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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Gremlins of the electrical kind.
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Message started by greenmonster on 08/21/12 at 13:57:51

Title: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by greenmonster on 08/21/12 at 13:57:51

On the way home yesterday my bike sputtered out and died. I pulled onto the sidewalk and tried to start it, only to be greeted to an angry clicking sound and lights dimming out as it tried to turn over. I rolled the bike onto a side street and down a hill. Threw it into 2nd and let out the clutch... away she goes. Knowing that my battery is dead I kept my rpm's up and made it about mile before I (thoughtlessly) signaled a turn and she sputtered out and died again. I roll started it again and then the next time she died I was on a flat and I just pulled to the side and called my wife to come give me a jump.
While I was waiting a friendly biker came by in his pickup and gave me a boost. This time I didn't even get to the end of the block before she died again. After disconnecting the headlight we jumped her again and I got home. I left her on the charger over night and nervously rode to work this morning. I did a load test on the battery. 12.75 when the bike is off. The battery dipped to 9.something as she started but the bike fired up first shot and then the battery sat at 12.5 while the bike idled.
I had been thinking it was a bad battery, now I'm not so sure. Those reading indicate a good battery don't they?

Next up, rectifier and stator tests.

Title: Re: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by youzguyz on 08/21/12 at 14:12:10

12.5 at idle. You might just be seeing the battery, not the charging system.
According to Clymers, you should get 14 to 15.5 at 5000 rpm.

Title: Re: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by greenmonster on 08/21/12 at 14:16:02

Yep, when rev'd I was getting 14.5v

Just checked the alternator.... darn glad I have a spare one of those sitting on my shelf. I'm getting 10-12 Volts off one of the legs where I should be getting 100V+

Title: Re: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by greenmonster on 08/21/12 at 15:21:15

Before ripping into things I thought to check the rest of my connections. The other three wire plug that comes from the regulator rectifier was loose to the point of almost being disconnected. Any body know if this could have caused my issue?

Title: Re: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by Oldfeller on 08/21/12 at 16:25:15

Yes, clean the connectors where they arced and put it back together firmly and see if you get 14-16 volts at the battery when you rev the engine up some.

(charge the battery completely before doing this test, you are looking for the max output voltage from your charging system and do not want the battery itself sucking away at the output you are trying to measure)

Title: Re: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by greenmonster on 08/21/12 at 16:39:45

I reconnected the non-yellow 3-wire connection coming from the rectifier (what are those lines anyway?) and redid all the tests, everything checks well into the green. What a relief!

Title: Re: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by Cavi Mike on 08/21/12 at 17:17:38

A rectifier takes AC voltage and turns it into DC. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what the other wires are after knowing that: they are the DC output wires. Well, two of them anyways. The third wire is most likely an excitation wire. Basically it tells the rectifier to start working. Mine doesn't have that third wire.

Title: Re: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by greenmonster on 08/22/12 at 08:22:09

It was the third wire I was wondering about. I know where the other two go.

Title: Re: Gremlins of the electrical kind.
Post by wernermeister on 08/22/12 at 18:08:31

597B6C735773717F1A0 wrote:

I looked at all wiring diagrams I found and they all show 3 wires. What year to you have for not showing the third (+, -, 3rd is coming from ingnition switch for ON position).