Bike Won't charge... at all...

Hey All. It's been a long time since I have posted around here. My 1980 KZ550c project has kind of fallen by the way side while other projects took it's place. Anyway, since I don't see that trend ending any time soon, I have decided to sell the 550, but as I was getting things ready to go (fine tuning of the carbs and what not while riding around my neighborhood) all of sudden, my battery went dead on me.

I checked the battery with a multimeter and it was down to about 11.4 volts. Didn't quite have the energy to turn the engine over. I put it on a charger for about half and hour and rechecked. Up to 12.5. Hit the starter button and she roared to life. Checked the voltage at Idle. 12.4. Revved the engine up and checked voltage. Still at 12.4. No change at all. Not even a flicker of the meter.

Usually with a bad voltage regulator, it will not charge enough, right? This thing won't charge at all. Any suggestions as to what to look for? Perhaps a wire that got unplugged somewhere? (Hopefully)

Thanks all! I just put new tires on this bike and I'd hate to see them go to waste.

Several things can cause the symptoms you describe.

1. bad battery - You need to use a cheap hydrometer to check the cells. These things look like eyedroppers. You connect a short piece of supplied hose to the eyedropper part and suck in some battery juice. There are colored balls in the clear part of the eyedropper and if they all float, the cell is OK and is some DO NOT float the cell is bad. Bad cells are sulfated; that is coated with crud electrostatically and will not charge. Your battery charger may have perked the battery up but it will not hold a real charge. CHECK BATTERY FIRST

2. wire disconnect. If you have a combo reg/rec, there is a white wire coming off the reg/reg that tees... one leg to main fuse and one leg to solenoid lug where battery cable is connected. Check this connection... if it is not connected to the solenoid leg, the bike will run on battery only... won't show a charging voltage when you check it with a volt meter at higher rpms.

3. wire disconnect. Check connector coming from your stator/generator which connects to your reg/rec. This may be a direct connection via a connector or it may plug into a "patch panel". If it plugs into a panel, the likely color of the connector will be BLUE. If this connection is not secure, no AC voltage will get to the reg/rec and you might be measuring just battery voltage and the bike may just be running on battery.

4. bad reg/rec - If connectors are good and battery is good, and you don't see 14 VDC when you rev to 4K rpm at the battery terminals, teh reg/rec MAY be bad. There are some tests in your Kaw Factory Service Manual that are helpful in diagnosing this issue. Make sure that connections to the reg/rec are good. There is a BLACK or BLACK/YELLOW wire coming off the unit that is ground. Make sure this is secure. It may connect to a connector coming off the solenoid (same wire colors). There may be a brown connector. This is the voltage feedback line that tells the reg/rec what voltage to make and if not connected solid, will not provide voltage to the reg/rec so it can judge what voltage to make and the reg/rec will not make more voltage when you rev engine.

5. bad stator/generator - Not sure what it is called on your bike but if everything else checks OK, remove plug from generator... it will have 3 yellow wires likely. Start the bike (it wills start/run off battery only fine for awhile) and measure AC voltage every possible way off the three wires... in other words, put one probe (in VAC) on one yellow wire lug in the connector while the bike is running and the other probe on another. You should see perhaps 50VAC each way you measure. If ANY of the different ways measured show less or none, the stator is fried or the big magnet (not sure what type generator/stator) has lost its magnetism. This only happens generally when the magnet is heated up real hot or get pounded on (like with a hammer) so losing magnetism doesn't generally occur. Usually when you have a dead leg on the stator, the windings have fried. The manual also has specific tests for these components.

Thanks. Probably won't be until the weekend that I get a chance to look into this, but I will report back as to what I find.

Turns out that my own stupidity has struck again. I had the shift side cover off to replace the chain and when I put it back one, turns out I crushed the two wires coming from the stator.


Wires fixed!! :laugh:

Bike is running!!

listed on Ebay. :blush: