Charging system not working

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I changed to LED on one of my 750s. Headlamp, integrated tail lamp etc and was to go solid state reg/rec. now that I think of it, everything under the cowling may be solid state. Got most of from Ricks Electric.
 
I wouldn't do that.
Agree. If you changed your brushes correctly, you're down to the rotor, regulator or associated wiring. If the rotor ohms good, ground the green wire at the brush and see if the rotor magnetizes. You can even just use a paper clip. Touch the screw that's holding the green terminal and anywhere metal and the rotor should magnetize.
 
I rode around for a couple days with no problems, until the other day I noticed my headlight was puttering in time with the engine. Pulsing along with my RPM’s.

By the time I got home I had no electrical. The lights would only come on if I was riding around 40mph but as soon as I slowed down all the electrical would go out. Bike still would run but no lights.
The headlight behavior implies you have power that should be charging the battery. Your generator has a higher voltage than your battery... If it's true, I'd suspect a bad battery (I know it's new) or possibly a connection to it.
 
The headlight behavior implies you have power that should be charging the battery.
Prolly not. Look at a just the battery scenario..... the coil draws about 5amps.... lights dim. TCI discharges coil.... lights brighten. TCI re-energizes coil.... light dim... yeah... a flicker.
He said there's no magnetism at the rotor. Ain't gonna charge without that.
 
^Yeah, it's confusing. I never trust anyone 100% to do a test right or describe what they're seeing right. Main thing is he says if he's got the revs up he has lights, but otherwise not.
 
"as soon as I slowed down all the electrical would go out. Bike still would run but no lights."

That plus the flashing makes me wonder if he lights are connected before the rectifier or something. If the lights ultimately go to the battery like they should, if there wasn't enough juice to make lights shouldn't be enough juice to run the bike either...
 
Yeah, it's confusing. I never trust anyone 100% to do a test right or describe what they're seeing right.
It's not confusing to me. I gave him a 1 min. slap test video that even a monkey could follow. He gave us back a video of him trying it... with no discernible sign of magnetism. His rotor's not magnetizing. Without the magnetism... we ain't charging.
 
It's not confusing to me. I gave him a 1 min. slap test video that even a monkey could follow. He gave us back a video of him trying it... with no discernible sign of magnetism. His rotor's not magnetizing. Without the magnetism... we ain't charging.
If there's no power from the generator, then where is the power to run the lights at high rpm (and not at low) coming from?
 
If there's no power from the generator, then where is the power to run the lights at high rpm (and not at low) coming from?
Here's a quote.... from you... emphasis mine.
I never trust anyone 100% to do a test right or describe what they're seeing right.
I didn't see how his lights behaved... so I can't really use that as a troubleshooting aid. I did however, see how the feeler gauge behaved. That's something I can see, so I'll go with that for a guide to trouble shooting.... and try not to get fixated on a description of light behavior that might or might not be accurate.
 
That makes sense. I guess next I would have him measure the rotor ring to ring as a followup to the slap test. Head is spinning... gonna just watch :)
:popcorn:
 
I guess next I would have him measure the rotor ring to ring as a followup to the slap test.
I'm guessin' you're not actually reading through all this. 5twins already told him to measure and what to look for a few comments back.
 
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Caleb Hurst,
I as well as Superjet told you how to find the Charging System Guide a month ago.
Have you found it?
Have you read it?
If you haven't found it yet, then you should. It describes step by step how to troubleshoot your system. As you go along you will find things wrong. Fix them as you find them.
Before you buy anything, check back here to find out the best places to get what you need.
Leo
 
If u end up needing a new rotor Jims got u covered. Dont make the mistake I did and go aftermarket Chinese junk.
I went thru 2 bad units in a row and finally got smart and purchased a properly assembled and balanced unit from Jim, Works great!
Thx again Jim for all your help!
 
It was mentioned here earlier in the thread but don't forget the basics. Without a good, working battery none of these test will tell you anything worthwhile (for the most part).

Batteries can be bad out of the box (rare but it happens). If a battery is run to zero charge too many times its toast and no charger will bring it back to life. The cheaper the battery the fewer times it will bounce back. Do yourself and everyone on this thread a favor and go get a new battery. Don't test anything else until you start with a new battery that you have charged fully yourself after you bring it home from the store.

Starting with a good, new battery, follow everyones advice and read the charging troubleshooting guide in the tech section and follow it to the letter. If you do this you will have a charging bike in no time.

For what its worth, my friend installed an LED headlight on his Honda Ascot. It always flickers at idle and stays constant when he revs it up. His bike charges normally and runs great. I would look into the minimum voltage required to drive the LED headlight. It is possible that the charging voltage at idle is not strong enough to keep a constant beam and there is not really an issue with your charging system.
 
Okay guys i have been going through the troubleshooting guide the past couple days and haven’t had any luck. Mostly because I’m not quite sure i understand everything. I tried the slap test, and yes my wrench does magnetize but not very much it will pull it in but i don’t know if it meet the “slap” intensity. I moved on to jumping my green wire to my ground on my battery but it didn’t affect anything. Then I moved on to the next step that said to check the brown wire at the brush. I just assumed that meant the brushes under the alternator cover i found a wire leading to one that looked more red than brown. The bike is so old that it is kinda hard to tell. the voltage on my battery is 12.5 and 11.1 at this brush.

I guess my question is if i have performed the instructions so far correctly? Thanks for the help!
 
Okay i tested the rotor tonight. I’ll upload the pictures of my results because they seemed to be all over the place. I included my voltmeter just to make sure with you guys I had the right settings enabled. I am not an expert!
 

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Place the meter setting on "ohms"

Touch the two meter leads together and see what it reads. This number will be subtracted from the true test result

Place one lead on one slipring and the other lead on the other slipring at the same time. Note the reading.

Subtract your first reading from the true test second reading.

What do you have?
 
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