TOPIC:

It CAN hurt to have too many grounds if they are placed wrong...sorry to stick my nose in this post, I was just looking for a way to keep my stator from spinning off when I am starting my bike and just remembered that I had to pull the clutch in before starting to keep that from happening.

Been running with the intermediary starter gear pulled for years now with only a kick, and boy do I miss the electric start.

The more the merrier! What do you mean about grounds...unless you're referring to wires shorting to ground which is never good.... and I can't have my clutch in while kicking... don't work that way on my bike...clutch disconnects the kick start maybe...
--Chad

Previous post must have been referring to a dirt bike, that's the only kind I know that uses primary kick start.

The KZ kickstarters drive the clutch which in turn drives the crank, pull in the clutch lever and kick it and all you will get is exercise

And I don;t have a clue how pulling in the clutch would affect the stator

Well It went flat... on the way to work this morning turn signals stopped and the bike died just as I pulled into my garage when I turned around to come home. Checked (it was at 8.7V)and threw it on the my little tender charger(1 amp) and It's still not fully charged 6 hours later. Will check the acid before I go back to work. Now where to start on the charging system?? Thanks for the tip on the turn signals Steell. I'll be sure to ride down and see you once I get this sorted out. I got tires that will be here tomorrow and can't wait for that one. Got the stuff to do the coil mod also so I may do that tomorrow as well (got the 2 next days off). Gonna paint my rusty spokes with "hammered" silver rustoleom.

--Chad

Our experience has been pretty much the same so far, so maybe the cause is the same `

In my case the cause was a lack of ground connection between the reg/rec and the battery,

I simply forgot to hook up the ground wire for the reg/rec back on the negative terminal on the battery

My bike has the separate reg and rec. Currently lost my wiring diagrams (somewhere on my computer) But I think my rectifier grounds in the harness and I'm not sure the reg grounds (it might been a little bit since I messed with it) I'm thinking some where I have a dirty or broken connection but I'm not sure Lol... the fun of owning old motorcycles...

-Chad

I believe they both have to be grounded, it's been awhile since I parted out the 77 though, but I don't think a regulator will work without a ground.

Yup found the wiring diagram.. both grounded to main black yellow wire in the harness. See any problem with grounding them both to the battery? maybe if even just for testing ...not sure where to really start looking... but I'm pretty sure the problem is on the ground side...I think

--Chad

No clue now, resorting to pulling hairs... I can not find any resistance anywhere in any of the charging circuits. Switched a lot of bullets for insulated spades. Cleaned every contact I could get my hands on. Battery tested good on the machine at my work today with 176 cca in it at 12.67 volts. Perfect acid level. Rectifier tests good as per manual and is a new over the winter model from OMP. Regulator is also new over the winter and tests good. Stator and field coil are both up to par and test good also. Pos. and Neg. battery cables are new. I can't find any resistance in the circuit when the bike is off. Also is there any issue with removing the red/white double bullet connector and running the Pos. battery cable, and both wires that ran to the double bullet (rec. positive and supply wire for the main fuse) with new ring connectors together to the starter relay. Starter is non functioning, the between the starter and relay has been removed. Sorry for the technical outlook and lack of emotion in this post I'm kind of frustrated at the minute and trying to state the facts of the situation as best as possible to try to get your guys' help . Regulator wiring has not been looped through the factory plug but connects to 3 insulated spade connectors (2 for the field coil and one temporarily ran to battery - for ground.) The bike shows 12.3~12.4 volts while running (all lights switched off the only I'm aware of being the coils) But if you jump from Battery + to any ground on the frame, you get between 13.5 and 14.5 volts varying with rpm. The same is true when going from Battery - to the bolt on the starter relay where the Positive cable connects. I hope someone can give me some insight on what I'm missing Cause I feel like a monkey with a hammer beating on a toaster after all this testing and cleaning. On the bright side I got my tires mounted and put on today (took a chunk out of my cheek with a tire iron that slipped though ) Sorry for the long post..

--Chad

Run a jumper wire from a known good ground to the battery negative post, then measure the voltage across the battery. If you still have the 12.3 volts, run a jumper wire from the post on the solenoid to the positive post on the battery, then measure the voltage across the battery again. At that point you should have 13.8 (charging voltage anyway) at the battery, since you have jumper wires connecting it to known good points.

And that would mean that either one of the cables is bad, or you have a bad connection at the end of one of the cables.

Will do that as soon as I can in the morning. Close neighbors don't make for night wrenching in my neighborhood... lots of elderly and people looking to complain.

---Chad

This is my take on the KZ750B2 charging system. It is exactly how it is wired on my bike. When power is measured from point A to point B (labeled in the diagram) I get my full charge voltage. When I measure across battery I get 12.3 and falling. Jumper wires form good ground to negative battery yield no difference in results nor does a jumper between battery positive and the solenoid post. I have replaced the battery cables again, with high current 8 gauge stranded core wire. Terminals are crimp on but not resistance in the cables. When the bike is running I get a voltage drop across both battery cables, where should I look? Positive cable, positive wire from the rectifier and positive to the main fuse all meet on the starter solenoid (the yellow and black wires are still hooked up) there is no wire going from the solenoid to the the starter itself,the bike is kick only). Any clues?

***Edit there is also a black yellow wire directly to the battery, that connects right into the harness***

--Chad