Low Voltage

I've spent the whole past summer trying to resolve this issue and I CAN"T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

Here's the story, 78 kz1000 A2A. Bare bones wiring. I built a tray under the seat that holds the RR and such. After market headlight with 55/60 halogen bulb. After market little side mount tail light. cheap mini speedo with a light in it. Besides the ignition this is everything that pulls current.

I originally just kind of stuffed the existing wiring into the tray. It wasn't pretty but it fit. The first thing I noticed was the main 20 amp fuse getting hot and the battery not charging. The battery eventually was shot. First new battery, still wasn't charging. Decided to get rid of the individual rectifier and regulator units and got a combo unit from Z1. Wired it in, 11.8 volts at battery when running. 4000 rpm wouldn't put it over 12 volts. At this point I decided it would be best to completely redo the wiring. I stripped everything off, did a bare bones wiring plan with all new wire and connectors from Vintage Connections. It's a lot prettier than the mess of shit that was there.

Still around 11.8 volts

Checked the stator, It was a little fishy. Replaced it with a known good stator, 56VDC on all three combos at 4000 rpm.

Still around 11.8 volts

Went through the Electrosport fault finding guide. Everything checked fine except a cheap 20 amp fuse connector that could have been messing with the RR sensor wire. Changed over to a better blade fuse holder. Tested good but no change in the voltage at the battery. As recommended by the fault finding guide I purchased a second new battery. Voltage was just over 12V when idling 12.5 at 4000 rpm and the battery continued to drain.

At this point EVERYTHING is new except the coils which are Dyna Greens. I talked to Electrasport and the guys at Z1 and made the decision that the Regulator section of the RR could have been faulty out of the box. Purchased another new RR from Ricks Motorsports Electronics. Wired it in, Voltage still just over 12V. Decided to unplug the headlight just for the hell off it. Voltage went up a bit. Took it out for 20 minutes to warm it up, back at the shop tested the voltage 12.7V revved it up to 4000 3.5V. Finally! Took it out for another 20 minutes, tested voltage, over 14V! At this point I hook the headlight back up. Idles at 12.7V 4000rpm 13.8V, This seems right. I figure it's finally fixed.

The bike sits a week and I'm back to the same place

12.1 volts at Idle 12.5 at 4000rpm.
This is with the headlight unplugged, I've taken it out and got it warm to see if it goes up like last weekend but no such luck.
Battery is dwindling!

I just went through all the connections again, tested the stator [56VDC on all three]

The only thing old are the coils, Could they be pulling too much voltage?

Input PLEASE!

So,
As a restroom poet never said,
HERE I SIT BROKEN HEARTED, WITH A PROJECT ON WHICH THE GODS HAVE SHARTED!

How do you know the battery is dwindling? Does the bike get hard to start? or lights get really dim/intermittent blinkers? Voltage just gets really low?

Components don't draw voltage, they draw current/amps. The battery presents the voltage. VoltsxAmps=Watts of energy.

Check/make sure there is voltage on the brown "sense" wire of the RR. This tells it there's a load and increases the voltage to the battery.

All grounds are good? No wire/or stator short circuits?

Best of luck!



The voltage at the coils (if all connections are clean) should be close to the voltage of the battery.
What are your coil voltages?

the only thing i can think of is that your rotor might be shot......they can go bad....13.8 isnt good enough....even with the headlite plugged in you should see low to mid 14 s
at 4k.....i would pull the cover for the stator again and make sure that the bolt is tight holding the rotor onto the crank....just my .02......good luck....

The longer I run the bike the lower the voltage is across the battery. Like the bike is running off the battery.

All the grounds return to 1 lug on the frame where the battery ground cable attaches.


The RICKS RR doesn't use a brown wire to the ignition switch. They have 2 red wires that go directly to the battery pos. lug.

I have the same voltage at the coils as the battery. the wires powering the coils are all new. the only old wires are the ones attached to the black box that goes with the ignition coils. Not sure what exactly you call it. Thanks for the input, Scott

I thought about the rotor being bad.

I get 56VDC on the stator wires. Wouldn't that mean it is working ok? I don't know!

Scott

the stator could be all and well, but if the rotor lost some of its magnetics, the combo wont work right....i would pull the rotor to rule it out...inspect the magnets...make sure nothing is dicked up or loose and see if they actually hold a metalic item...i know when i replaced my cover servicing starter clutch, if i get that cover anywhere near rotor, it wants to grab it good....

could be the coils... they're aftermarket, right? If the primary circuit in the coil doesn't have enough resistance, it will drain the battery much faster at idle and low rpms.
I would check the resistance on the primary wires and check that it's close to factory spec... if the value is smaller than .5 of factory, it will cause significant drain.

Pros, correct me if I'm wrong!

Which wires would the primary circuit be? Each coil has a wire coming fron the ignition switch and one coming from the black box.

The coils do get pretty warm, is that normal?


When I changed out the stator there was definitely magnetism on the rotor. I wouldn't know how much or if it was normal. But there was some there.

there should be two small wires coming off the coil, you need to measure the resistance between them.

Restroom poetry.....this from high school...

Here I sit all in vapor.
Just ran out of toilet paper.
Bell is ringing, no time to linger.
Look out asshole, here come the finger.:laugh:

Any of your grounds coming from a rubber mounted service ? Like battery box ?

ssalyer wrote:

I thought about the rotor being bad.

I get 56VDC on the stator wires. Wouldn't that mean it is working ok? I don't know!

Scott

Do you read 56V on the lines under load? Or is that with the stator wires unplugged from the rect assembly?

A bad rotor/stator will put out a high voltage no load but crash loaded.

Nice arai59!:woohoo:



The primary circuit on the coils

Manual says about 4 ohm for stock
I've got exactly 3 on both

I measured the secondary circuit also
Manual says 23 K ohm
I've got 13.8 between 1&4 and nothing between 2&3 [the fluke meter reads OL ]

I pulled the coil with no reading off and tested the individual plug wires {they are also new from Z1 ent} The both have read Zero. [not OL] so I think they are fine.