Ah, the beautiful charging system rears it's ugly head

MountainCop

Yeah, she got me. I left the headlights on for about 10 minutes today, followed by a 20 minute ride with them off. I kicked her over to ride home, and the headlight was a bit dim. It just kept getting dimmer until finally she wouldn't run with the lights on at all. Tossed her in the back of my truck and brought her home. Charging now.

I know that the charging system isn't known for its reliability, so I'm not terribly surprised by all this. That said, I don't want a repeat performance. I'll take some of the shame due to leaving the lights on, but I'd think that it would be able to actually "charge" the battery, not just maintain until I add the extra load. I'll do some testing tomorrow after work, and should be able to figure out then what kind of output I'm dealing with.

Funding permitting, I'd like to upgrade to an aftermarket charging system, but that could be a few months out. If I do move in that direction and go with the "batteryless" kit, does anyone see any reason that I could not hook up an off-board battery to the starter just for tuning and testing? It should work the same if I have the wiring correctly, right?

One other thing, anyone play with HID setups for headlights? I don't need low and high beams, a single one would be fine. I recall seeing some sort of an adapter to place a single beam HID bulb in a headlight bucket. I should be able to get more light for my power, yes? I'm already running a pretty small system- Hi/Low, brake/run, ignition, horn. I'm open to losing the horn and the low, but don't have much else to remove to lower my current load.

Thanks for all your help. If this has all been answered previously, feel free to kick me in the nads and just send me to the other post(s). I couldn't find them with search, but that might be operator error.

C

xsleo

First thing to check, are the connections clean and tight. Are the brushes good. Then check the stator and rotor ohm's .
As far as reliable goes I think it's as good as any if properly maintained. All the parts are at least 25 years old, so a little tlc is needed.

MountainCop

K... charged her up to 12.25v. Starter doesn't want to work (no click, nothing), so I kicked her over. Ran normal. Voltage at battery is 11.89v. Not so good. I then checked the voltage at the alternator. 11.89v. This leads me to believe that it is a "lack of charge" issue rather than a regulator/rectifier issue. Am I speaking blasphemy here or does that make sense?

I pulled the brushes. Both appear almost new, with plenty of meat left on them. Key off, no voltage. Key on (but engine off), 11.XXv.

As far as the resistance reading- what points am I testing at exactly?

Feel free to just kick me towards other threads, I don't want to make anybody rehash anything already said. Thanks again for all the help!

C

jayel

650wiki.org/index.php/...Alternator

650rider.com/index.php...pic&t=8380

MountainCop

Gracias!

It is now dark. I found at least one problem. Fuse was blown. Chicken or egg? I don't know. Found the ground that I assume blew the fuse. Wire rubbing on frame. Fixed. Don't have a new fuse at the moment, will pick one up tomorrow. Noticed that bike runs without fuse, lights work without fuse. Interesting. What is fuse protecting? It appears to be inline from the + bat post to the R/R area. Too dark to really look now. I'll have to jump back into it tomorrow after work. Tonight I study up on XS charging systems. With all the improvements out there (sparx, etc), is there really a way to just simplify the whole thing down to a reliable, solid state system and kick only? Simplicity and a lack of moving or variable parts seems to be the answer.

xsleo

When checking battery voltage, at idle you should have about 12 volts with the lights on, a bit more lights off. Rev engine to 2500-3000 rpm, voltage should be about 14.5 volts.

jayel

a ground wire rubbed thru and ground to frame will not blow a fuse, it's the same connection

cpt137 · Full Member Joined: Jan 10, 2009 Posts: 97

Simplify this way.
www.650rider.com/index...pic&t=7841

pumps

Mountaincop I think in the long range plan I might go the banshee set up but I'm still learning to do the stuff I'm doing now. Crawl before I can walk so to speak.

MountainCop

Sorry Jayel, I can see now that I was less than clear. I found a HOT wire that GROUNDED to the frame, causing a short and blowing the fuse. Better?

jayel

yes that would do it Shocked

xsleo

Yep, once the fuse blows your reg has no voltage to send to the alternator.

MountainCop

So... potentially all I have to do is change the fuse?

xsleo

good place to start.

yamaman

Hell of a lot of keyboard strokes for 1 tiny fuse!
I hope you don't get out of it that easy! Electrical problems are meant to be a cure for hair! Laughing

MountainCop

Ah, the hair is already gone. (by choice though... in retribution, my goatee is going gray.)

I hope that is it, but I think I will still be looking into upgrading the system. Anyone have a quick link to that $25- r/r upgrade?

Retiredgentleman

This is for the Regulator:
xs650temp.proboards.co...hread=3246

You will find the info for the rectifier at the same site.

MountainCop

So, Fuse replaced. Actually, I replaced the fuse holder to get away from the glass fuses.

Started her up and immediately got 12.76v. Let her run for a while and it climbed above 13. I'm assuming it is back on the road. I'll take a run on her and let it really charge up a bit and see where it is.

I'm really beginning to hate my electrics box. The ammo can is cool, but mounted poorly and way too large. I think I found a much better solution. I found an old lunch box on Ebay. It is the old type with the hinged, rounded top. It measures 9X6X4. I think it will fit just fine behind the engine. I should be able to get all my electrics in there and clean the whole thing up. While I'm at it, I might as well modernize the R/R situation.

xsleo

The 12.76 to 13 volts at idle sounds good. When you rev the engine to 2500-3000 rpm it should climb to 14.5 or so. Any higher and the battery won't last as long as it should.
If you have the 79 and earlier regulator, it can be adjusted for output. Remove the cover, an adjuster screw is on the side. The manual explains how to.

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650