Voltage Regulator/Rectifier Question

I have a 1981 Kawasaki KZ 750 4 Cylinder. When I got the Bike the Wiring Harnes was fried to a crisp. I have rewired the Bike and purchased a new Voltage Regulator from Z1 Enterprises. I got the Bike started last night and the battery appears to be charging between 12.8v and 13.1V on my volt meter while the Bike is idleing. I am trying to keep the Bike as bare bones as I can with as minimal wiring as possible. I did not hook up the brown wire coming off of the Voltage Regulator to any thing but the Regulator seems to be working. What is the Brown Wire for? If I do not hook it up will this affect the charging system or rideability of the Bike? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

The brown wire prevents the system from overcharging. Leave it un-connected and everything will fry eventually.

The brown wire on the regulator is what the regulator uses to sense battery voltage. It should be connected to a switched 12v wire. That is, a wire which only has battery voltage on it when the ignition switch is turned on.

So I need to connect the brown wire to a keyed Ignition source that is "hot" only when the key is turned on? What does the brown wire do? Does it sense full charge and tell the regulator to stop sending charge to the battery?

Thanks for the Advice

The voltage regulator outputs current when the battery voltage is below an average level somewhere around 14v to 14.4v. If the average battery voltage goes above that, the regulator shunts alternator current to ground. The brown wire is what the regulator uses to sense battery voltage. If it is left un-connected, the regulator puts out full power all the time.

The reason it is switched, and not just hardwired to the battery, is because the brown wire uses a little bit of current and would slowly drain the battery if it was connected all the time.

Incidently, some regulator designs use the output wire to sense the battery voltage, so they have no brown wire.

Thanks for all of the advice. The charging system seems to be working fine now. This Forum is great.

Glad it's working! cool looking bike on your avatar