Charging issue?

:huh:

:huh: Ok...took the bike to a mechanic who supposedly knows something about motorcycle charging systems. He cautioned me about the three yellow wires off the stator as needing a specific attachment order, to avoid damaging the regulator/rectifier.
I thought it didn't matter which (male) yellow attached to which (female), and they could be mixed up without a problem. Otherwise, why make them all yellow and not individually color-coded? :blink:

My understanding(and I've changed many a yellow three phase stator(the wire windings) is there is not a connection sequence to follow, now on the earlier Z1's and possibly the Kz900, there were color code wires, so yes, in that case, the colors had to be followed.

MFolks

:huh: I'm no expert by any stretch, but it makes sense to me that it wouldn't make a difference, especially since they are the same yellow color. Now, why would Kawasaki do something like that, and not have a note or warning in the service manual? :side:

That mechanic was quite determined to sell me that it did...explaining that the whole process of installating the stator was a very complex process.

He's fired!

"mechanic who supposedly knows something about motorcycle charging systems".... :whistle:

Three identical circuits for Vac -> Vdc (rectification/Regulation)...

daveo wrote: :huh: Ok...took the bike to a mechanic who supposedly knows something about motorcycle charging systems. He cautioned me about the three yellow wires off the stator as needing a specific attachment order, to avoid damaging the regulator/rectifier.
I thought it didn't matter which (male) yellow attached to which (female), and they could be mixed up without a problem. Otherwise, why make them all yellow and not individually color-coded? :blink:

Yes, he's fired. Does not matter on systems using 3-yellows.

It may matter on the systems using yellow, pink, and blue (older, and only matters on some of them). As you can see on OldManRock's diagram, the regulator has a sequence to it, where the blue wire is the master phase. It has the voltage detecting Zener diode. The pink and yellow phases are the next two in sequence. If they are not in correct order, they will not shunt at the right time, so the voltage on the battery will vary a lot more than it should.

For the insanely curious: Th1, Th2, and Th3 are thyristors. More specifically, they are Silicon Controlled Rectifiers, SCR's, which are just one member of the thyristor family, which are characterized by their 4-layer, 3 PN junction construction. (Diodes are 2-layer, 1 PN junction, and the common transistor is 3-layer, 2 PN junction.)

daveo wrote: Hey men, my KZ1100-A2 (1982 J-model) has a GPS unit velcro-mounted at the handlebar, and it shows the battery voltage when the engine is running, or turned off.
I have to charge the battery every couple days (or so) so the bike will start.
When cruising, I get a reading of around 13Volts, until the engine idles down when stopped at a light. Then it reads 10.2V to 11.4Volts and fluctuates back up when revved up or I'm moving again. If I turn off the key, then it barely cranks over on the next start try.
I tried two other voltage regulators to see what the Voltage readings would be. All read same voltage 10.2V to 11.4V at idle after running it without having a charge for a couple days.
If the key is turned off, then the reading goes back up to 12.5+Volts. But when the key is turned to the on position, the reading immediately drops.

I am definitely electrically challenged, so if someone has an idea what is going on, please make a suggestion.
Could I be dealing with a bad battery, even if new last September?

Japanese electrical components on these bikes are *highly reliable.*

HIGHLY reliable. Suspecting ANY electrical component is the LAST thing you should do.


You have a "parasitic drain" on your battery -- there is some component of your electric system, probably that GPS unit, that was poorly designed and/or has a fault internally. Bet you 10,000 bitcoins that GPS is *not* a Japanese-made, Japanese-quality-controlled electrical unit.

My most recent bonanza was paying only $450 for a mint-condition CB750f, 1979 model, 7500 miles on the clock, they are fetching $2500 or more on Ebay. The owner spent $250+ to replace the rotor part of the alternator. He did that twice. That didn't fix his charging problem, and I got lucky and bought the sucker. The owner was ANGRILY fed up with his inability to fix the charging problem despite spending $500 on 2 new rotors and wanted that bike out of his sight, permanently.


As it turns out, you gave enough info to solve your own problem.

You said

"If the key is turned off, then the reading goes back up to 12.5+Volts."
GOOD. Your battery appears to be in good shape. Each cell in a 12-volt battery on these bikes puts out 2.1 volts DC -- if a battery reads around 12.55vdc to 12.65vdc *when the key is off*, you are in like sin. (6 cells x 2.1vdc = 12.6vdc for a good battery with the key off).

You said
"But when the key is turned to the on position, the reading immediately drops."
That's normal -- the battery is "under load", providing electricity to the bike's harness and all the electrical bits that are attached to the wiring harness.


You said
"When cruising, I get a reading of around 13Volts"

GOOD. The bike's charging circuit is working.

Do this:

1) charge the battery, but first fill the 6 cells (with distilled water *only*)

2) when the battery seems charged, it should read 12.55vdc or more *1 hour after the charge was removed." Batteries give a 'false high' voltage reading right after they come off the charger.

3) remove that GPS unit from the bike.

I bet this solves the problem. The GPS is draining your battery.


You already know that the battery is reaching the correct voltage, 12.5v plus, I doubt it's the battery.


A "parasitic drain" on a battery is a component, like a radio, or GPS unit, that even when the key is turned off, is still leaking a little battery current inside of it.


Here's a "grasp-able" analogy. In this analogy, the toilet in your house is your bike's GPS unit, and your monthly water bill is your bike's battery.

If the toilet (the GPS unit) is leaking water past the shut-off valve inside the toilet tank (the GPS unit internally is still drawing current from the battery), your water bill will empty your checking account and your checking account will need to be charged up WAY too frequently.

daveo wrote: :huh: Ok...took the bike to a mechanic who supposedly knows something about motorcycle charging systems. He cautioned me about the three yellow wires off the stator as needing a specific attachment order, to avoid damaging the regulator/rectifier.
I thought it didn't matter which (male) yellow attached to which (female), and they could be mixed up without a problem. Otherwise, why make them all yellow and not individually color-coded? :blink:

Time to find a new mechanic. Ed

650ed

He was the new one...