charging at 16 volts

[CHAZZ]

hi guys been a while
the xs2 is playing up again,it fried the original mechanical regulator,so i bought an after market solid state one,after fitting the thing i started the bike and put multi metre on and its showing 16 volts.well fluctuates between 16 and 16.5 volts at the battery what can be causing this,any info appreciated cheers chazz

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

We'very had a couple members chasing voltage drops that fool the regulator into thinking that more voltage is needed. On your next test, measure the voltage between battery hot (at the battery + post) and the brown wire connector in the regulator connector (right there in front of the battery). That brown wire is the power feed to the regulator, and the regulator uses its voltage to determine the charging. A voltage drop of more than 0.5v indicates a problem. Ideally, should be no more than 0.3v.

 

[retiredgentleman]

hi guys been a while
the xs2 is playing up again,it fried the original mechanical regulator,so i bought an after market solid state one,after fitting the thing i started the bike and put multi metre on and its showing 16 volts.well fluctuates between 16 and 16.5 volts at the battery what can be causing this,any info appreciated cheers chazz

This can also be caused if the regulator is missing the ground connection. Some regulators have a ground terminal and some do not. If there is no terminal, then the case of the regulator must be grounded.

 

[jussumguy]

Isn't there an issue here with the grounded brush style of the earlier wiring? I can remember buying 100 nylon screws so I could modernize my friends bike. Maybe the upgraded regulator isn't getting a proper signal to regulate. Does the grounded brush/ ungrounded brush thing have any effect on the regulator?

 

[XSLeo]

The nylon screw mod needs to be done IF the reg is designed like the 80 up reg/recs use. The 80 up used floating brushes, none were ground.
On the 70-79 regs they used one brush grounded.
They make combo. reg/rec's that work both ways. If the OP used the right model reg/rec he would not need the nylon screws.
RG's recommendation is most likely the problem. When mounting the reg, most mount it to the battery box. The only [problem is the battery box is rubber mounted, no ground.
Easy to fix, run a wire from one of the reg's mount bolts up to the negative battery terminal. Or anywhere you can get a good ground.
As two many said, if the voltage on the brown wire is low the reg reads this as the battery is low. It tries to charge the battery. If the brown wire reads 1.5 volts low the reg charges 1.5 volts high.
Leo