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More Electrical Problems . . .

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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Thanks to everyone who has helped me thus far - especially you, Earl. I now have a new stator (and it works!) and a new voltage regulator/rectifier (and it too works!! Earl made me check 'em, cause sometimes new doesn't equal good) . . . until I plug in the fuse for my headlight circuit. The battery gets a real good charge (wohoo!!) while running without that fuse. After she's back in, the battery voltage drops to about 12.3. So now I am thinking that something else went bad, or shorted, in the headlight circuit and that was what made my stator & RR go bad. Is this possible? My bike's got a fairing on it and I suspect it is the wiring in there that is bad. When I leave the fuse in but disconnect the electrical plug that goes into the fairing, the battery voltage is good.

Another strange thing I noticed while going through the fuses was that my turn signals didn't work unless the headlight fuse was in place as well. Is this normal or did the guy before me jag it up? Oh well, at least I am making progress... I want to ride. Summer in Wisconsin is almost over.
 
Replace the fuse and unhook the headlight. If the problem persists keep unplugging lights untill it corrects.

Note that at idle with the headlight on the voltage on the battery will go down. The stator is not good at low speed output. At 2000 rpm you should be at 13.8 + SO if it still is 12.3 volts at 2500 rpm then you really do have a problem.
 
With the headlight on, the voltage never exceeds 12.3vdc. Even at 5000+ rpm. Is it normal for my directional lights not working unless the headlight fuse is in? Note that there is a seperate fuse for the signals.
 
The headlight and turn signals are normally on different circuits and fuses. I am guessing that your turn signals dont work because whatever the problem is with the headlight circuit, its resulting in a great enough voltage drop to keep the flasher from working and activating the signals. If overall system voltage is dropping, the signals and headlight wouldnt need to be on the same circuit for the signals to malfunction. Since voltage is fine up to the plug that connects the fairing to the main harness, it appears the problem is in the fairing wiring. I'm guessing the only wiring in the fairing is to the signals and headlight. I would just replace it all with new rather than spending time stripping old wires and trying to find the short.

Earl

chester said:
With the headlight on, the voltage never exceeds 12.3vdc. Even at 5000+ rpm. Is it normal for my directional lights not working unless the headlight fuse is in? Note that there is a seperate fuse for the signals.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Earl. Just to clarify - headlight fuse out, signal fuse in, signals don't work. With headlight and signal fuses in, signals work. Seems goofy. Replacing the wiring sounds like the easiest/best solution at this point.
 
Something is goofy with at wiring. :-) :-) Do the signals work with fuses in and the headlight turned off? Or, if you dont have an off switch for the headlight, with the sealed beam, bulb just unplugged?

Usually, the turn signals will be on the lighting circuit/fuse and the headlight will be on the main. I dont have a factory lettered headlight fuse position on either of my bikes fuse boxes.

Earl

chester said:
Thanks Earl. Just to clarify - headlight fuse out, signal fuse in, signals don't work. With headlight and signal fuses in, signals work. Seems goofy. Replacing the wiring sounds like the easiest/best solution at this point.
Click to expand...
 
I'll have to check that. I would venture to guess that the signals will work with the headlight bulb unplugged. I would also venture to say that the battery won't charge as well... I will check that tonight.

For my fuses, they are labeled as follows: 1) headlight, 2) signals, 3) main, 4) ignition, 5) aux power

So, in theory, the signals should work even without the headlight fuse. I do notice a slight noise by the flasher unit, but they don't flash. They do come on though.
 
Something has to be crosswired or shorted in that birdsnest. :-)

Earl

chester said:
I'll have to check that. I would venture to guess that the signals will work with the headlight bulb unplugged. I would also venture to say that the battery won't charge as well... I will check that tonight.

For my fuses, they are labeled as follows: 1) headlight, 2) signals, 3) main, 4) ignition, 5) aux power

So, in theory, the signals should work even without the headlight fuse. I do notice a slight noise by the flasher unit, but they don't flash. They do come on though.
Click to expand...
 
I dove inside my vetter fairing last night and I found a mess! The guy before really did a hoky job. Wires just twisted together and then taped. I pulled out all of the non-factory wiring and will replace later, as this wiring was for additional lights the guy before put on.

When I disconnect the headlight and have all fuses in, everything works good (except my headlight). I put an ohm meter across the headlight wires:
blk to wht = 0.07 ohms,
blk to yel = 0.02
yel to wht = 0.08

Also, when I go from each wire to the engine block:
wht to gnd = 0.04
yel to gnd = 0
blk to gnd = 0

Am I correct to think this is not normal? This would tell me I definitely have a short, right? Thanks again.
 
My first suspicion would be an internally shorting headlight plug. Its a standard 3 prong automotive plug available at any auto parts store. Its cheap, so I would replace that first so I could rule it out.

Earl


chester said:
I dove inside my vetter fairing last night and I found a mess! The guy before really did a hoky job. Wires just twisted together and then taped. I pulled out all of the non-factory wiring and will replace later, as this wiring was for additional lights the guy before put on.

When I disconnect the headlight and have all fuses in, everything works good (except my headlight). I put an ohm meter across the headlight wires:
blk to wht = 0.07 ohms,
blk to yel = 0.02
yel to wht = 0.08

Also, when I go from each wire to the engine block:
wht to gnd = 0.04
yel to gnd = 0
blk to gnd = 0

Am I correct to think this is not normal? This would tell me I definitely have a short, right? Thanks again.
Click to expand...
 
I did my first checks at the headlight plug, then moved down the line to the next connector, which is the one that goes into the fairing. I tested on the incoming side (eliminating the headlight side, cause it's disconnected) and got the same readings. It seems I'll have to keep working my way backwards. I was looking at the schematic this morning and now I am suspecting the hi / lo beam switch. The wht (for lo beam) and the yel (for hi beam) go into it. I would think that they are shorting out in the same place, and it looks like the hi/lo switch is the only place they go together (besides the bulb connector, but that's not connected now). Which, if the switch was shorting out, it could cause both to go to gnd. And the blk wire is the gnd wire, hence all three gnd out.

Have you ever heard of a short that doesn't blow the fuse or the headlight? Seems odd to me. Does it sound like I'm on the right track?
 
I guess it could be corrosion build up thats increasing resistance but not a full fledged, hot short to ground. Your guess is probably better than mine. :-)

Earl


chester said:
Have you ever heard of a short that doesn't blow the fuse or the headlight? Seems odd to me. Does it sound like I'm on the right track?
Click to expand...
 
I doubt my guess is better than yours. You are quite the knowledgeable guy and I can barely spell it, if even that. If it's corrosion build up, would that explain why it is ok without the bulb? No current being forced thru the bad wires? As you can tell, I don't know too much about this....I would have always thought that a short is a short.....bulb or no bulb I would have thought it just wouldn't work either way. When I say work, I mean getting a decent charge to the battery.
 
No bulb, no load/flow.

Earl

chester said:
I doubt my guess is better than yours. You are quite the knowledgeable guy and I can barely spell it, if even that. If it's corrosion build up, would that explain why it is ok without the bulb? No current being forced thru the bad wires? As you can tell, I don't know too much about this....I would have always thought that a short is a short.....bulb or no bulb I would have thought it just wouldn't work either way. When I say work, I mean getting a decent charge to the battery.
Click to expand...
 
I'm finally up and running!!! Wohoo!! Thanks to everyone that helped me out! :D

I decided to retrace all my steps. The first thing I did was the stator. So I drained the oil and starting pulling the new stator out. Upon further investigation, I found an intermittent short across each of the 3 yellow wires to ground. The first metal clip (by the windings) that holds the wires down and to the side of the cover was piercing the wires, causing them to short to ground. Once I fixed this, I was good to go!!!

Thanks again :!:
 
excellent job! too many people get into shotgun maintnance where they just order and replace parts but you have to keep your eyes open. These are old bikes and unusual problems will occur. Saved you the cost of a new stator.
 
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