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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 24 Jun 2008 08:35 #221839

  • letthegoodtimesroll
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On my way into work today it started off that my signal lights weren't working and the next thing I know I'm dead on the side of the road. Headlight and dash lights were dim prior to dieing. After letting it sit for 3-4 mins, it would start up and go about 1/2 mile and then die. Did this 2 or 3 times and ended up leaving it in a parking lot and hitche d a ride to work:( As I am currently at work I am just trying to trouble shoot prior to getting home with the bike and fix it hopefully. Is there any way to test the regulator and rectifier? Possible battery? Without it running I can't check the altenator, but when I get it started how would I go about testing that as well? The bike is a 77 KZ650 with Dyna S and dyna coils. Thanks for any and all help.
1977 KZ650C1, Kerker Header, Dyna ignition and coils, GPZ 750 oil pan and cooler

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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 24 Jun 2008 08:43 #221845

  • loudhvx
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Well if it's truly electrical, your best solution to get it home is to throw in a new, or freshly charged battery and disconnect the regulator AND rectifier. You should be able to run on just battery for at least 20 minutes or more. Unplug the headlight if it's during the day.

Then you'll have to troubleshoot with a freshly charged, good battery. The 77 650 is unique to the 650 line. It shares almost no charging components with the other 650/750 bikes.

www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com makes regs and recs for your bike. The regulator is listed as being for the "B" model, but it works on any 77 model with the seperate reg and rec.

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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 24 Jun 2008 09:09 #221855

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I will be trailering it home after work:( first time this bike has not got me home. I have the wiring system from a 82 750 Spectre. How difficult would it be to switch these systems around or are there any parts I can use?
1977 KZ650C1, Kerker Header, Dyna ignition and coils, GPZ 750 oil pan and cooler

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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 24 Jun 2008 09:29 #221866

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If you have the stator, rotor, reg/rec, engine sidecover that holds the stator (not sure about the sidecover, but I think you'll need it), and the wiring harness, it's fairly easy. We (my Nephew and I) put a 79 KZ650 charging system on the 83 GPz750 motor he's running.

All the above are required.
KD9JUR

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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 24 Jun 2008 09:39 #221869

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I think I would take a deeeeep breath and clear my head some first. First thing you need to do is verify that your battery is capable of holding a charge. Go to an autoparts store and buy a small hydrometer. It looks like an eyedropper and will have a small hose with it. The clear part of the thing will have colored balls. You put the hose into a cell in your battery and draw out some fluid to fill the hydrometer. If all the ball float, the cell is good. If some or none float, the cell has sulfated. This means the cell won't hold a charge or is rapidly failing. If the battery won't hold a charge, buy a new battery and charge it on a trickle charger before installing it on the bike.

OK... if the battery is OK, get ahold of a multimeter. Your chargine system consists of a stator (or generator) and the regulator and rectifier. It also consists of the connections. The easiest way to figure out where a problem lies is to put the leads of the multimeter on the battery posts with the bike idling. At idle, you should see just over 12VDC. At 4K rpm, you will see about 14.5VDC. If you see MORE voltage, then I suspect your regulator is fried. If you see significantly less, then the regulator may be bad, the stator may be bad or the connections may be bad. You should likely take apart the connectors at this point, clean them with spray contact cleaner and dab with dielectric grease. If that doesn't fix the problem, remove your stator wires from where they plug into the regulator and at 4K rpm (bike is running), measure the AC voltage out of your stator/generator. If there are three wires coming off the stator, measure between one wire and the other in AC scale. You should see about 40 or so voltage AC on each pair measured. If you don't holler.
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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 25 Jun 2008 18:48 #222180

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I checked the battery after charging it and it read about 12.4, when I installed it in the bike and started it, it started dropping. Reving it to 4000 rpm only brought it up by about .04 volts and would continue to drop once the bike went back to idle. There are 4 wires coming from the stator, 3 yellow and 1 green. The 3 yellow are soldered to the rectifier and the green 1 goes to the regulator, which wires should I check between and how? Are there any other bikes that share this system? Thanks for the help
1977 KZ650C1, Kerker Header, Dyna ignition and coils, GPZ 750 oil pan and cooler

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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 25 Jun 2008 19:45 #222190

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This definitely doesn't sound right to me. Perhaps a 650 owner will jump in here. Shouldn't be a green wire coming out of the stator nor should the three yellow wires be soldered to the rectifier bridge.
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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 26 Jun 2008 06:35 #222275

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wiredgeorge wrote:

This definitely doesn't sound right to me. Perhaps a 650 owner will jump in here. Shouldn't be a green wire coming out of the stator nor should the three yellow wires be soldered to the rectifier bridge.


The green wire powers the field coil. Its power is controlled by the regulator. It's a unique alternator... only used on the 77 650, some KZ400's and possibly a few others.

The other end of the field coil is grounded.

Start by checking the voltage on the green wire at the regulator, while it's not running, but turned on. It should be the same as battery voltage. Use the battery negative terminal as the ground reference for the meter.

In my opinion, this type of alternator is better when it's working. It's far more efficient at handling varying loads. The problem is that the regulator is mechanical. I would get an electronic one from Oregonmotorcycleparts.com

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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 26 Jun 2008 06:35 #222276

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3 Yellows and a green wire is correct for the '77 C1.

Here is a link to a C1 wiring diagram:
wiring diagrams
Rob
CANADA

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1978 KZ650 C2, 130K kms, Delkevic ex, EI, CVK32, PMC easy clutch, ATK fork brace, steering damper, braced swingarm, 18" Z1R front wheel.
2000 ZRX1100
2011 Ninja 250R
2005 z750s

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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 26 Jun 2008 07:30 #222288

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I would definitely still check the battery with a hydrometer. By failing to do so, you really don't know if the battery is capable of holding a charge. Putting a multimeter on a charged battery won't tell you if is capable of holding the charge.
wiredgeorge Motorcycle Carburetors
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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 26 Jun 2008 14:09 #222363

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Thanks guys. Going away camping for the weekend so won't get to it until at least Tuesday but will keep you informed.
1977 KZ650C1, Kerker Header, Dyna ignition and coils, GPZ 750 oil pan and cooler

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Testing Voltage Regulator and Rectifier 26 Jun 2008 22:52 #222459

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letthegoodtimesroll wrote:

I checked the battery after charging it and it read about 12.4, when I installed it in the bike and started it, it started dropping. Reving it to 4000 rpm only brought it up by about .04 volts and would continue to drop once the bike went back to idle. There are 4 wires coming from the stator, 3 yellow and 1 green. The 3 yellow are soldered to the rectifier and the green 1 goes to the regulator, which wires should I check between and how? Are there any other bikes that share this system? Thanks for the help


A really easy way to test a battery is: trickle charge it overnight. Pop the caps off the spark plugs so the motor won't start/ connect a voltmeter across the battery terminals. It should read about 12.6V initially. Hit the starter button and let the starter spin a few seconds. While it's spinning, the battery voltage should stay above about 9V. If it can pass this crank test, it's probably OK.

BTW: even if the battery was weak, the system voltage would probably rise at least to 13V at 4k RPM if the charging system was operational. I don't think it's charging the battery.
1979 KZ-750 Twin

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