no headlights on my dongfang

[ludlow6]

Howdy all,

I purchased a used dongfang 50cc reverse trike. Bike has 450 miles on it. starts and runs fine. problem is no headlights and charging system not working. I included a picture of the stator. I replaced the regulator with a known good one. I replaced the stator with a new  stator but the wiring was different and it would not start so i replaced the original. What should I be checking next.
Thanks in advance
Jim

[FrankenMech]

The headlights will only operate when the engine is running. I have one of the DongFang reverse trikes also. There are service manuals available here that cover the scoot well enough to be useful. The engine setup is basic but the timing pulse runs through some RPM limiters for the steering lock etc. You will have to trace those wires out.

There should be a yellow, white, and green/ground wire off the stator. As well as an AC power lead for the CDI and a timing pulse for the CDI. Some years may just use the engine ground for the stator ground. The stator you show does not appear to have the ground wire so it must ground the coils on the engine. If the engine is not grounded to the frame the headlights may not work.

[GrumpyUnk]

One thing to NOT do is connect/disconnect the regulator while the engine is running. The regulator will get confused(as if) and may let 60v into the headlight bulb. POP. New bulb time. Did that. once. Pretty sure the regulator limits the voltage fed to the headlight...
One thing I noted about working on one of these is that the switches seem to be very susceptible to corrosion, as if they were not meant to be left out when stored. That and trying to match the wiring to something close made trouble shooting 'interesting'.
The machine also has a pump to deliver fuel from the low mounted tank, so you better have a good battery if you let it sit for a while.
When the engine starts, you should be able to measure voltage at the connectors on the headlight bulb socket. There should be two 'hot' wires, and one ground. One each for high and low beam. You should have power no matter which position the Hi/Lo switch is in. If no voltage at the socket, check for voltage on the wires that go to the Hi/Lo switch. It should have one hot wire that is switched between the two bulb filaments. Again, check the voltage before taking things apart as a bad bulb or bad ground can make operation fun to puzzle out.
Frank has it for the stator. Most times, a stator does exacly that, stay still, static, not in motion. The only things that happen to them are one of two(I think): The insulation on the winding gets damaged causing failure, mostly by vibration of the wires slowly grinding through the lacquer. Second thing is they get overloaded via overloads, burning the insulation, and causing shorts... Possibly causing the wires to break.
If you cannot see a break or burnt(turns black/very dark brown) insulation, check the leads for short to ground or to each other. There should be some ohms. See a manual for values. The yellow/white produce AC that is fed to the regulator/rectifier. The CDI power should be 60-70-ish volts AC, and the CDI trigger should be lower voltage, but visible if you use a LED to check for 'flicker' from other posts on site.
Both are pretty reliable and don't cause a lot of problems form what I understand. The most problematic things are the carburetor and valve adjustment. And, if that's not the case, someone will point that out.
tom

[FrankenMech]

The headlight bulbs are halogen so a stray fingerprint will destroy them.