A new guy with three cut yellow wires

O.K. I am a new cyclist. I am 32 years old and have done minor to major mechanic work in my time. From Chevy Luv's to Dodge Dakota's, to Mercury Capri's you get the picture.
Now I have decided to take up riding a bike to save money as to which I have four kids and a wife who is going to college to be a teacher. My trade is construction/carpentery. Not a mechanic unless it means saving money.
This 1982 KZ 550C that I bought will not keep a charge let alone other problems that I can fix. The guy I bought it off of cut the airbox off with a sawzall . Don't ask me why, but in the process he cut these three yellow wires completely in half. Theses three identical wires I think go to the altenator. He said he did not not know how to get the sequence of the wires back together and that is the reason why it is not keeping charge. If this is so how do I tell where they go? Another thing... while these wires are cut and naked, can I do certain tests to see if yes is getting yes or no is getting no? I have checked voltage from the battery and get 11.88 on the posts. Could be the stator? This is a good strong bike with low miles and I really would like to ride it every day. Thanks and all help is appreciated.

Post edited by: _CrazyHorse_, at: 2006/08/24 00:34

im thinking some models arent polarity sensitive,but ill let someone like lou or wired george bite the bullet to make sure.

The ones with three yellow have no sequence to them. Any order is fine.

Some of the other models have a pink, blue, and yellow. On some of those, the sequence does not matter, but on some they do. It is very involved to determine if the sequence matters or not, so it's best to keep the colors in order if possible, otherwise it's a toss up.

Crazyhorse,the 3 yellow wires you are referring to are most definitely alt. wires,the sequence of which they are hooked up doesn't matter they are all doing the same job.making ac power,it's imperative those wires are hooked up to charge your battery.If you go to the electrical forum and look on about page 3 i think it's on for the topic "the charging system gremlin is still w/ me " you can get some very good education on a charging system, a member named trippivot helped me figure this problem out,dude knows his $hit !!!

CH - An 82 550 will have a combined regulator / rectifier. The three yellow wires from the regulator rectifier probably combine with a couple of other wires (idiot light related) and go to a connector. This connector hooks to a connector from the reg/rec. The reg/rec is in the vicinity of the battery box and is a metal rectangle about 2x3" or something along those lines. The reg/rec will have three yellow wires (hot AC) connected to the alternator (order doesn't matter if they are yellow), a smaller gauge white or white/red wire that leads to the main fuse and POS solenoid terminal used to charge the battery and send power to the main fuse circuit which heads up to the ignition swtich. It will also a black or black/yellow wire which is a ground. This will hook into part of the main harness ground which ultimately grounds to the frame or it will hook into a ground from the solenoid. There will be a brown wire on the reg/rec harness which comes from the switched power brown sub-circuit that tells the reg/rec how much voltage to push out (it is a feedback mechanism). In any case, look for the reg/rec and trace back till you find the connector where the three yellow wires plug into. The other side of the connector should also have three chopped off wires. Note if any other wires are chopped off... might be a green wire and a blue/white? I am thinking that the neutral light and oil sending light which lights up the low oil idiot light will also be chopped off if he got the three yellow wires from the alternator. Those two additional wires often run with the alternator hot wires due to proximity.

When I looked behind the fusebox there was a yellow and black wire with a connecting end on it. It was not connected to anything. Is this possibly a loose ground connection?

_CrazyHorse_ wrote:

When I looked behind the fusebox there was a yellow and black wire with a connecting end on it. It was not connected to anything. Is this possibly a loose ground connection?

Could be, but it could also be the ground for external accessories, in which case, it doesn't get connected to anything.

I am a thinking that the 550 has its source for the coil power and starter button on the solenoid body. These are yellow/red and black respectively. There should be a similar pair of wires in the main harness going to the right hand switch gear. Look at your starter solenoid and see if the yellow/red and black wires are connected.

Guys as far as I know, tomorrow one of my friends and I are going to a "motorcycle guru" so he says. I will most definately let you know the results. You guys have been great to me. Thanks

Guru! OK! Good luck. Anyway, put your bike year/model and your location in your signature (read nag note at top of each tech section). If there was someone local, they might just be able to help. Most of the bike "gurus" in my area are even dumber than me! bwhahahaha

Fella's I don't know if I figured anything out or not, but while I was waiting for the friend of the "motorcycle Guru" to call that never did, I was tinkering around with as it was already loaded and strapped in my truck:angry: As I was fidgeting I found a blue and white wire that was cut into as well as a black and yellow wire too. I tied them back together and put about 10 or 12 miles on it came back turned it off and bam she sterted back up. Rode around a little bit more and turned it off and blammo it started right back again .Even with the headlight fuse in. Did I do any good or is my battery stronger than my will:) ?

The black and yellow may have been the ground for the rectifier/regulator.