TOPIC:

OK, I'm always biting off more than I can chew. It would explain my weight problem!!!

OK, here's the problem. With everything I'm doing on my bike, a complete re-wire is called for. So, my background being Mechanical Engineering, I think of electricity in hydraulic terms. Flows from high pressure to low, + to ground. I can do this. I have done this with a couple of cars. But, those cars had just two poles coming off their regulators, a + and a -. But this goofy Kaw rectifier/regulator has three wires. When I trace it through the wiring diagram, I'm puzzled. +, -, and WHAT???
Lou, are you out there?

Let's try it this way...

We need to move hydraulic oil (the electrons).

The amount of oil we move per unit time is the flow (the current, AKA Amp, Amps, Amperes, symbol = I).

There will be pressure required to push the oil through the pipes ( the voltage, AKA Volts, VDC, Vdc, symbol = V).

There is a hydraulic pump (the alternator) driven by a motor (the engine).

The pump is made up of a flywheel (the magnetic rotor).

The flywheel has there hydraulic pump pistons connected to it (the 3 phase winding).

And each pump piston is at full compression at 360 degrees / 3 apart or about 120 degrees (the angle of the three phase windings).

Each piston output goes through a check valve array such that the fluid follows only in one direction and never back into either of the two other pistons (the diode array or rectifier).

The check valve array contains a "T" coupler with a single output which produces a continuous flow of hydraulic oil (the + Vdc output AKA, Red wire, White wire, battery positive wire)..

The oil pressure varies directly with the speed of the pistons. So, excess oil pressure is blown of by a relief valve (the voltage regulator) to limit the pressure and protect whatever it's driving.

The hydraulic oil flow drives the whatevers (the load: lights, relays, horn, etc.).

Since a liquid is said not to be compressible its harder to model what the battery does so let's say it stores hydraulic fluid in a big piston with the moveable end pushing against a big spring. Maybe that explains it.

Since this is a closed hydraulic system, there is one oil return pipe back from the whatevers to the hydraulic pistons (the - Vdc, AKA chassis return, ground return, Black wire with Yellow strip, battery negative wire). The relief valve oil joins up here too.

Well that went on longer that expected.

The gurus will be by soon to comment. Hope this helps.
Best of success?

pstrbrc wrote:

OK, I'm always biting off more than I can chew. It would explain my weight problem!!!

OK, here's the problem. With everything I'm doing on my bike, a complete re-wire is called for. So, my background being Mechanical Engineering, I think of electricity in hydraulic terms. Flows from high pressure to low, + to ground. I can do this. I have done this with a couple of cars. But, those cars had just two poles coming off their regulators, a + and a -. But this goofy Kaw rectifier/regulator has three wires. When I trace it through the wiring diagram, I'm puzzled. +, -, and WHAT???
Lou, are you out there?

If there are only three wires (and one is "+" and one is "-" ), the other one is likely the "AC" line which is the AC output of the stator winding(s) being sent to the diodes to be rectified into DC.

pstrbrc wrote:

I have done this with a couple of cars. But, those cars had just two poles coming off their regulators, a + and a -.

car systems are different. Most of them use an alternator with both a stator winding and a rotor winding (bikes use a permanent magnet rotor spinning inside a stator windingto produce the AC). cars regulate differently, by adjusting the current flowing through the winding of the rotor winding. Bikes can't do it that way so they use SCR's as rectifiers and adjust how long they are turned on for each cycle.

bill_wilcox100 wrote:

Let's try it this way...

All THAT part I got.
OK, here's a picture:


black/yellow - ground

white/red - +

brown???

As I read the wiring schematic it APPEARS that the brown is a fused switched 12v signal back to the rectifier/regulator. Am I reading this correctly?

Don't know which model of KZ you have, but some models do indeed have a wire that goes to the ignition to energize them. And looking at your schematic, it appears that your bike is one of those models

steell wrote:

Don't know which model of KZ you have, but some models do indeed have a wire that goes to the ignition to energize them. And looking at your schematic, it appears that your bike is one of those models

I would guess based on what I can decipher is that the third wire could be a "sense" wire going into the regulator assembly to more accurately regulate the system voltage. Notice the wire you labeled "pos" goes to the battery and feeds the main circuitry. That lead would have a LOT of current flowing in it and would have an associated voltage drop. That would drop the system voltage proportionately if the voltage regulator inside the rectifier/regulator assembly used the voltage at that end of the high current lead to regulate on.

I suspect that third lead goes out as a sense lead for the regulator to regulate the system voltage out where the load devices are located.

Repeating what others have said, but yes, the extra brown wire is to control the regulator. The 3-yellows are AC as mentioned. The red/white is DC + (output), the black/yellow is DC ground.

On KZ's in general, brown wires are usually powered only when the ignition switch is on. The regulator senses battery voltage via the brown wire. The reason it is done that way is so the regulator's detection circuit won't kill the battery when the bike is off. Some regulators (some kz650's) do away with this extra wire by sensing the battery through the output (red/white) wire. They can do this because the sensing circuit is designed to not draw current when the battery voltage is low.

Some KZ's, like the early 400's and the 77 650 use an alternator closer to that found on cars. They regulate the field rather than shunting excess current and are more versatile, but are more complicated and expensive.

pstrbrc, could you put your year and model in your signature.