Kaos
Scoot Enthusiast
Posts: 185
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Post by Kaos on Aug 13, 2023 21:46:03 GMT -5
Well mixed results but I’m getting somewhere at least. With the pwr and ground from the regulator disconnected, it’s putting out basically 5 volts…4.98 to be exact and it doesn’t seem to matter what rpm. Now, since my engine/cdi/regulator isn’t wired into the bikes harness directly anymore (just the regs output to the battery), the bikes kill switch and key switch don’t affect on it’s running. I still need to switch the key on cause the starter is still tied in the harness as they come oem. So while testing, and this is with the regulator still hooked to the battery, I happened to switch off the key. This effectively disconnects any load from the engine/charging system. When I do that the battery jumps up to a little over 13 volts. Soon as I switch the key back on and the lights are engaged, battery voltage plummets. It’s like the battery has a dead cell maybe (it will test ok voltage just sitting but I always throw a jump pack on it when I crank it over just out of habit knowing that this has charging issues??? Doesn’t explain the low output from the regulator unless that’s normal for them when “unloaded” (outputs unhooked)  Ok, well that's getting somewhere. a bit over 13 volts is functioning... 13.2-13.5 or so is where they usually run. That means at least your stator and regulator are functioning. Dropping to 4.98 volts isn't normal though. That means there's either a bad cell in the battery as you surmised or there's a grounded circuit in the wiring harness somewhere. Its progress, but now you've got to go test a buncha other stuff  Can you turn on the loads without starting the bike? If so turn on the loads with the regulator disconnected and see if the battery immediately plummets. If it does, remove the battery and place a load directly on the battery without the bike (Hook a headlight bulb or something to it directly) and see what the battery does. That should isolate which side of the bike wiring is your gremlin. |
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Post by dragzooks on Aug 24, 2023 23:18:26 GMT -5
Well I think I finally figured it out. I was digging around deep for info on rectifiers and stumbled across a post on another scooter board with a guy explaining rectifiers half wave /full wave stuff pretty in depth. He eventually went on to explain the oem charging system on these mixed ac/dc systems where the lights run off ac power and that’s where I found it. It hit me like a brick. What I thought was the ground output wire on the little white squarish plug rectifier regulators is actually AC common output to everything that runs off AC power. Kinda like the white wire in household 110ac is the common and black is hot. So basically the rectifiers 4 wires are this—-
1 yellow (ac phase) from stator
2 white. (ac phase) from stator
3 red +12 volts output to battery
4 green ac common (not used in my case cause Kymco is all dc bike)
Soon as I disconnected that common (what I had thought was ground and ran to battery) the voltage at the battery jumped up like 13.5 idling
So this is working for me. The explanation may not be 100% correct but with what I know of AC it would make sense, that scooters with headlights and such powered off AC would need a hot wire going to one side of the bulb (yellow off stator, color might change in harness but that’s it’s source) and the other side needs a common to return (not a ground as in 12 volts dc) and that’s the green of rectifier. Basically everything ac forms a loop with the yellow from the stator it’s hot ouput/source and green it’s “common” or return if you will, to the rectifier/regulator. If you just ran the other side of the bulbs to ground you’d be mixing up the ac and dc systems.
I don’t know if this jives with what anyone else has found out but remember mine is sort of unique. I totally have rewired the engine/cdi/regulator to standalone from the scooters wiring harness. The only connection to bike is the red wire off the rectifier/regulator going to battery positive thru a fuse. Take that back, killswitch is hooked to key switch to shut off engine too (grounds cdi kill wire ! At any rate I’ve ridden it for a week now and haven’t had any trouble with the battery dieing or not starting it!
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Kaos
Scoot Enthusiast
Posts: 185
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Post by Kaos on Aug 28, 2023 19:06:52 GMT -5
Well I think I finally figured it out. I was digging around deep for info on rectifiers and stumbled across a post on another scooter board with a guy explaining rectifiers half wave /full wave stuff pretty in depth. He eventually went on to explain the oem charging system on these mixed ac/dc systems where the lights run off ac power and that’s where I found it. It hit me like a brick. What I thought was the ground output wire on the little white squarish plug rectifier regulators is actually AC common output to everything that runs off AC power. Kinda like the white wire in household 110ac is the common and black is hot. So basically the rectifiers 4 wires are this—- 1 yellow (ac phase) from stator 2 white. (ac phase) from stator 3 red +12 volts output to battery 4 green ac common (not used in my case cause Kymco is all dc bike) Soon as I disconnected that common (what I had thought was ground and ran to battery) the voltage at the battery jumped up like 13.5 idling So this is working for me. The explanation may not be 100% correct but with what I know of AC it would make sense, that scooters with headlights and such powered off AC would need a hot wire going to one side of the bulb (yellow off stator, color might change in harness but that’s it’s source) and the other side needs a common to return (not a ground as in 12 volts dc) and that’s the green of rectifier. Basically everything ac forms a loop with the yellow from the stator it’s hot ouput/source and green it’s “common” or return if you will, to the rectifier/regulator. If you just ran the other side of the bulbs to ground you’d be mixing up the ac and dc systems. I don’t know if this jives with what anyone else has found out but remember mine is sort of unique. I totally have rewired the engine/cdi/regulator to standalone from the scooters wiring harness. The only connection to bike is the red wire off the rectifier/regulator going to battery positive thru a fuse. Take that back, killswitch is hooked to key switch to shut off engine too (grounds cdi kill wire ! At any rate I’ve ridden it for a week now and haven’t had any trouble with the battery dieing or not starting it! Ohh! That *DOES* make sense! I guess my brain was stuck in DC mode, totally forgot about an AC common! Glad you got it sorted, and thats good info to have archived here incase someone else is doing something strange one day and needs it. |
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