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same trouble with charging system- i have a 1980 xl 1000--gen light stays on,ride for 30 miles,shut it down or at a light,it stalls or wont start, just battery clicking. im looking for a mechanical regulater,something that can be tested,all wiring new, ive tried to polarize but nothing. ive read that you polarize from the 'a' to the batery lead on the regulator, mine is in the plug and the reg. is epoxy sealed.is going from 'a' to the batery + correct? can i get some advice on this?
I can't remember these systems anymore. I read and re-read this thread a few times.
Seems like a 2 wire system, red as battery + to the armature and green to field. These wires should run to the regulator and there is no rectifier since it is a gennie and not a Alternator.
There is NO AC current at all on this 1974 Sporty.
I hope then this is correct.
Running the red wire should read battery voltage at the generator. A test to read battery voltage at the battey should also happen at about that same time.
The Green field wire should read 1/2 battery voltage, and if it doesn't the regulator was fried, when the flashing to polarize was done.
If the green wire reads battery voltage do not run the system untill a new regulator is installed. The field will think you want 24 dc volts and cook the whole bloomin system.
If the field reads 0 volts the regulator is dead, or so dirty it can't work with out a good cleaning of the spring loaded contacts, and resistor coils, of the regulator.
Whats getting me in a fit is I can't see this bike with electric start, I don't think electric start was on 1974 HD's, and if it was i can't see how shorting the field would crank the stater in the first place.
I almost disagree with sunsprit, and would say this won't begin to charge to closer to 2,200 rpm, but I think he was giving leeway with 1,500 engine rpm. Another thing is every light bulb on this bike needs to be working as it was intended stock. On this sort of system a burned out light matters a lot, as to what happens in the charging system, as each one is a active resistance in the system.
On battery chargers the very best bang for the buck is the walley world $20.00 Shumaker auto float anti sulfation charger ar 14 dcv and 1.5 amps. beats everything in the market to bits when compared.
Isn't the green light the NEUTRAL LIGHT???????????
In my old 74', the red light goes off once the bike is started and the green one should come off too when the bike is charging properly. If the red light stays on when the bike's running, I think it means you're under 12 volts and better get home. If the green light stays on, you're not charging or above 12... I think.
I don't think my bike should even have a green light. It should have two red lights maybe?
One seems to be for if the generator is charging and the other is an oil light, I think. When I started the bike up last night, the other light came on and it never stays on. I was low enough on oil that it actually came on. Good thing I shut it down quick. I thought it was part of the charging system.
Sorry about the green light confusion.
I checked the generator and it checks ok. My battery seems to hold a charge. So I went through the wiring noticed that I can't get that spark when polarizing the generator. So I ohmed the wire out and the +12 is not there. I found the wire broken, so fixed that. I took the bike for a spin tonight and the light is still on so I've got it on trickle charge.
Maybe it's fixed, maybe it's something else. My voltage regulator is at the end of the generator. How do I check it? Should I get some voltage at a certain idle? I'll see what mine's at tomorrow.
Also, what do you guys think about those pulse battery maintainers that are supposed to bring life back to an old battery?
I like the shumaker auto charger called auto float anti sulfation pulse very well. I can't test it exactly for anti sulfation pulse but it appears to be working on a car batter I bought in 1997.
IMO this charger is the bext bang for the buck. It is rated at 1.5 amps and 14 dcv, real world out put is more like 13.33dcv.
2 red lights makes much more sence. A chrg light and a oil light. Is there no light for neutral? Usually these are green, and I never saw a bike with out a green neutral light yet.
I am not sure what the system you have looks like. If at all possible post a picture of it.
I am not certain how you ohmed it out, unless the battery was off line. I hope it was or you can blow the meter fuse in Ohms mode and appling battery current to the meter then
I could give better tests if I could see your set up, but try these.
Set the meter to what ever is above 12 volt in DC mode. Most of my meters have that setting at 20 dcv.
Read the battery at the battery. A good battery should read 12.4 or better dcv.
Hook up the battery to the bike and set the key to on.
Test at the voltage regulator (reg) 'A' should read battery voltage the same as if you were touching the test lead to the battery. If it reads lower the wire has a high resistance.
Note: with the key on check the battery again at the battery, so you can tell these 2 places read the same. The battery will of course read lower as things are powered up before the engine is running.
The field terminal wire designation I forget so for now I will refer to it as 'F" for field. I can't see page 1 now.
Stop polarizing the gennie, and hook up both wires A and F. Start the engine and read F, looking for 1/2 battery voltage.
Hold some RPM to be around 2,400/2,800 and rad the F wire. It should read 6.5X dcv or about that. X is variable.
With the engine still running, check the A wire which should read 13.3X or so.
Charge this battery on a 1.5 amp charger for no less than 10 hours 18 is better.
Install a hard load like a spare set of passing lamps rated at 55 watts each (1 pair)
This load is around 9 amps, close enough to 10 amps to be practical. Hook up the meter with this load or a like load of anything, and let it run off the battery several minutes, while you watch the battery readings drop.
Time how long it takes to reach 10.5dcv.
In theory and I think the battery is rated at 18Ah (Ah is amp hours) the battery should run 1 amp 18 hours and 18 amps 1 hour.
So in about 1/2 hour that battery should be used up and dead, but not be dead dead.
So in 10 minutes if the battery still reads 10.5 dcv it is a pretty good battery.
I don't normaly use lights as the load, normally I use a start motor as the load, but you don't have one I think.
If you do crank the engine for 10 seconds on a watch and be reading the meter at the same time.
In 10 seconds time you won't want to see less than 10.5 dcv.
It was a fried voltage regulator. I've been riding my bike quite a bit lately. The weather has been good, it uses less gas than my truck and my hair is a mess. Life is good.
The light that is green on my bike is the one that goes to the Arm on the ginnie. When I start the bike, it goes off and the voltage on the Arm is about 13.4 v.
The V-Reg I had was after market I was told. It has a fin on it and sits on the end of the generator by the brushes. I put in what was supposedly the factory VR and rigged it up to the ginney and bypassed the old one. I had to leave the old one in place as it has a bearing in place that needs to be there. I should have taken a pic of the old VR when I had it off the bike. It basically had an Arm to ground short... 20 ohms. So with that, I was getting no volts at the Arm when the bike was running and no charge.
Wow, that battery lasted until just about the end of this winter. I guess that battery maintainer did its job. That battery lasted about 3.5 to 4 years.
I got a new maintenance free battery and only spent about 50 bucks for it.
I polarized the gennie by tapping 12v to the Armature, fired it up and took the bike for a ride tonight.
I am glad I found this forum. I have had charging problems since I got my Sportster, and 3 batteries later, I find this generator polarization trick. Thanks
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