charging gremlin

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kpke
Posts: 667
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 9:54 pm
Location: Livermore, CA USA

charging gremlin

#1 Post by kpke » Tue Apr 28, 2015 11:53 pm

I seem to have a gremlin in the electrical/charging system. It has worked properly but mostly does not. Any help or pointers to isolate this problem would be greatly appreciated.

I hope this all makes sense.

From last Saturday.

Rode around for 20 – 30 minutes with headlight disconnected. Bike runs good.

After the short ride I parked in the garage to do charging system check due to previous strange battery drain problem.

Battery voltage static, bike not running 12.46V (after riding for about 20 minutes)

Start without headlight hooked up Voltage dropped to about 8 within about 30 - 45 seconds of running??? This is very strange as I rode the bike around for 20 - 30 minutes. If the battery would’ve drained during that time the tachometer would have quit working. This has happened several times messing around starting the bike in the garage where the battery has drained and the tachometer quit.

Start diagnostics from Steve Loomis

Check the output of the stator. There should be 3 white wires going to the rect/regulator. This is AC voltage. Set your voltmeter to AC voltage and somewhere around 20 volts or so. Check each wire individually. One wire of voltmeter to ground other to each of the white wires, the other to ground. You should see almost the same voltage on each of the 3 wires. If one is low or not there you have found the problem. It could be corroded connection or burned coils.

Fluke auto range
Wire `1 = 2.5 VAC
Wire `2 = 2.4 VAC
Wire `3 = 2.7 VAC

Another meter Keithley set at 20 V range
Wire `1 = 3.0 VAC
Wire `2 = 3.1 VAC
Wire `3 = 3.3 VAC

Battery is now at 8.4 V and tach not working

Very strange as I rode the bike for about 20 minutes and everything functioned properly. Did not have headlight hooked up. While riding I honked the horn once and it was as loud as could be. Now in the garage it is not charging and battery is draining quickly.

Stator coil values (I have checked stator values and rectifier tests several times now per the manual, and they always are good.)

All 3 are .4 - .5 ohms in range stator appears to be OK per this test

Hooked up another battery static voltage is 12.6V

Did rectifier tests and it is good. (I have a second rectifier and it tests out the same as the one on the bike and I put it on with the same results.)

Found that the ground to the rectifier appears to be bad as it is mounted to a freshly powder coated plate. Added a ground wire to the rectifier base to chassis ground. Ground now has continuity.

Started bike with different battery and it’s charging properly. It’s fixed! Nope.

Hooked up ballistic battery again thinking it would charge and it’s is slowly draining???

Try with second battery again.

Same thing happened, not charging???

By the way, the battery does not draining quickly turning the key on and not starting the engine. It only drains quickly when starting the engine.

4/28/15

Measuring RZ350 stator output 3 white wires to compare to RZ500

Fluke auto range at about 4000 rpm
Wire `1 = 6 VAC (much lower than the other 2 wires???)
Wire `2 = 9+ VAC
Wire `3 = 9+ VAC

At about 2500 rpm all 3 wires are close to 10 VAC

Battery charging at 14 -14.5+ volts measuring with second dvm

So it appears that the AC output from the stator on the RZ500 is very low, although it also seems to have worked on occasion. I have been able to ride the bike around without the battery draining and I have watched the battery charging properly in the garage after attaching the ground wire to the rectifier.

What would make the AC output of the stator so low?

All three legs are about the same but very low as compared to the RZ350.

What would make the battery drain so quickly from 12.5 V to about 8 V?


:smt017 :smt017 :smt017
Ken's Garage YouTube Channel :smt023
https://www.youtube.com/c/KensGarage1

1985 RZ500 (R6 suspension & body work)

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kpke
Posts: 667
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 9:54 pm
Location: Livermore, CA USA

Re: charging gremlin

#2 Post by kpke » Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:20 am

sorted :D
Ken's Garage YouTube Channel :smt023
https://www.youtube.com/c/KensGarage1

1985 RZ500 (R6 suspension & body work)

nzgaz
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 6:57 pm
Location: Tauranga NZ

Re: charging gremlin

#3 Post by nzgaz » Sat Feb 13, 2016 12:19 am

You have pm

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kpke
Posts: 667
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 9:54 pm
Location: Livermore, CA USA

Re: charging gremlin

#4 Post by kpke » Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:04 am

replied
Ken's Garage YouTube Channel :smt023
https://www.youtube.com/c/KensGarage1

1985 RZ500 (R6 suspension & body work)

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Smoker
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Posts: 1757
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 7:16 am

Re: charging gremlin

#5 Post by Smoker » Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:53 am

kpke wrote:sorted :D
After reading all that - it would be nice to know what the problem is/was!

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