Now onto the electrical.

Im pretty sure I will have my 77 KZ650 up to snuff for Spring after having it sat for 12 years. Its immaculate and Ive kept her running over the years but never rode her.

Today I dug into the electricals. At idle, the sealed battery reads 14.5-14.8v. Is this normal? If I turn on the headlight, at idle it goes down to about 13.5. All the components are new, reg/rec voltage regulator and the like.

Should I be concerned?

Normally it would read 13+ at idle but as all your bits are new maybe your not seeing the deterioation from time. I would worry that much over your readings when the engine was reving higher it would cook the battery.

On another bike I have that does not have a volt meter, one was installed permanently. That bike has a few accessories. To see if the charging system was adequate I hooked a dual controller with heated gear to it. This showed how the charging system reacted at different speeds under different loads. In this situation, the charging system was not adequate. Knowing that, I took somethings out of the loop and probably prevented damage to the charging system. If you are curious, this can give you an idea if how much excess your system has.

Olajoe wrote: On another bike I have that does not have a volt meter, one was installed permanently. That bike has a few accessories. To see if the charging system was adequate I hooked a dual controller with heated gear to it. This showed how the charging system reacted at different speeds under different loads. In this situation, the charging system was not adequate. Knowing that, I took somethings out of the loop and probably prevented damage to the charging system. If you are curious, this can give you an idea if how much excess your system has.

Thanks.

Im going to go over the connections tomorrow or when its warmer and see if anything is loose, corroded or pinched.

At idle the bike is at 14.2 volts. At 6k RPM it gets up to 14.8. I need to figure out why. I have no accessories on the bike, Its stock.

It sounds to me like your situation is normal.

WarrensKZ wrote:
Thanks.

Im going to go over the connections tomorrow or when its warmer and see if anything is loose, corroded or pinched.

At idle the bike is at 14.2 volts. At 6k RPM it gets up to 14.8. I need to figure out why. I have no accessories on the bike, Its stock.

Since the symptoms you describe are perfectly normal for a properly operating charging system on a 1977 KZ650 I do not understand what makes you believe there is a problem that you need to figure out. Rather than chasing your tail over "problems" that are not problems I would urge you to buy or consult a Kawasaki Service Manual. Trust me, it really will help you with the bike. Ed

650ed wrote:

WarrensKZ wrote:
Thanks.

Im going to go over the connections tomorrow or when its warmer and see if anything is loose, corroded or pinched.

At idle the bike is at 14.2 volts. At 6k RPM it gets up to 14.8. I need to figure out why. I have no accessories on the bike, Its stock.

Since the symptoms you describe are perfectly normal for a properly operating charging system on a 1977 KZ650 I do not understand what makes you believe there is a problem that you need to figure out. Rather than chasing your tail over "problems" that are not problems I would urge you to buy or consult a Kawasaki Service Manual. Trust me, it really will help you with the bike. Ed

Thank you for this Ed. I have downloaded a manual!