Imagine this... another wiring issue

[Moonshiner]

ok, long story short... hopefully someone has been down this road, for a quick easy answer.
76 with all stock charging components. Separate reg./ rec.
bare minimum on wiring, kick start..
what do I do with brown wire coming from stator bundle? I assume it’s a brush?? I hook it up to the key switch to power and it blows the fuse instantly when I turn key on..?? Thanks for any help

 

[Moonshiner]

I’m sorry... the brown wire I have is coming out of the regulator...

 

[Sydneysdad]

I have this video saved for future use when I get my xs ready.. looks to be what I think your answer is.. plus pay attention to the nylon screws... hope this helps..

 

[Sydneysdad]

Oops forgot the linky... lol

 

[Moonshiner]

Thanks... that is a good video, but I’m not sure if it completely applies to me.. I have all stock components with separate reg/rec.. I’ll try ungrounding them and see...

 

[littlebill31]

As you can see from the bikes wiring diagram, the brown wire doesn't come out of the regulator. The brown wires feed power into the regulator. If the regulator detects a voltage less than 14.5v, the regulator activates and feeds power from the battery though itself and to the green wire to the brush. This "excites" the stator which creates ac voltage to the rectifier, to the battery, thus charging your battery.

 

[Moonshiner]

It looks like it just goes to a bunch of lights and switches that I don’t have..sorry for being a dumbass with this stuff... I guess my question is, does it need power to it? If so, direct to battery? Or would ignition on the key switch? Thanks for all the help

 

[littlebill31]

Think of it this way. What provides power to the bike? The battery. So most everything concerning power starts at the battery.
Red from battery to the ignition switch.
Out of the ignition switch on the brown to..........
You need to provide power to the regulator to excite the stator in order for it to charge the battery.
You need to have switched power or it will be on all the time. That's what the ignition switch does.
The kill switch controls the power from the brown to the yellow to the coils.
Kill switches are a must, in my opinion. Though not needed, it's hard to test anything due to the possibility of frying your Pamco (if you have one) or other ignition components. You don't want the coils getting power for a period of time, like a Pamco which is about 1 minute before frying it, without dissipating the power.

Here is a great write up.
It's in the "Tech" section, under "Electrical"
http://www.xs650.com/threads/what-happens-when-you-turn-your-key-on.9625/

 

[fredintoon]

Hi Moonshiner,
like littlebill's wiring diagram shows, there's a whole bunch of brown wires that are powered up when the key is turned ON.
Seems to me that one or more of those brown wires is grounded out and you gotta find the short circuit.
My trick is to rig a headlight bulb as a replacement for the bike's fuse as you search.
If the light stays on there's a short. If the light goes out you've found it.

 

[Brassneck]

Hey Moonshiner...

Not sure if you're still working on this, but essentially yes, the brown wire is powered. As folks above pointed out, it should be switched power... and connects to the brown wires in the main wiring harness/bundle that come out of the ignition switch. You mentioned minimal wiring on your bike, so not sure if that means that the main harness is there but not using all the connections, or if things have been re-wired so you no longer have the main harness, but if you're looking to just get power to it, then direct to the ignition switch's "brown wire out" should work. If you're blowing a fuse when connecting to it, then you have a wiring issue (Something is connected incorrectly, a wire is grounding that shouldn't be, etc). A little detective work is needed to fix the issue. Without powering the regulator, you won't be charging your bike.

Good luck!

 

[Moonshiner]

Thanks guys..... all this helps... Yes, no wiring harness. I’m literally looking at the brown wire going into the regulator, connecting it straight to the switch, and as soon as I turn it on, the fuse blows.. let me ask this, with all stock components on a 76 do I need to unground the brushes like I see a lot of post talking about???i don’t think I need to but...?? The only thing I may have screwed up with is that I have ran all black wires to a ground..(one from stator,regulator, rectifier).. thanks again for any help

 

[Brassneck]

It's going to be really hard to give advise on this issue without knowing what you currently have vs. don't have...so perhaps if you could draw up a wiring diagram of what YOUR set up looks like, that may help. Are you using the stock ignition switch?

If you are running stock charging components, and you haven't messed with the brushes, stator, regulator, rectifier then there is no reason to touch the brushes nor their grounding... the only reason you'd be messing with the ground/unground of those is if you moved to a later model stator and/or combined regulator/rectifier. But, if things got rewired, who knows?

Sorry, not much of a help...but as mentioned, draw us a diagram of exactly what you have, and that will help us help you.

Good luck

 

[Moonshiner]

Ok best I could do on short notice.. ha. Anyways not using stock switch.. it’s just a normal ignition switch like that would be in a vehicle..

 

[Brassneck]

Hmmm...looking at your drawing, on your stator/alternator your show a green wire, black wire, and three white. But I don't see a yellow? I believe the yellow is powered from the safety relay, if you're grounding it, or not using it...perhaps that's the problem?

 

[littlebill31]

The red from the rectifier should go straight to the battery. This is the DC power to charge it.
Not sure if having it run through the ignition switch would cause a short.

 

[Moonshiner]

Yea the yellow wire is just capped off... didn’t feel a need to draw it.. I will try hooking the rec. straight to the battery and see if that helps... other than that it’s pretty straight forward.. I was just curious if it was one of those stupid things that someone else has already been through... thanks a lot for the replies

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Another drawing that may help.
Charging circuit for 70-79.

The colored numbers are the nominal resistances, in ohms, should you choose to check them.

Might also want to check your brush block.

The black (ground) is the upper wire lug.
The bottom (green) is the lower wire lug.
Be sure that the green isn't grounded...