Not charging

Hey all, got my bike together, running, took a test ride.. Its an 82 kz550a3.. Ran ok, little "missy".. My problem is, its not charging. Only get 11.52v at any rpm.. What do i check, how do i check or should i just assume its the rec/reg?

Ok, one more question to add and some comments as well.. Battery was just bought a month and was charged for 24 hours before use, bringing the voltage up to 12.7-12.9. I admit, i havent checked the water level yet, i will do that when i get home.
Second, bike starts, runs, all lights,blinkers, brakelights etc work. I DO NOT have the ground the diagram shows coming from the negative term to frame ground, is there a possiblility this is the problem??

"I DO NOT have the ground the diagram shows coming from the negative term to frame ground, is there a possiblility this is the problem??".... YES!

OMR

Thanks.. Sorry if it was a stupid question, just re-learning how to work on bikes, plus electrics was never a strong point.. Thanks again..

The battery has to be connected in the electrical circuit for the motorcycle to function correctly. Most bikes and cars have a negative ground.

A 6-8 gauge wire from the negative battery terminal to one of the engine to frame mounting bolts is usually the way motorcyles are grounded. Any good automobile battery shop should be able to make up a ground cable for you. I'd call around and get prices.

A piece of welding cable will do fine as it is very flexible for tight areas. Two crimped on terminals for the ends of the cable(with the proper hole sizes) and the charging system should work.

Stopping on my way home for a ground cable.. Thanks again..

would running a bike with no grounds like that have any ill effects?

The battery acts like a surge tank for voltage/current variations and provides the starting current for the starter motor. If your bike does not have a kick start system how would you start it?(push start?)

With the battery out of the circuit any surge could fry/smoke electical parts(light bulbs, regulator-rectifier unit) and the gauges.

If you wanted to run a total loss system with no battery it might work but you'd have to recharge the battery at night or when you wern't riding.

V, was confused, so took a quick look at my kz650b schematic. according to it,there are 2 wires from batt. neg terminal. 1 heavy guage (bolts to eng. cases) and a piggy back wire of harness guage to wiring harness.the heavy cable is manditory for the current drawn by starter.the smaller wire provides direct ground to battery for wire harness.without it, unless there are additional harness to chassis grounds I'm not seeing on my schematic, the reg/rect isn't seeing the battery to charge it. (most bike harnesses have multiple chassis grounds, at coil mounts. taillight area,turnsignals etc, but I'm not seeing them.) hope this helps.G

Hello again people, been away from the computer for awhile, thanks for the replies. I did the neg battery terminal to frame, also had to strip the paint from the frame grounds. Using the test light, before i did this I couldnt get it to light positive terminal to the frame grounds, now it does, so i believe that part of its done. Still not charging, but that has to go on the back burner for now as a bigger problem arose.
Now the main fuse got so hot it actually melted part of the fuse box away, but didnt blow the fuse. And yes, its the right size fuse. Talked to a friend of mine, said its probably something in the charging system, disconnect and try again, see if it still gets hot. I will try that, but any other suggestions? Troubleshooting is not my field of expertise but once i know where to look im ok..

I have a '81 KZ550d1 (GPz) and my main fuse would get so hot it also melted the fuse box. The main fuse would fail quite often. I took apart every connection I could find in the wiring harness and cleaned every connection. Also cleaned the grounds to the engine and frame. This definately helped some, but my main fuse still runs hot, although it will last several thousand miles before it fails. At least the fuse box does not melt as much as it used to.

Robert

Robert. This may sound goofy, but, heat at your' main fuse,( a 20 A tube if I recall) is probly due to poor contact at fuse.be it corrosion on blades, lack of tension, or poor solder joint. an excess of current would pop fuse long before enough heat accumulated to melt housing. You might try this as a dio, simply tap into the wires feed ing main fuse and install an inline automotive type fuse assy. if prob goes away,shop ebay for a new fuse block, I'm not sure about your' GPZ, but is probly the same as my 550A1. Hope this helps G