New to fixing my motorbike (electrical problems)

[AndyDucati]

Hello guys and gals. My bike is an 03 and low beam burnt out so I rode around for a month with the high waiting for bulbs. My charging system weakens so I order new from celtic. Ran out of time so I only swap the regulator and ride to work. Cook my battery the acids ruins the chain so I have chain and sprockets now too.I have the new stator installed. But I was getting a dim light below 4k rpm. I put a lowbeam in and it blows that same day cooking the battery. Can't figure out how to get to the next step so I've been banging her til I figure it out. Heading home Sunday morning my highbeam quits on me too. I can't figure out the charging system spike. Will somebody point me in the right direction. I have a voltmeter. Just don't know how to do this.

 

[AndyDucati]

I have the new charging system in place but the lights were still dim and brightening after 4k. So I have been babying her. I'm really just looking for where I can find directions on how to test the electrical for the headlights and the charging system.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Its frustrating, I just went through this. Lets start with the simple things. A couple of things before we start the diagnosis and forgive me if you know these already. Everybody with a lead acid dinky battery in their bike needs a trickle charger. Your battery loses (so they say, and I believe it) 1% of its charge daily just sitting. With a rinky dink battery and such small cells, this isnt hard to believe. If you let your bike sit for a while, your drained battery will die. And your stator setup with a stock stator and regulator is not as efficient as a belt driven car alternator with a big beefy battery. So, without a gauge to see your volts while driving, its kinda a pain in the ass isnt it?
Grounds. Check your battery ground. Is there any corrosion? Where it bolts to the starter is it loose/corroded? In your harness, you wouldnt believe the ground branch that the factory put in the gen 1s. It is a bit further down from your ecu towards the front of the bike. Remove the wrapping and you will find that the factory put in a crimp, yes an uninsulated crimp where the grounds come together. This is bundled amongst the harness with all the other insulated wires. Rocket scientists will tell you that this very well could lead to vibration causing the bulky crimp to erode the insulation on the surrounding wires. Or a ground could come loose within that crimp. Its not soldered. Are your battery cables TIGHT. They need to be TIGHT. Not screwdriver tight. When you put the screws on , use a socket.Not tight enough to strip the thing but TIGHT. If you can use force with your hand and move anything connected to the battery, it isnt tight.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Take a voltmeter, with ign off, test the voltage across the battery. What does it read? Turn the ign on, what does it read? Start the bike and let idle in neutral, what does it read? Rev to 5k, what does it read? You may need a buddy for that. Take those readings and lets start from there.

 

[Kevin Jones]

I have suspicions but lets do this properly. The purpose of the stator is to attempt to keep your battery charged via rotating magnets and complex stuff which creates voltage and current. It is not a smart stator. It does not adjust your idle to keep the V or C constant, it doesnt back off the V or C when you are in the revs. It is in fact still in an alternating current state coming from your stator until it meets the regulator. Your regulator has a big job. It not only changes AC to DC but has gates that open to attempt to make your V and C stay within limits. This is going on constantly creating tons of heat in the process. No company tests these on a bike to ensure they meet QC standards so as big a job as the regulator/rectifier has, it makes sense that quite a few duds are sold. My suspicion is the new one that you have is not regulating anything causing your bulbs to go out (fuses should intervene, we need to check that as well). Lets just see what the V tests that I gave you come up with. Please please ensure the battery is in 100% charged state before testing or we will not have accurate data.

 

[AndyDucati]

Thanks Kevin. I charged the battery, checked the grounds. Tested the voltage and it goes to 18 so regulator is bad. I will be ordering a new one soon. I hear good things about Ricks but can I just use their regulator and my stator? I really don't see why not. Next how do I test the fuses to figure out why they are not blowing.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Youve got to fix that regulator and thank goodness it is a simple diagnosis. Lets get that and worry about whether it is blowing fuses after that. Phew! Good stuff. Usually this is much harder to find the problem but you found it. Yes, go with Rick's regulator. I think your stator is fine, it is putting out 18v so its working fine. Rick's regulator has a design that runs a little cooler and it is barely more than what you would pay for an oem if that.

 

[AndyDucati]

The hotshot! Does that need anything special or its plug and go?

 

[Kevin Jones]

Plug and go.