Charging System Solution

Hey I have been messing around with this since I have owned the bike and realized I should have figured this out last year when I first started riding the bike. Basically the issue is that the charging system only pumps out about 13 volts at above 4,000 rpms, which apparently isn't enough to charge the battery. So what happens is the battery is slowly drained. Since 95% of the time my trips consist of less than 25 miles I never ride the bike long enough to drain the battery before I throw the battery tender on it.I have had to jump start it several times before and the bie will run once started. Well the problem is I am going on a 160 mile trip this weekend. I know exactly what is going to happen. The bike will be fine on the ride up(hopefully) and I will go to start it while I'm there and ther will be nothing. Anyway I know I won't be able to fix the problem before tomorrow, so I have to push start it all-weekend, oh-well.

Anyway sorry for the story but now I am finally motivated to fix this issue. The voltages and resistances coming from the alternator check out to what my haynes manual says. Also the resistance between the leads off the reg/rec have checked out. The one test I can't do that haynes recommends is the one with three car batteries. I have checked the wiring time and time again. Is it safe to assume that the reg/rec is dead?

Oh, also what is the difference between a D1('81) reg/rec and one from a H2('83)?

Thanks,
Nate

My only question is, what the hell is the test haynes recommends using 3 car batteries,,, :whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

Some test in the hayne's manual that invovles the use of 3 car batteries. That's all I know about because I don't exactly have easy access to three car batteries.

Is anyone else here thinking bad connection/dirty contacts on the battery, or somewhere else in the system? Cables are solid, as in not damaged.

I 'fixed' my regulator by cleaning the corrosion off of the connectors.

It seems that the parts are doing what they should be doing by the claim that they chack out to what the manual says.

I would look for connectivity issues, dirty contacts, damaged wires or corrosion.

I also have heard it said often enough to mention it here. Charging system tests are best done with a healthy, fully charged battery. It is absolutely possible that a weak or last legs battery could be the cause of some of the problem here.

I had corrosion on my stator wires and they ended up burning the wire. I had to replace the wires cause of it.

Hello I have determined that the stator and reg/rec are good. I tested the battery at full charge and I'm only getting about 12.5-13.0 Volts at 4,000 rpm. Could someone explain how a bad battery could be causing this issue? Also is there a way to check the actual voltage coming out of the reg/rec? Can I simply unplug the w/r wire and look for a certain voltage? Please help I am not electrical savvy in the least bit and I want to figure this out.

Thanks,
Nate