Rewound Alternator Rotor gouges, trouble shooting charging system.

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There will be some drop. It's a long wire carrying a load, the rotor winding draws 27 watts the coils and taillight are on that circuit too. so maybe 5 amps total.

So without turning the key on it’s at 12.5 V. When I turn the key on it goes to 0.29, so is this 0.29 my drop??
When testing OEM solid state rectifier/regulators by plugging several into the harness of one bike and checking output at 3,000RPM I would find outputs ranged from ~ 13.5 to ~14.8 volts on different "working" regulators.
When testing OEM solid state rectifier/regulators by plugging several into the harness of one bike and checking output at 3,000RPM I would find outputs ranged from ~ 13.5 to ~14.8 volts on different "working" regulators.
When testing OEM solid state rectifier/regulators by plugging several into the harness of one bike and checking output at 3,000RPM I would find outputs ranged from ~ 13.5 to ~14.8 volts on different "working" regulators.
When testing OEM solid state rectifier/regulators by plugging several into the harness of one bike and checking output at 3,000RPM I would find outputs ranged from ~ 13.5 to ~14.8 volts on different "working" regulators.

Ok so are you insinuating that my regulator and harness is fine then by all the test results i just sent you?? Also is the 0.29 result i got from the ignition switch test considered my drop OR is the drop calculated by subtracting the 12.5 which is simple battery voltage from the voltage at the brown wire which is my case equated to 0.58…..WHICH is the drop? .29 or .58?? And is this okay?
 

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Note for the Future: When I had problems with my electrics the issues were due to poor contacts inside the ignition switch. Cleaning the contacts got the voltage drop through the ignition switch down from 0.8V to approximately 0.1V. Should you need to clean the ignition switch then please take several photos so you can put it back together in the correct order.
 
.28 is the drop across the ignition terminals the rest of the drop comes from the wire itself and other connectors along the way. There are no "Perfect" conductors, every connection, length of wire, has SOME resistance, creating SOME voltage drop. You numbers aren't "terrible" you just want everything to be "as good as it can be" hence; clean contacts in switches and connectors". Dirt and corrosion increase the voltage drops, especially under high loads. Try the jumper; battery to brown at regulator, see what the output is, if it's still high the regulator is out of spec. Can't remember for sure but 18 volts unregulated seems like more than the XS will output. shrug.
 
.28 is the drop across the ignition terminals the rest of the drop comes from the wire itself and other connectors along the way. There are no "Perfect" conductors, every connection, length of wire, has SOME resistance, creating SOME voltage drop. You numbers aren't "terrible" you just want everything to be "as good as it can be" hence; clean contacts in switches and connectors". Dirt and corrosion increase the voltage drops, especially under high loads. Try the jumper; battery to brown at regulator, see what the output is, if it's still high the regulator is out of spec. Can't remember for sure but 18 volts unregulated seems like more than the XS will output. shrug.


So check this red wire bullet connector out. At one point I guess I got too hot and the insulation or the clear vinyl melted but it doesn’t appear to be affecting anything. Should I cut it off with a razor blade and just wrap it with electrical tape? Everything looks clean. It doesn’t look burnt or anything inside the female, nor is the outside of the male burnt or anything.
 

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So check this red wire bullet connector out. At one point I guess I got too hot and the insulation or the clear vinyl melted but it doesn’t appear to be affecting anything. Should I cut it off with a razor blade and just wrap it with electrical tape? Everything looks clean. It doesn’t look burnt or anything inside the female, nor is the outside of the male burnt or anything.
Looks like a sign of past heating from a loose fit or corrosion. if you get the metal clean shiny and carefully squeeze the female to create a tight but still round fit, use dielectric grease, should be fine, the black on the plastic is just aesthetic.
 
Looks like a sign of past heating from a loose fit or corrosion. if you get the metal clean shiny and carefully squeeze the female to create a tight but still round fit, use dielectric grease, should be fine, the black on the plastic is just aesthetic.

Yeah, no need to mess with it if it’s just aesthetic. The bullet snaps in there beautifully and very snug. I just didn’t know if this may be causing some drop… I mean at this point my friend I guess we’ve done everything. The system is charging and we know what the voltage drop is. It’s not perfect but as you say it’s not horrible either. What would get the drop a little bit lower than what where I am now, a whole new harness pretty much?? of course other than cleaning inside the switch, which I haven’t done yet. That may be fine as well. Haven’t checked. I took it out this morning and it looks like a pain in the ass to take apart.
 
I've gotta say; Seems like you have learned a lot in the last few daze.
This electric is pretty simple you just need to break it down, check one thing at a time, look at, check EVERYTHING in the circuit when there is a problem.
 
I've gotta say; Seems like you have learned a lot in the last few daze.
This electric is pretty simple you just need to break it down, check one thing at a time, look at, check EVERYTHING in the circuit when there is a problem.

My main issue was I had not even electrics 101 understood. I didn’t even realize that the other probe on a voltmeter completes the circuit lol.
 
Jeeze; here's a thought;
MAYBE if you cleaned the contacts in the ignition switch??? :sneaky:
:laugh2:

I was actually editing that message because I knew you were gonna say that again lol I actually said what would get my voltage drop lower other than inspecting the ignition switch and potentially cleaning it out, but you beat me to it…. I turn the regulator up about a quarter turn earlier, but now that we see where the drop is, maybe I should turn it back down a tad. Because we know that my drop is .58 so when I’m seeing 14.5 on the bike, that is actually over 15 which is not good. The max I wanna see on the meter is probably 14.1or 14.2 I would think. Right???
 
Over time metal connectors slowly form an oxide coating due to reaction with oxygen in the air. The oxide coating leads to a resistance in the connector. gggGary mentioned about getting the connectors shiny. The reason is shiny means the oxide layer has been removed so you have the best chance of producing a connection free from resistance and voltage drop.

I have a small tin of Dielectric Silicone Grease and after cleaning a contact I wipe some on. This will slow down the process of oxide formation and corrosion in the future. The term "dielectric grease" just means a non-conductive grease. Often these greases are referred to as "Tune-up Dielectric Grease" or "Dielectric Tune-up Grease". Permatex makes such a product.

Inside the ignition switch is a brass plate that makes the electrical contacts. Cleaning this with steel wool until shiny and then coating with silicine grease with remove almost all voltage drop across the switch. I was a non-believer until a cleaned my ignition switch and saw the voltage drop go down to approximately 0.1V.
 
Magic Numbers like 14.2V. The automotive 12V battery is more of a 12.8V battery. Charging these batteries efficiently needs a higher voltage, in fact the higher the voltage the faster they charge. But there is a secondary issue! As the voltage increases so does the speed at which the water in the battery is decomposed to hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis. Water is a necessary part of the chemical process in an automotive battery. The optimum recharging voltage is usually quoted to be 14.2V where the charge rate is fast and the loss of water due to electrolysis is slow.

Often you see warnings to top-up a battery regularly with distilled water. This is to replace the water lost due to electrolysis. Charging at above 14.2V requires closer monitoring of the water level. Not all automotive batteries can be topped up nowadays as it is assumed modern electronic regulators will keep the charging voltage within 0.2V of that magic 14.2V such that topping-up is not necessary. In the old days with mechanical voltage regulators topping-up with water was a weekly/fortnightly event depending on how much the vehicle was used.

A knock on effect of 14.2V is that the vehicle electrical system works at 14.2V when the engine is running so all electrical devices must function well over a range of voltages up to about 15V.

Try to get your charging voltage down close to 14.2 Volts. It can help extend your battery life.
 
Over time metal connectors slowly form an oxide coating due to reaction with oxygen in the air. The oxide coating leads to a resistance in the connector. gggGary mentioned about getting the connectors shiny. The reason is shiny means the oxide layer has been removed so you have the best chance of producing a connection free from resistance and voltage drop.

I have a small tin of Dielectric Silicone Grease and after cleaning a contact I wipe some on. This will slow down the process of oxide formation and corrosion in the future. The term "dielectric grease" just means a non-conductive grease. Often these greases are referred to as "Tune-up Dielectric Grease" or "Dielectric Tune-up Grease". Permatex makes such a product.

Inside the ignition switch is a brass plate that makes the electrical contacts. Cleaning this with steel wool until shiny and then coating with silicine grease with remove almost all voltage drop across the switch. I was a non-believer until a cleaned my ignition switch and saw the voltage drop go down to approximately 0.1V.

Thanks man, I’m on the switch job as soon as possible
 
I forgot to add in my last message, my voltage drop at the switch is only like .28, so like a quarter volt. The total drop at the brown wire I think was .59 which is still pretty low. So it’s like do I wanna tackle this ignition switch job or just turn the voltage down on the regulator and deal with a half a volt drop which isn’t huge.
 
Back a little you showed a Red wire with signs it had been getting hot. I assume this wire takes the power to the ignition switch. Make sure this bullet connector is clean and presses together tightly. If it's a little loose then compress the female connector a bit tighter before inserting the male connector. Also check the Brown wire connector from the switch is clean and tight. This brown wire is the one that passes the voltage information to the regulator.

There are two other connectors on the Red wire to check. One where the Red wire connects to the rectifier output and the other where it connects to the battery. I have in the past seen an approximately 0.4V drop on the bullet connector where the battery connects to the Red wire. Make sure the connectors are clean and tight. Also check the fuse for tightness.

When you feel happy that the voltage drops are under control it is time to reset the regulator. With the engine at 2500 rpm the voltage measured across the battery terminals should be between 14.5V and 15.0V for the mechanical regulator. If you increase the rpm further the voltage should stay within these voltage limits.

Personally I would try to set the regulator closer to 14.5V than to 15.0V, but that's my flavor of things... :hump:
 
I forgot to add in my last message, my voltage drop at the switch is only like .28, so like a quarter volt. The total drop at the brown wire I think was .59 which is still pretty low. So it’s like do I wanna tackle this ignition switch job or just turn the voltage down on the regulator and deal with a half a volt drop which isn’t huge.
As to whether or not you tackle the voltage drops is totally up to you. As for me, I prefer the certainty of knowing that things are as they should be. Then if I run into an issue later on I know where my towel's at.
 
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