I also tonight did some more looking at where the current stops. I am wondering if the diodes for the relay assembly might be my problem. It has plenty of current flowing into it but only .02 coming out. My understanding is on is for the headlight and one is for the battery. I'm also checking prices of rewiring, but may check this part out first.
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Engine dies when put into first gear and headlight has no power.
- Thread starter mike1968
- Start date
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- Tags
- clutch electrical
Ok, if your alternator isn't working it can't send voltage on the yellow wire to the safety/headlight relay. No voltage on the yellow wire it won't trip the relay. No trip no power out.
Your 82 has the TCI ignition. Most ignitions are voltage sensitive to a certain amount. To low a voltage even with points you get no spark.
The TCI is very voltage sensitive. My 81, when the charging system wasn't It ran fine till the battery voltage dropped to about 12.5 Any lower and it wouldn't run well at all.
I as others have suggested checking your alternator. You have access to the charging system guide. Just follow the steps. Using it and a meter and you will find why your charging system isn't.
Once you get that fixed I think the rest of your problems will not be problems.
Leo
Your 82 has the TCI ignition. Most ignitions are voltage sensitive to a certain amount. To low a voltage even with points you get no spark.
The TCI is very voltage sensitive. My 81, when the charging system wasn't It ran fine till the battery voltage dropped to about 12.5 Any lower and it wouldn't run well at all.
I as others have suggested checking your alternator. You have access to the charging system guide. Just follow the steps. Using it and a meter and you will find why your charging system isn't.
Once you get that fixed I think the rest of your problems will not be problems.
Leo
Hello xs Leo, I just tried testing the stator wires, I get the following ohms out of them. One measures .9-1.1, one measures .9-1.0, and the third measures 1.1-1.2. I also checked for shorting to case and none registered anything. If I remember right they should measure higher. Going to test the rotor slip rings next.
Ok. I tested the slip rings. With either black or red on each one they both register 0. I had it set on 20k. With it set on 200 both register.29. To me this would mean my rotor is bad. What do you think of the numbers in the stator?
From what I have read here sounds like I need the rotor. Looks like stator reads ok between .8-1.0. Then I found what looks like my issue with starter/headlight relay. PO had taken out fuse on red/yellow wire. Which leads to relay. I'm putting in 10amp fuse now. Then will connect battery and see how readings are. Any ideas between Ricks, Custom Rewind, & mikesXS. Looks like about $145 for new rotor. Thank you for help XSLeo and others I will send pics of bike later.
Your stator numbers are fine. Depending on just what spec sheet you read they should be .46 or .9 ohms. As I said before they actual reading isn't as important as them being the same. All your are very close to .9.
On the rotor you should get about 5 ohms ring to ring and infinity to the steel body of the rotor.
The big difference between the 200 and 20k scale is where the decimal point is. Try again using the 200 ohm scale. If it is 29 or .29 then it probably is bad. Recheck to be sure,
Some have had luck with Rick's and Mike's. Some have found them to wobble a lot and at the brush surface the wobble was really bad. Could make the brushes bounce on the rings.
I would get what I have rewound. It may take a bit more time but worth the effort. Of the two most popular places to get rewinds done Custom Rewinds Is the better one. Tim Parrot isn't as good a product.
Leo
On the rotor you should get about 5 ohms ring to ring and infinity to the steel body of the rotor.
The big difference between the 200 and 20k scale is where the decimal point is. Try again using the 200 ohm scale. If it is 29 or .29 then it probably is bad. Recheck to be sure,
Some have had luck with Rick's and Mike's. Some have found them to wobble a lot and at the brush surface the wobble was really bad. Could make the brushes bounce on the rings.
I would get what I have rewound. It may take a bit more time but worth the effort. Of the two most popular places to get rewinds done Custom Rewinds Is the better one. Tim Parrot isn't as good a product.
Leo
If I may intrude here a bit ..... I know 4 or 5 ohms on the rotor is good and below that indicates they're bad, but what if they read higher? Like 6 or 8 ohms? I ask because I have a couple like that. One is currently on a new guy's bike and seems to be working OK even though I think it reads like 6 ohms.
5twins, One of the rotors I have test fine at room temp but after running awhile and the temp goes up on the rotor the ohms goes up along with it. At full operating temps the ohms go up to around 8.5 and the voltage at the battery starts to drop off.
Basically the 5 ohms creates about a 2.5 amp current flow through the rotor which creates the proper magnetic field around the rotor. Change the resistance and the current flow changes. 4 ohms would be 3.1, 7 is 1.8. The higher the current the stronger the magnetic field. At what current flow does the magnetic field get too weak to charge? I'd say some where in the 7 to 8 ohm range.
I think most of what Custom Rewinds does you have about 4 ohms of resistance. This slightly less resistance gives a slightly higher current flow. This increases the magnetic field and in theory increases the output.
Increasing the ohms reduces the current so it should decrease the output. At some point the increase in ohms should decrease the output enough to not charge the battery. That's what was happening on my with the bad/high ohm rotor.
Some spec's call for 5 to 7 ohms. As long as there are few electrical draws on the system your 6 or 8 ohm rotor should work Ok. A lot of around town where the brakes and turns get used you might not charge the battery up as well. On rides out in the open where you won't ne using the turns and such as much then it should work fine.
I might suggest converting to LED bulbs on things like tail/brake lights and turn signals.
This will decrease the draw under all conditions and leave more power for charging.
Installing a volt meter on the bike so the rider can see what his charging system is doing is a good idea, on a system that works but is at the edge of the specs I think it's even more so.
That's how I noticed my rotor. When I first start out the voltage is fine Right up at 14+. After an hour or so I noticed the voltage was dropping off. At first it was about 14, then 13.75, 13.50. I said wtf. And headed home to do some checks. Let it cool off so it was more comfortable to check and found the ohms were fine. Eventually I rode it till things were getting low and checked, scorched the fingers a bit and found that when hot the ohms were high.
It one of the three in a stack by the computer. Just waiting for a trip to Custom rewinds.
Leo
Basically the 5 ohms creates about a 2.5 amp current flow through the rotor which creates the proper magnetic field around the rotor. Change the resistance and the current flow changes. 4 ohms would be 3.1, 7 is 1.8. The higher the current the stronger the magnetic field. At what current flow does the magnetic field get too weak to charge? I'd say some where in the 7 to 8 ohm range.
I think most of what Custom Rewinds does you have about 4 ohms of resistance. This slightly less resistance gives a slightly higher current flow. This increases the magnetic field and in theory increases the output.
Increasing the ohms reduces the current so it should decrease the output. At some point the increase in ohms should decrease the output enough to not charge the battery. That's what was happening on my with the bad/high ohm rotor.
Some spec's call for 5 to 7 ohms. As long as there are few electrical draws on the system your 6 or 8 ohm rotor should work Ok. A lot of around town where the brakes and turns get used you might not charge the battery up as well. On rides out in the open where you won't ne using the turns and such as much then it should work fine.
I might suggest converting to LED bulbs on things like tail/brake lights and turn signals.
This will decrease the draw under all conditions and leave more power for charging.
Installing a volt meter on the bike so the rider can see what his charging system is doing is a good idea, on a system that works but is at the edge of the specs I think it's even more so.
That's how I noticed my rotor. When I first start out the voltage is fine Right up at 14+. After an hour or so I noticed the voltage was dropping off. At first it was about 14, then 13.75, 13.50. I said wtf. And headed home to do some checks. Let it cool off so it was more comfortable to check and found the ohms were fine. Eventually I rode it till things were getting low and checked, scorched the fingers a bit and found that when hot the ohms were high.
It one of the three in a stack by the computer. Just waiting for a trip to Custom rewinds.
Leo
Thanks for the explanation Leo. I'll have to see if we can test that guy's charging output when the bike is hot, to see if it drops off. We installed the VR115 and the homemade rectifier and it was working nice, cold.
Well a big thank you to custom rewind. They shipped my rotor and the tool to me. They were great. Just put it on, measures 5.0 on rings. Started up and sounds great. I think I may also have found my sluggishness issue and wanted to see what everyone thought. The right side exhaust was cool coming out which led us to believe it wasn't sparking on that side. I changed spark plus and now it sounds great and it's warm coming out. The headlight still doesn't work, but I'm hoping it just wasn't up to full charge. Since it was dark outside I didn't get to take it for a spin. I plan on getting up early and giving it a test run. Crossing my fingers. Thank you to everyone that has helped me on this sight in guiding me on the right direction. I'm learning from all of you. Have a great weekend.
I was having some safety relay issues a while back and a solution was suggested that included unplugging a single yellow wire connection that's located by itself but in the harness connection plugs mess that's located in front of the battery box. Disconnecting that yellow single wire shut down my headlight. Might check to see if it's connected or not.......just gotta find it. With the side stand safety switch missing due to the PO he might have gone elsewhere too......then again, is the headlight known good?
I checked the headlight by connecting it to the battery and it lit up by itself. If nothing has changed since we checked it a couple of weeks ago. At that time there was no power going to the headlight plug. I was hoping one of two things might be e issue now. One that I just needed to get the rpms going to get the charging system going and that once this happens it would light up, or that the relay switch that I got off of eBay last week is not good, I plan on doing an easy check tomorrow by putting on my old one and seeing if the headlight works. ( since I am not sure it was bad). I will check the yellow wire tomorrow. I did have it unplugged when checking the stator last week. Maybe I forgot to plug back up. Will let you know later today.
Well, rode it for about 30 minutes, headlight doesn't work. Looks like i will be trying to narrow this down. All the fuses are good. In addition to the headlight not working my gauges aren't on either, and my yellow signal light that lights up when your signals are engaged doesn't light up either. Even though the signal lights work. But, looks like I have good charging system now. I'm thinking of looking at where all of those components go together, hoping there is one place that they might run to. hopefully its easy to see once i look at the wiring diagram. I will try to do this one night this week.
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