TOPIC:

Finnally got the bike to run on all cylinders, but its not charging. i havent gone through the elect. checks yet per the manual. Ive also had the battery drain with igntion off.
Could the regulator drain the bat. when power is not supplied. Its gone dead twice had to replace it after the first time, it was a week old.

I'm not sure if I sent this to you in the past, but it's a good electrical troubleshooting guide:

The Dreaded Shorting/Intermittent Electrical Problem!


Here is the most basic method I know(Taken from www.kzrider.com by member Patton)

1. Charge your battery and have it load tested if you can. The floating ball hydrometer can be used to check the specific gravity of the charged cells in the battery.

2. Disconnect the Black lead from the (-) Battery terminal... or Red from the (+) Battery terminal, it does not matter which one.

3. Connect one of the following test setups in series with the Battery terminal and lead:
3.1 A 12 V light bulb,
3.2 A 12 V test light,
3.3 A 12 V test buzzer or,
3.4 A 12 V horn... you get the idea.

4. With the Ignition Switch OFF, go through your harness and wiggle the wires while looking/listening for the test setup to go on/start buzzing.

5.With the Ignition Switch ON, repeat the test except this time the looking/listening for the test setup to go off/stop buzzing.

6. Be prepared to open the Ignition switch and check/test for solder joint failure and or circuit board micro breaks (don't ask how I know this ).

7. Be prepared to pull the wires out of the Head Light to test for failures at or near the grommet.

8. Be prepared to open the harness at or near the Steering Neck for failures. This is where wires tend to exhibit fatigue due to repetitive movement.

9. Be prepared to open the left and right switch gear to search for rust and or broken parts. CAUTION: watch out for flying springs, ball bearings and stuff. Do indoors on White sheet (again don't ask ).

10. Be prepared to follow the heavy gauge wire from the Starter Solenoid (Relay) to the starter for bare wire exposure. Especially near bends and grommets.

11. If you can reproduce the fault symptom your are pretty much home free. Be prepare to find and repair/replace any internal wire breaks, insulation break downs, exposed wires, rubber grommet failures, etc. Often, shrink tubing will solve the problem temporarily until something better can be done.

12. I use a very good electrical contact cleaner/preservative called De-oxit made by Caig Labs in San Diego Ca. Their website is www.deoxit.com It can be purchased at Radio Shack and any other electronic supply store. I use it on all of my motorcycle’s electrical connectors , in my home entertainment center’s stereo patch cords and cordless phones charging cradles.

Good info will try a few of those tests. question still stands, could the regulator drain the bat. with no supllied power. The bat was new 1.5 months ago, bike wasnt running on all jugs till recently (no plates or insurance). This bike has been stored for 14 years just bring it back to life, it ran fine when parked (kids) no elec. issues. I will try testing this weekend whether here is miserable
94 degrees and 78 degree dew point

Possible yes, likely.... Hmmm, hard to say for other variables such as ignition switch, shorted rectifier diodes etc... would come into play as well...

Without additional info/t-shooting/measurements... best guess your problem is elsewhere... Follow the next post electrical tests and get back to us with the resulting data....

Maybe this will help....

OMR

1976 KZ900 Electrical Testing....

Well I did some checks today and the numbers arent great.
Batt voltage 12.17
Running at 4000 rpms 11.97 Should be 15
Running with regulator unplugged 11.97 Should be 15-20
I have a newer rectifier so the checks are alittle confusing so I didnt do them yet.
Pic of the rectifier

Your picture is of the older configuration Kawasaki used for a while. I beleive it was replaced by the combo units sealed together as a regulator/rectifier.

I'd contact www.electrosport.com and see what they say about replacing the older unit.

I understand that the solder joints were prone to break from vibration.Several bike fires have happened due to this design.

I have the same rectifier (open case design) on my 78 1000... Presently using it on my KZ900 (same part numbering).... In my case, blew open two of the diodes in one of the phases off the Dynamo...

Figured since this is a direct contact with the regulator and for the fact that I'll need this rectifier back for my 1000, order new combo unit...

Sure, discussed with Loudvhx about building my own rectifier which would be easy enough to do but.... Regulator is 30 years old as well so new it is.... Don't want to take a chance of ruining a Dynamo/stator....

Z1 has the combo rectifier/regulator units.... Just in case you find you require....
www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1873


Don't know if your DVM has diode checking, use it in forward and reverse biased testing... Should show continuity in forward bias only, infinite in reverse bias.

Forward bias: Black DVM test lead on cathode, Red lead on anode. Show continuity.

Reverse bias: Red DVM test lead on cathode, Black lead on anode. Show infinite.

Then do the same test using resistance mode.... This time though leave the leads in place for a couple of seconds during reverse bias testing... It may show infinite as expected but after a couple of seconds it starts to break down thus Leaking!!!! Diodes should only conduct in one direction....

Have seen this many times especially in power designed rectification diodes in 23 years of electronics engineering...

Well I figured it out and now its fine
We need a dunce cap emoticon
I had the ground wire for the rectifier on the positive bat post Dumba$$. Of course I tore it down 2 1/2 years ago.
So we have an answer for this post. Thanks to all who responded