Not charging enough. Battery slowly dying.

Small 1 or 2 v differences on the brown wire may not make much difference. Because the brown wire, in this type of system, is under quite a bit of current (compared to the PM alternator systems), it would be expected to have some votlage drop.

At higher RPMs, the field coil would only need a little voltage to keep up. It may need only 6v or so, depending on RPM etc.

The first thing to check is why there is such a disparity between the recitifer wire and the battery. They should be at the same voltage because they are directly connected together. TO be that different means the rectifier is unconnected, for all practical purposes.

You have to trace the white wire from the rectifier and find where it is broken.

But that's still not the entire problem since the parallel wire did not fix it. There is still some other issue to be tested for.

Loudhvx,
So the voltage drop on the brown wire feeding the Field coil won't affect the charging? Ok, but this is still an issue that should be sorted out for power to other items.
Yes from what was described I expected great things from the jump wire parallel circuit. It sounded like the white was disconnected in someway.

Bloglos,
Lets try this, back at the white wire from the Rectifier. At the rectifier close to the unit itself, where you tested your 15v+ with it running. What voltage do you get with everything OFF not running, compared to Battery voltage. One meter lead to the white wire, red, and the other to the - side of battery, black? It should read the same as the battery. Wiggle around and pull slightly on the wires, just see if it can become intermittent.

OK, so we are thinking that because I had a reading of 15v+ out of the rectifier white, that maybe when I jumped it, it lost it's connection at some point during the reading?

The test I'm doing when I get back is everything off, ignition on obviously, test at battery, and then test at white out of rectifier and ground at battery(or ground) and it should all be the same voltage? Roger that. I'll do it as soon as I get home from work in a couple of hours.

Shouldn't even need the key on, all OFF. That white wire should be directly hooked to the Battery, although through connections. Have a look at the diagram. It should plug into the Red/ White, which then branches, one end to the Battery + post and one to the Fuse panel Main Fuse.
I'd still like the Brown wires voltage loss issue resolved as well, once its charging correctly. I would think the loss is across the Main Fuse. If so then all the electrical is low. Headlight, Ignition, etc.

Motor Head wrote: Shouldn't even need the key on, all OFF. That white wire should be directly hooked to the Battery, although through connections. Have a look at the diagram. It should plug into the Red/ White, which then branches, one end to the Battery + post and one to the Fuse panel Main Fuse.
I'd still like the Brown wires voltage loss issue resolved as well, once its charging correctly. I would think the loss is across the Main Fuse. If so then all the electrical is low. Headlight, Ignition, etc.

Oh so I'm not actually unplugging the white from the white/red going into the harness, I'm just testing from that connection?

No the wire needs to be hooked up normally, for the measurement. Since the jump wire seemed useless, this just trying to confirm there is contact from the regulator, white wire, to the battery + post, after going through its connectors.
It just seems that the system is outputting voltage, 15v+ at white wire but not at the battery.
Got to find out why.
So also, one you get that under your belt.
Try to unplug the next highest load, the Head light, and then run it checking the voltage across the battery. The voltage should come up, If that white to red/ white circuit is good.
There has to be a bad connection there somewhere.
What wire gauge, diameter, were you using for the jumping test? And this is definitely a god wire?

Motor Head wrote: No the wire needs to be hooked up normally, for the measurement. Since the jump wire seemed useless, this just trying to confirm there is contact from the regulator, white wire, to the battery + post, after going through its connectors.
It just seems that the system is outputting voltage, 15v+ at white wire but not at the battery.
Got to find out why.
So also, one you get that under your belt.
Try to unplug the next highest load, the Head light, and then run it checking the voltage across the battery. The voltage should come up, If that white to red/ white circuit is good.
There has to be a bad connection there somewhere.
What wire gauge, diameter, were you using for the jumping test? And this is definitely a god wire?

Got it. I understand. I purchased some 12 Gauge wire and clamped and soldered alligator clips to each end, since I figured I would be doing a hole lot of testing. The cable is good. I'll run these tests shortly and report back.

That sounds like a solid test lead, that is great.
So I'm wondering were all the voltage is going. This is one reason for un plugging the head light. Then watching for a change at the battery.
So basically the White wire should be Hot with Battery voltage, unless battery is dead.

That type of alternator, when it's working, is the best one in terms of output. It's basically a car alternator, but without any slip rings. Genious really, since it allows the field coil to remain stationary. The biggest failing on so many Honda alternators are the field coils vibrating and spinning up to 10,000 RPM. They just break, not to mention the slip rings get all burned up if you leave the ignition on with the engine not turning. The Kaw system eliminates all of that.

The other type of Kaw alternator is the permanent magnet type. The drawback to that type is that if you make them too powerful, they always rob horsepower from the crank just to burn the power away as heat in the regulator. To avoid this, they make the alternator just powerful enough to power the bike with a little bit extra.

The field-coil type does not have to be compromised this way. They can make it really powerful, but it will only use as much crank power as necessary. This makes the alternator capable of dealing a far wider range of load with no waste.

The down side is that the system is complicated and expensive. Also, they cheaped out on the rectifier and regulator. It would have been more efficient if the rectifier had a dedicated output just for the field coil. That way, if the crank is not turning, the field coil is not using much power.

Anyway, back to the point, I've seen 650's and 400's with this charging system capable of idling at 14v. At higher RPMs, the field coil will only be getting a couple of volts to maintain 14.5v at the output. So a small drop on the brown wire won't affect the ability to produce 14.5v at higher RPMs. However, as you noted, the drops need to be fixed because it indicates a loss somewhere. When the brown wire has a drop on it, (and the rest of the charging system is working properly), the end result will be the same as on PM systems... the battery voltage will be too high.

So that Brown wire Is the Voltage sense for the Regulator, if down, do to resistance, the regulator will try to make up, thus overcharging the Battery. Which with a measured 15v or more at the Rectifier output, sounds like that is what it is trying to do.
So Do take point in that voltage drop will be a problem, on that Brown wire.
Personally I would like to see what the Green wire has on it for voltage at the moment, from the Regulator, as curiosity. Thats running, 4K like the rest.

Motor Head wrote: So that Brown wire Is the Voltage sense for the Regulator, if down, do to resistance, the regulator will try to make up, thus overcharging the Battery. Which with a measured 15v or more at the Rectifier output, sounds like that is what it is trying to do.
So Do take point in that voltage drop will be a problem, on that Brown wire.
Personally I would like to see what the Green wire has on it for voltage at the moment, from the Regulator, as curiosity. Thats running, 4K like the rest.

OK,
1. Tested voltage at battery, 12.6 freshly charged.
2. Tested rectifier output at white because I'm paranoid. 15v idle, shoots up when I hgo higher on rpm.
3. Ingintion off and all bullets connected, checked voltage where white connects to white/red in the harness, result was 12.6v. No loss.
4. Same test on neg out of rectifier, 12.6v, no loss.
5. Tested voltage out of regulator green connector, 11v no mamatter the throttle.

Does this tell us anything?

Well that confirms that at least up to the connection where you checked it the white wire is hooked to B+ at battery post. Is this the same spot where you measure the 15+ volts?

Also confirms that the Green wire is out-putting the same as in-coming. Brown wire is same voltage going into regulator, as green wire coming out? Right.
Did you take some load out of the system by un-plugging the head light, and watching for voltage rise at the battery.