Pls help! Bulbs blowing and overcharging..

[1quikvento]

:help: Okay- Ive been following another members thread about his bulb issues. Like him, I am having problems with my 2004 vento triton R4 blowing bulbs/overcharging. This is the first 2-wheeled motorized vehicle I have ever owned and so far I havent been able to take it out for its intended purpose. Im not completely dumb when it comes to diagnostics. Ive been an auto mechanic for 12 yrs or so, but I gotta admit that perhaps my weakest area is electrical issues. Strangely enough that only a handful of cars I've diagnosed/ worked on had electrical problems and I happen to buy a used moped that ends up being riddled with them!!(Bought from my boss nonetheless!!)

So heres a little background info that will help you help me. The scoot has 1350-1400 miles on it.Boss said during purchase that it kick starts up fine-runs fine. That turns out to be true. Also said that one day he noticed smoke coming from what he thought was the digital clock area, so he simply removed that clock from the gauge panel-no biggie to me. Lastly that I would need a headlight bulb and tail bulb. Boy did I ever(been thru 3 of each so far).

I had to buy a battery for it cuz the one supplied would not take a charge. My diagnostic tester detected a short between plates(bad cell). I also had to replace ALL the light bulbs. Except for the ones in the gauge cluster, they were all blown. Got back home from my first trip out and the bulbs went out again. I made some calls, did a lil research and decided to try out a different voltage regulator/rectifier based on others' experience I've read about a combined piece of advice.

I dont know if it was used or new but it didnt help. next I removed 75% of all the fairings and body panels. I cut some zip ties to let the harness breathe some and fiddled with some connectors hoping there was a fault somewhere. And suddenly i made some progress- the bulbs would no longer get super bright and blow as rpm's picked up like before. But now my volt meter was telling me that the battery was being overcharged. I'd get an initial reading of 13v at the battery terminals and as I let it sit and idle, voltage would slowly creep to about 15.5v. And while opening the throttle say 50-75% I would get a reading of 17-19volts.
Next:
I picked up a used regulator from a local guy just for shits and giggles because after reading thru as many 49cc forums as i could find- the thing that stuck in my head most was SOOOOO many people say its hard to find a good reliable working regulator and that its one chinese part that has a high failure rate.

So my other regulator doesnt blow the bulbs anymore, but overcharges the battery. Can anyone guess what this new used one does?? ready?? It blows the f'in bulbs but charges the battery!!!

So Im out about 50 bucks in bulbs and I got an Andrew Jackson wrapped up in regulators. Can anyone offer me an explanation?

I read about people trying to switch the headlight power supply from ac to dc by taking the green/red wire from the regulator and undo that wire at the right headlight switch and tie it in to the red/white wire going to the horn which supplies 12vdc with ignition on. Sounded like a brilliant idea to me since supposedly it converts the taillight circuit to dc as well. Does anyone have good experience with this method?

And I came up with my own little idea to remedy the situation and I need someone out there to tell me if theoretically it will or will not work: I got two regulators. one overcharges and doesnt blow bulbs while the other charges well but blows bulbs. Would it work if I installed both regulators? What i have in mind is taking apart the plug and send the wires responsible for charging my battery to the one regulator that seems to charge ok, and run the other two wires to the regulator that keeps my bulbs in check? Two regulators-two wires running to each- both have their own job to do. ...

SO .. can anyone relate to my problem and/or help me out? Will my dueling regulator set up work? OHHH!!! I'd like to bring something up that might help someone out there that I dont see mentioned ANYWHERE!!! that is totally relevant when working with these regs/rectifiers. I wouldnt have known better- but the guy who sold me the used regulator told me that it absolutely had to be bolted to the frame so it grounds out in order to work correctly. True or not?

Help!!

[Goosey]

You need a new stator aka/solenoid , this is what is over charging the system, the regulator can't handle the overload, then maybe another new regulator since you seem to have blown through them.

[marshinman]

Gossey right on the money.
The coils that make up the stator are insulated and somewhere along the way some of the insulation has worn off allowing one or more wires to short which changes the output voltage of the stator.
More than likely with the increased voltage the rectifier has got hot and the material make up of the individual diodes in the rectifier is now jeopardized. Dont chance it replace the rectifier also.

[marshinman]

"the guy who sold me the used regulator told me that it absolutely had to be bolted to the frame so it grounds out in order to work correctly. True or not?"

This depends on the charging system and the type of rectifier you have. If the rectifier has four terminals coming out of it then no you dont need to bolt it to the frame although it would not hurt it. If it only has three wires then yes it does need to be ground or bolted to the frame.

[90GTVert]

The ones on the 1E40s don't need to be bolted down. I went through a lot of bulbs before finally doing this....
49ccscoot.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=igneleclight&action=display&thread=1795

It sounds like you may have one that's working properly though and it's a stator issue I guess. I'm like you, electronics are not my strong suit. You can probably make the one that doesn't charge work if necessary at some point with the link above.

[reveeen]

1) check your grounds.
2) a 5+ wire regulator doesn't need to be grounded, but a 4 wire does, make sure the case is securely bolted to ground.

For a regulator to work it needs to reference the output voltage (and adjust itself accordingly) if it isn't grounded it has no reference and can't work/work properly. If you notice the finned case, it needs some manner of air cooling (as the excess voltage is bled off as heat energy).

As has been noted elsewhere (on this site) there are a few types of 4 wire regulators, that all connect electrically differently, you MUST match the wires to the type, or it is never going to work/work properly.

[2strokd]

If you need your scooter to ride daily, you can unhook the stator and run it without for now to save on bulbs until you get it ironed out..
Might wanna unplug the headlight and ride in daylight only tho as it will drain the battery faster. :dunno:

[1quikvento]

Its early payday morning and thanks for the quick responses.Ive read verts post about the two wire swap three times or so and I will definately try that. Im still wondering though- if the two regulator set up will work or not. Yes i do have a 4 pin regulator, and its configuration is the same as in the post about the wire swap-around. _ _
_ _ pins like that

[1quikvento]

That didnt show up right. theres one on top of each other and one next to eachother- not four in a straight row.

[marshinman]

If you have a radioshack close by go and get one of these.

www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062584

Determine the two wires that come from the stator and this will be your AC output or input to the rectifier.
The other two wires on your plug are the DC output and hook them up according.
You will need to mount a heat sink on the rectifier and attache it to a metal area of the scoot to disperse the heat correctly.
A rectifier is nothing more than a 4 diodes connected together to create a bridge.