Component specs

qferret · Posted: June 11, 2006, 9:44 pm Post subject: Component specs

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OK... dang bike still isn't running, but once it is I want it to stay that way for quite some time. Getting stranded 100 miles from home is not on my list of things to do.

That said, I could use some advice/instruction on testing components.

1. Ditching the RLU was one of the first things I did when I acquired the bike.

2. Regulator ... How do I test it?

3. Rectifier ... I think I have the specs for this already.

4. Light checker ...what the heck does it do again? (& how do I test it?)

5. The relay next to the starter solenoid .... is this the "safety relay"?
a. How do I ditch it if it is?
b. If it isn't, what is it & how do I test it?

6. I will be going through the entire harness, and replacing the fuse panel with a blade fuse block. Anyone have any advice on how to clean stuff up behind the headlight? (There's a lot of crap back there!)

7. I threw a Boyer Brandsen ignition in. Do I still need the condensor? If not, is there anything special I need to do besides unplug it?

8. Should I leave you guys alone for awhile and order the wiring CD? Wink

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grizld1 · Posted: June 12, 2006, 8:26 am Post subject: Re: Component specs

Lose the condensor. The Boyer system doesn't use it. Test the regulator with a DC volt meter across the battery terminals and adjust if needed as shown in all manuals available. The light checker activates the warning light in your instrument cluster if a headlight or tail light filament's out. The relay next to the solenoid is the safety relay. Bear in mind that if you remove it, accidental button pushes can damage starter gears unless you install a manual switch to cut out the button, and remember to use it. Since you have a fuse block, I assume your bike is a '78 (650E) or '79 (650F), so that you'll have a light switch on the right side that doesn't kill the lights, which will be turned on by the safety relay when the engine fires and alternator output trips the relay (or maybe not; there's a lot of variation there).

kingwj · Posted: June 12, 2006, 10:48 am Post subject: Re: Component specs

I am definitely getting confused. My bike is a numbers matching 1979 XS650F standard which does not have a fuse block. It has the single 20 amp fuse off of the battery. SN is 2F0-021570. The Yamaha parts list shows only the single fuse on the fiche for this year. However the Clymer manual shows a fuse block. I'm thinking the Clymer is wrong and I should use the 650E diagram.

grizld1 · Posted: June 12, 2006, 11:16 am Post subject: Re: Component specs

The F-model I ran years ago had the fuse block (before I switched to blade fuses), but I've seen plenty of later machines retrofitted to the early single main fuse system and there were variations in the original harnesses in the '78 and '79 machines. There may have been something more systematic going on than the guys on the line installing whatever got thrown at 'em, but if so I have no idea what it was!

qferret · Posted: June 12, 2006, 2:01 pm Post subject: Re: Component specs

heh...at this point, mine's a 75/79 hybrid anyhoo, which is all right since the schematics in the manuals are all wrong anyway. I just find the correct diagram relating to whatever piece I'm looking at. (Right now I have 5 different XS wiring diagrams on my garage wall)

qferret · Posted: June 12, 2006, 7:23 pm Post subject: Re: Component specs

wth?

Can someone confirm that the section about the rectifier plug is correct?

home.mindspring.com/~d...rtestM.jpg

I am seeing the EXACT opposite....

i.e. pos test lead to black & neg to white - infinite

pos test lead to red & neg to white - .7 ohms

I am testing the plug on the rectifier side. The recifier is not on the bike.

Am I screwing up the test (likely), is the diagram wrong (not so likely), or did my rectifier somehow reverse polarity (how the *^^#%?)?

grizld1 · Posted: June 12, 2006, 10:10 pm Post subject: Re: Component specs

If the 0.7 ohm reading is accurate, your rectifier's toast. Doesn't matter which way you get infinity and which way you show current; what signifies is that you get flow at spec. impedance one way and infinite impedance the other. Be sure you have a good tester, set to an appropriate range; cheap analogue testers with minimum ohm ranges in 3 digits are all over the place trying to get readings on lower-impedance items. For a '74-and-after nonunit rectifier, spec. impedance is 9 to 10 ohms, which is pretty low; if Clymer's advice to use a tester set at Rx1000 is followed with an analogue tester, results won't be reliable.

Phred · Posted: June 12, 2006, 10:23 pm Post subject: Re: Component specs

IMHO, if you are trying to modify the original wiring much, you may be better off makiing a new harness from scratch. You can then wire up only what you want, and you can locate things where you want them (i.e. move that bird's nest out of the headlight and put it NEATLY in the batt. box). A few minor mods to a correct, un-hacked harness isn't too bad, but the more you do the more confusing it gets.

qferret · Posted: June 19, 2006, 9:18 am Post subject: Re: Component specs

OK...got a used rectifier that tested good.

Still no go...

However....the bike that the rectifier came off of was just brought to the scrapyard, AND was in running order. The crappy fairing was all busted up and the chrome was rusty....

Gonna offer $200 & see if I can get a "good" parts bike.

Hopefully I'll be riding by this weekend

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650