Keep blowing headlights

I kinda like your logic/answer. If the voltage across the battery posts, at 2500rpm or so is not excessive, then the charge current should not be excessive. Battery internal resistance does not vary dramatically.

i have been trying to track down a multimeter. The bike has been apart all this week bc its spring break and i needed to put new bolts and gaskets in the motor. and now it has been raining for two days. the bike will be running on sat when my 3rd set of pod filters get here after order confusion.

The vibration thing def sounds like what is going on since it did the same thing with the old separate reg and rec and with the new combo unit. but I'll check with a multimeter once i find mine

The battery is good the bike will start on electric even after sitting all winter with fresh gas it started right up.

Radio Shack has them, Home Depot,Lowes,and Sears all carry Analog(the type with the needle) and Digital meters.

Do you find headlights attractive??? LOL:woohoo:

Than I guess I should get out of the battery engineering business. Lead Acid battery's have always been and always will be voltage sensitive and Amperage self regulating Just like Lithium, Ion or Polymer. Ni-Cad and Ni-MH are Amperage sensitive and voltage self regulating. Our firm has 45 engineers that work on this stuff day in and day out. They can't all be wrong. We deal with all the major battery manufacturers, and the battery charging guidelines are all the same. Besides a head light will consume only as many amps as it is designed for at a given voltage. Simple math V=IxR W=IxV. If your voltage goes up the Amperage goes up with it. once you exceed the rated Wattage of the bulb. POP.

Zacknhs wrote:

i have been trying to track down a multimeter. The bike has been apart all this week bc its spring break and i needed to put new bolts and gaskets in the motor. and now it has been raining for two days. the bike will be running on sat when my 3rd set of pod filters get here after order confusion.

The vibration thing def sounds like what is going on since it did the same thing with the old separate reg and rec and with the new combo unit. but I'll check with a multimeter once i find mine

The battery is good the bike will start on electric even after sitting all winter with fresh gas it started right up.

harbor freight.....cheap enough to buy two multimeters.......

hoghaterkaw wrote:

otakar wrote:

I agree, this would be a bad voltage regulator. Eventually this will also destroy your battery and can also blow your ignition. Change the voltage regulator. 14v across the battery terminals is ABSOLUTELY MAXIMUM. For me that is also a bit too high. Kawasaki states 14-15V. 14 makes me more comfortable. Charging voltage for a lead acid battery should not be more than 12% over rated voltage =13.44v.

i disagree with you, the charging amperage should not be more than 12% of the amperage rating of the battery. new cars have charging voltages that can exceed 14 volts. as to the the bulbs. many 12v bulbs can easily live at close to 17v+. you have resistance somewhere in the wiring. you have corrosion. first clean the battery terminals and their wire connects. then the positive wire from the battery where it connects to the fuse box and starter solenoid. next trace the neg. battery wire to where it connects to the motor cases and clean that connection. last locate the black wire from the rec/reg clean it and make a jumper wire to the neg. post of the battery from where the reg/rec ground is landed. that should reduce the high voltage. however you still need to go thru all the wiring and clean and snug up all the connections. now test the charging system output.

new cars have charging systems that regularly exceed 14 volts because those alternators are charging fog lites, stereos with factory subwoofers, rear defoggers, heated seats and electronics that the first apollo mission would be jealous of..


12v bulbs can live past 17v?.....i m sure engineers put in a plus or minus factor based on a percentage....+40% is o k....?.......

Need I say more.... Includes Tach & Dwell

EDIT: Harbor Freight Tools... Oops! Thanks Tony!

Old Man Rock wrote:

Need I say more.... Includes Tach & Dwell

How about where to purchase this multimeter.

Here is the basic rule of thumb as I know it. If you blow a light and it's black, to much amperage. Blow it and it's white, there was a crack or air leak. Blow it and its clear but the filament is cracked off then it's a vibration issue. Batteries can handle way more then 14 volts. but if you read anything over 15 then I would worry. A test you could do is test for DC at the headlight. it should be the same on high or low beam and pretty close to the same as the battery. I'd expect 14.5V at 4000 RPM's.

Try this it is foolproof. Kawasaki states 14-15V this will tell you and it's cheep. www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=65928
As stated before by the membership. a regular multimeter can be bought at Radio Shack, Harbor Freight, Sears, home Depot, Best Buy, any automotive supply store.

I would be concerned about any value above 14.4V and below 13.5V. Nominal automotive charging value is considered to be 13.8V which is a nominal charging value of 2.3 Volts per cell. 14.4V works out to 2.4 Volts per cell which is toward the high side, 20% over the static value of 2 Volts per cell.

Keep in mind that Kawasaki designed the charging system to not only recharge the battery but to adequately power the stock lighting and ignition systems while keeping the battery charged. In other words, the regulator needs a certain amount of electrical load to maintain around 14 Volts on the electrical system. If there isn't enough load the regulator allows the system to operate at a higher voltage and bad things like overcharging the battery, blowing lamps, and perhaps even damaging the regulator result. If there is too much load (added accessories and the like) then the regulator can't keep up and the voltage on the system is too low resulting in an undercharged battery.

The charging systems on these bikes operate in a much narrower range than those of a car.