charging system help, problem ive been working on with progress but no cigar

hurley209

hurley209

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hey guys, as some you know (those who have been helping me) ive been trying to dial in my charging system.
heres the info.

new battery.
radio shack rectifier.
good regulator.
with a freshly charged battery the charging system seems ok.
i ride about 30miles headlight off and come home and im at about 12.5x volts at the battery.
i just checked my voltage at idle with that voltage and its about 13v, i rev it and it will sometimes flash 13.9xv but mostly show around 13.3-5xV. headlight off.
so im guessing something is still wrong as it should always climb to 14v not just when battery is fully charged.

i have checked stator before and i get 26acV at idle and 60+acV at 3k rpm from the harness at both power wires.

so do i still have a problem, or am i just experiencing the 70s honda charging system? lol.
i assume it could still be the stator. or magnet right?
if i have to i guess i can just keep my automatic battery charger every 2 days or so on it, or a battery maintainer set up like in the 50$ thread.

anyway, i appreciate the help guys, i tried to ask around and research as much as i could before cluttering the board with another charging system question to verify what i came up with, but i think im getting paranoid now and over thinking stuff.
thanks again fellas, -Josh

PS: my appologies to those ive asked about charging systems a bunch, dont mean to annoy, just making sure of things.

Also before I was running the radioshack solid state rectifier voltage wouldn't go above 12.7 or less than that and sometimes would not climb but drop a tad. So looks like the rectifier worked.
 
Josh, what bike is this for exactly? CrazyPJ mentioned somewhere before when he was doing battery tests (might want to search and confirm) that the charging system didn't charge when the headlight was off.

This is coming from a really tired mind right now, so take it with a grain of salt.
 
75cb500t
Wired a kill switch in the light.
I lost power at the light once so I wired it to one of the idiot light plugs with a kill switch. Don't think that is affecting it though.
The light controls on my grip is either low or high all the time. But like mentioned the power from there is not used. And my headlight is only powered at night.
 
im not expert on this so someone can correct me if im wrong but ac current isnt what you wanna look for the dc current which should actually charge your system is what you want to find which should come after the recitifier as the rectifier changes ac to dc current perhaps your problem lies in your rectifier and since youre not running an oem one the quality may not be entirely the same(im unsure im not bashing you) just a thought
 
I checked the ac current at the stator harness only. Dc current at the other spots.
Before the solid state rectifier when I was using the stock type voltage wouldn't go above 12.7vdc or much less so looks like it worked. Thanks for the looking out though.
 
Sounds like regulator issue.
I had 360 running tonight with Suzuki reg/rect. I wired in
Charges at 13.68v max, even with modified rotor
I've changed wiring so yellow from alternator doesn't run through light switch (3 wires from alternator wired direct to rectifier)
I would get a late model CB400/450 reg rect as they are incredibly reliable and match stock wiring colours (about$15.00~ $20.00 on eBay)
You have done AC tests at alternator leads?
Should be getting around 70+ volts @5,000rpm with plug disconnected from harness
 
Thanks for the reply pj, around what years cb400/450 do you mean when you say late model?
And yup I I was getting up to 60acV at the stator connection at 3k rpm and would increase with revs.
 
just curious,
can it be that my cdi and 3ohm dyna coils are using to much power and causing the charging sytem to not keep up?

im currently ebay-ing for that reccomended reg/rect so hopefully it will help.
does it provide better power flow and voltage? just curious, and i know its a solid state so that is a plus.
thank you again, i appreciate the help ALOT, rich and pj, tacos and beer on me one day, your officialy on the list.
 
The cdi and coils shouldn't be a problem, unless your charging system is REALLY screwed. Like, rodents chewed it up kinda screwed.

But I don't know the details of all that.
 
3 ohm coils seem a bit high for a CDI system?
Have you load tested battery?
Even though it's new, it could be faulty.
You probably want around 40~50 amps draw for 15~20 seconds.
If voltage drops below about 10.5~10, it's not good (usually, disconnect ignition trigger or coil live and crank engine)
Measure voltage drop while cranking, when you let go of button, battery should recover to 11.5~13v if it's good
 
So maybe swithching coils will help?

Just tested battery, doesn't drop below 11.xxV at crank then back up flashes 13, the reads like 12.5V at idle.
 
Maybe.
Your sure it's CDI and not TPI?
Do coils get wired to battery or is battery connected to 'black box'?
 
Maybe running the newer reg/rect + an led bulb in my tail light + led in my gauges will help?
 
Josh, I just went back and read the first post. To clarify: has the battery ever actually gone dead on you? Charging slightly under 14v isn't a bad thing. As long as you aren't idling the bike for long times or going for short, low speed trips.

Led's are always a good thing (IMO) for a charging system.
 
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