? Leave it disconnected.... attach the black wire to the battery negative and take a reading off the white?

Sorry my experience level right now is...copy what you're saying exactly...understand what I'm doing fully at a later date 😂

[MetroRedneck]

Plug the main connector (the white one with yellow, green, red, and black wires) into the bike harness.  Take a jumper and connect the loose black wire to the battery positive.  Turn on the key and check the white power output.

[calj737]

Plug the main connector (the white one with yellow, green, red, and black wires) into the bike harness.  Take a jumper and connect the loose black wire from your combo Reg/Rec to the battery positive.  Turn on the key and check the white power output.

Clarified that for his understanding.

[evinrude7]

these are good.  http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com/vregulators.html

[HondaMan]

One 'mysterious' thing that can blow the 7A fuse seemingly at random is: look closely at the wires for the rear turn signals where they pass thru the little metal retainer loops enroute to the stalks. They fray there, and can lead to intermittent overloads of the 7A fuse until it just gives up.

You might want to get one of my ATC fuseholders? These go a long way toward reducing nuisance blows from not having correct fuses today: the correct fuse is the SFE type, no longer made in quantity. These are also called "Automotive-rated" glass fuses.

[scottly]

Plug the main connector (the white one with yellow, green, red, and black wires) into the bike harness.  Take a jumper and connect the loose black wire from your combo Reg/Rec to the battery positive.  Turn on the key and check the white power output.

Clarified that for his understanding.

WTF??!! If you disconnect the black wire that supplies 12V when the key is on to the reg, how can there be an output from the reg to the white wire?? To bypass the reg, connect the white wire to the black wire, or you can also connect the white wire directly to the battery plus terminal. Remove the jumper immediately after the running test, or you will drain the battery.
Still wondering how there was 24V measured on a 12v source?

[calj737]

Plug the main connector (the white one with yellow, green, red, and black wires) into the bike harness.  Take a jumper and connect the loose black wire from your combo Reg/Rec to the battery positive.  Turn on the key and check the white power output.

Clarified that for his understanding.

WTF??!! If you disconnect the black wire that supplies 12V when the key is on to the reg, how can there be an output from the reg to the white wire?? To bypass the reg, connect the white wire to the black wire, or you can also connect the white wire directly to the battery plus terminal. Remove the jumper immediately after the running test, or you will drain the battery.
Still wondering how there was 24V measured on a 12v source?

This method was not my recommendation, Scottly. I edited the way it was written, as I said, for his "clarity". In a prior response, Bonz was about to move the R/R BLACK wire to battery NEG.

I see lots of erroneous data from the OP, but with you and Lloyd on the case, there's little need for input from a dwarf like me, or anyone else really. 

[MetroRedneck]

Plug the main connector (the white one with yellow, green, red, and black wires) into the bike harness.  Take a jumper and connect the loose black wire from your combo Reg/Rec to the battery positive.  Turn on the key and check the white power output.

Clarified that for his understanding.

WTF??!! If you disconnect the black wire that supplies 12V when the key is on to the reg, how can there be an output from the reg to the white wire?? To bypass the reg, connect the white wire to the black wire, or you can also connect the white wire directly to the battery plus terminal. Remove the jumper immediately after the running test, or you will drain the battery.
Still wondering how there was 24V measured on a 12v source?

Confusing the way it was typed. On his reg/rec the power supply to both is in the main harness. The loose black sense wire can be connected direct to battery to bypass the harness on the bike. With key on bike not running a check of the loose white field coil wire will tell if his reg is shot. It's more of a sanity check vs all the other readings that were posted. I've only got a 75% success rate with these ebay reg/recs.

[Dracon]

Looking at your pic. of the reg/rect, the Green wire ( from the R/R ) must go to both Ground AND the green from the field coil, or no charge.... check that. The Green wire from the field coil is the green that goes from the motor side of the 8-way plug to the alternator ( dissapears into the engine case ). R/R green must be connected to this alternator Green AND ground... report back !

Question for you on this since I'm having a similar issue of my battery not charging...

I have the Rick's r/r and it has 2 greens coming out - one for the regulator and one for the rectifier. I have those two grounds tied together into one wire that goes to a grounding block. The green ground from the alternator also connects to this same grounding block. Will what I've done work?  or should I connect the grounds differently?

Thanks!

[scottly]

Dracon, all solid green wires need to be connected to ground (battery -), whether through the green wires in the stock harness, or connected directly to the frame.

[Dracon]

Thanks, they all are - it just sounded like I should have connected them differently but I couldn't see why it would matter...

[Spanner 1]

Bonz55... Looking at your pic again, let me remind you that the Green wire from the reg. and the Green wire from the rect. need to be grounded as does the Green wire from the alternator, as I previously stated. Did ya do that yet ?

[Bonz55]

Bonz55... Looking at your pic again, let me remind you that the Green wire from the reg. and the Green wire from the rect. need to be grounded as does the Green wire from the alternator, as I previously stated. Did ya do that yet ?

I think so...but am not totally sure honestly. Above, another user says this is accomplished by just plugging the RR into the harness. If that's true...then yes I think?

The old RR worked for a couple years. I bought a new one (same type) and installed it exactly how the old one was installed. It worked initially...providing a strong charge to the battery. A week later I get no charge to the battery.

[MetroRedneck]

The reg/rec you have is plug and play to the Honda harness. Some of the confusion is that it isn't a ricks which I think has an additional ground. The one you have only has a single ground (green wire) and it is in the main harness white connector. You have it hooked up correctly based on the photo you posted.  A way to test it was posted earlier, but some of your testing results don't make sense. Others disagree, but if I were testing it I would bypass the ignition switch and main harness by plugging in the white connector, temporarily connecting the loose black sense/on wire on the reg/rec direct to the battery positive, and then checking the voltage on the white wire.

[Bonz55]

Bonz55... Looking at your pic again, let me remind you that the Green wire from the reg. and the Green wire from the rect. need to be grounded as does the Green wire from the alternator, as I previously stated. Did ya do that yet ?

Here's a photo of how I did it. Just to make sure I'm not being an idiot. Which is entirely possible with this sort of thing.

It read 0 for the most part. It also jumped between 6 and 13v for awhile there too

[MetroRedneck]

You have to put both of your testers prongs on something for a reading. Touch red probe to white wire and black probe to battery negative. Everything else is ok for the test.

If that's what you did and got 0 then that regulator is shot and the field coil isn't getting excited so it won't charge -  assuming the grounding is good.  To verify good ground turn your tester one left of the off mark and push function until it has the beep icon. Looks like a dot with 3 semi circles. Touch the probes together and you should hear a beep. That means they are connected. Touch one probe to the battery negative and the other probe to the green wire inside the connector on the bike side.  You can shove the probe into the backside of the connector and touch the metal pin. It should beep indicating the harness green wire is connected to the battery negative.

[Bonz55]

You have to put both of your testers prongs on something for a reading. Touch red probe to white wire and black probe to battery negative. Everything else is ok for the test.

If that's what you did and got 0 then that regulator is shot and the field coil isn't getting excited so it won't charge -  assuming the grounding is good.  To verify good ground turn your tester one left of the off mark and push function until it has the beep icon. Looks like a dot with 3 semi circles. Touch the probes together and you should hear a beep. That means they are connected. Touch one probe to the battery negative and the other probe to the green wire inside the connector on the bike side.  You can shove the probe into the backside of the connector and touch the metal pin. It should beep indicating the harness green wire is connected to the battery negative.

Thanks for explaining this very simply. I did the test again and it reads either -12.5v or 12.5v, depending on whether I use red or black wire on which connection.

When I did the grounding test however... I did not get a beep. It shows 22.4v, no matter how I try it. Bad ground then?

Any suggestions where / how I should trouble shoot that further?