Battery or regulator?
 

When i turn the switch normally my headlights , neutrual light and so on turns on. for å while now they havent. i have a 1991 3tb with kick start.

when i drive i have lights, but not strong, when i idle it the lights dimms.

today i had a two hour ride, and normally i should have some power on the battery then, right? but there was no lights when i turned the switch.

im going to try to measure the charging tomorrow if i get the time.

but whats your bet, the battery or the regulator/charging system? i wouldnt have driving lights if it was the regulator/charging right?

earlirer this spring i mounted heated hand grips and noticed emidiatly that the lights went according to the trottle. i might have a small battery due to the kick stand.

whitch battery is the right for this bike?

maby a messy post, but it would be nice with some pointers.

cheers

my xt600e from 2003 have around a 8-9Ah battery.

If you can, charge the batterym and put a loadtester to it. You can make a DIY with a big bulb (like a 100w or anything close to that), and hold it on the battery, and see if the voltage just drops way down below 12v.

If the battery is fine, meassure the voltage on the battery with the bike of, with the bike idling (should be a minimum of 12v) and around 2-3000rpm you should get around 14ish, both with lights on.

If its the reg/rec, its usual bad/corroded wires. The reg/rec itself holds up good, depending on which year the bike is. Mine have a reg/rec with cooling fins, almost unbreakable.

Im srruggling much to turn my thoughts into functuanally english sentences, but hope it makes sence.

Battery - definately. Regulator - maybe that too.

Your regulator is supplying the current to run the lights with the engine running. If it is not working properly it may be putting too many volts out and that may have killed your battery.

You can use Jen's suggestion but I think turning the lights on and pressing a brake lever will get you (55W + 5W + 25W) 85W anyway. The voltage on the battery should not go much below 12V.

If the regulator is OK you should get 13V - 14.4V above about 1500 rpm. Mine (43F so different electrics) put out 13.8V.

Rev it up to about 4000 rpm and it shouldn't increase any more than 1V and shouldn't go above 14.4V in any case. If the regulator is shot you will get:
1. No more volts on the battery with the engine running than without (I don't think you will find this). This will be a corroded or broken terminal as Jens says - this happened on my mates XT660E, the output (DC) terminal broke off from corrosion.
2. Lots more volts (like 18V - 24V). The regulator is recifying but not regulating. This is a quick way to boil and kill a battery.

I don't know about XTs but Hondas generally go the second way and are horrendously expensive without the replacement cost for the dead battery to include as well.

a bad fuse connection can be the fault!
I had to replace my fuse cable as it was not making enough contact as it was only hanging there by a few cores of wire...


good luck!

Vando beer

i have now measured the battery and charging. i mesured on the poles of the battery.

the battery is a yuasa- super mf- YTX4L-B3

whit the engine off : 3 volts

whith low rews: 10 volts

whith higher revs: 5-6 volts

so it dropps when i turn the gas roll...

from the engine off to turning the key, before starting engine it altso dropped from 3 volts to under 2 volts...

You need a new battery. Obviously...

I have seen wierd voltages like that before though. I had 3 dead cells in my battery (43F so different electrics) so it was only putting out around 6V. The regulator wouldn't provide a decent voltage with this battery, I assume because there wasn't enough resistance. So even with the engine running, it was only getting slightly more than battery current.

I would just do the battery first and see what you get. It fixed mine a treat the regulator is working properly now it is feeding the correct load.

If you have a booster pack, you could test it first. Remove the battery and connect the booster to the terminals. Like this:
http://www.bandit127.com/images/Chas...ctrics%20S.jpg

I have one of those boosters too.. tho mine doesn't hold charge anymore lol


Vando beer

ok, im buying a new battery tomorrow. i see that my local shop has both normal and gel batteryes. do i need a gel battery.

i have kick start only, but i need some power for my hand warmers

well.. hold on!

Are you gonna buy the same size battery as your stock one?!

First you gotta find out if your charging system can actually charge a larger battery than the stock!

Also, the little price difference between normal acid batteries and gel batteries I'd go with a gel battery as there aren't risks of it spilling!


I had a similar problem to yours.
and I explained on my previous post..

The connection was good enough to allow the bike to start but wasn't enough to actually keep the battery charged!

Check, double-check and triple-check every connection!


Vando beer

You could get the shop to double check the battery for you before you spend the money on a new one. But since you measured the battery on the poles, I am still sure that they will find it is no good.

hello again. the battery thats on the bike now is only 3 amp.

wount the charging system handle a 8 amp battery?

will it then not work, or will it only not use the full capasity of the new battery. the 8 amp is the only battery they have for this bike

8 Amp/hours is more like it and probably the right model for the bike.

The charging system should cope as the volts will be the same so the charging current will be the same. You will just have a bigger reserve of amps so it will take longer to charge. Once charged the electrics will use the 8 amp/hour capacity just like it used to use the 3 amp/hour one. It will just last longer.

As Vando says - this assumes all the connections are OK.

i have now connected the OLD battery to a battery charger. when charging i measured on the poles again and got 12.6 volts right after starting the charging

Get a bigger battery and get a gel one for sure. Ofcourse the bike can charge a bigger battery. You have the same volts and the same current. It will take 3 times as long to fully charge a 9Ah than a 3Ah, but you get a "buffer" that 3 times bigger. Its simple :)

The battery (old one) might not hold a charge, eventhough it looks good coming straight fromt he charger. If you have meassured it with very low voltage It will never be really good again, and it makes the reg/rec work harder. Ditch it.

went to the store and bought a new battery. the 8 amp was too big to fit so i got a 4 amp gel battery. i used it home and the lights are atleast bright. im charging it now on the new batterycharger i altso bought :)

Some gel batteries already come preactivated...

Are you sure your's needs charging?
read the infosheet!


Vando beer

dont know, but cant hurt.

i checked the charging. i only got right over 13 volts when mesuring on the poles when the bike was reved up.... shouldnt it be around 14

Nice to see you got your battery sorted. And nice to see the charging system seems to be working again now too.

13 V is normal for a well charged battery. You might see around 13.8 V if the battery is being charged from a low charge state (i.e. flat).

Does your bike have an electric start?

it was now 13,8 after charging. but when i had the bike running earlier today (before i charged it) i could only measure 13 v when i reved the bike.

i have kick only

I just went to for a ride with a girl friend of mine and the bike wouldn't start WTF doh


I believe it was my fault tho.. starting and stopping the bike too many times and not riding her enough time to recharge... as I was only rejetting the carbs...

It was now 12.68v but wouldn't start...
I'm currently having it charged in the minimum setting..0.85amps/hour
will let it charge for 6hours..

And will check all the electric connections again....
I need to get one of those spray terminal cleaners to properly clean everything up :\

Any thoughts?
Can any of you tell me what's the engine RPM charging range?


Vando :rolleyes2:

12,68v with bike shut of should start the bike no problem.....Didnt you add a kicker aswell? When my starter relay got stock the startermotor turer over for what seems like several minutes.

Mine charges with over 14v (with lights on) at 1400rpm, unlike my buddys now sold ktm 640 which barely charged at idlespeed. (EDIT: I'll see if I can post piv for you, i've added a voltmeter for the very same reason)

Charge it up a bit and give her a go.

i have now driven the new battery empty. the battery wasnt the only porblem it seems. now the currance is so low that the main light dimmes in a pulse when i use the turn signal.

whats the next step? the regulator. i have measured the charging, see earlier post

Check the fuse cable... if it corroded or hanging just by a few cores of wire it won't charge the battery!

And yes, regulator is the safest way to go.
If the problem is from somewhere else you'll always have a spare regulator!

Also, clean ALL your electrical connections PROPERLY!!


Mine is fixed already....


Vando beer

ok, ill check the wirings

and of it doesent work ill order one of these

VOLTAGE REGULATOR for YAMAHA XT 600 E TT 600 K NEW | eBay

i have now checked the wirings, i see that the + from the regulator has several relays on the wire, as you can see on the pic. i should obviously measured close tho the regulator but i forgot it. after brushing of the connections on the regulator and taking a quick check on the other wires i started up the bike. when the bike was of i measured 11,98 v (low voltage on battery, now charging) when i measured which high revs i got 12,90 v.

this is too low isn't it?

should i buy a new regulator? in that case give me the advise asap, then i can order one before going on holiday.

i altos found a weird connection that i couldt figure out. it was covered in tape, and when i opened it it was a "connection box" with a loop in it. it was connected poorly, but i measured it an there was connection. see the picture. what can this be?

http://bildr.no/thumb/943417.jpeg


<a href='http://bildr.no/view/943417'>http://bildr.no/view/943417</a>

i hope someone can give me a quick advise regarding the regulator. and is it the right type i have linked too in the last post?

Could be the sidestand-switch disabled, the connector looks like one anyway :)

Thanks Jens. I know the side stand switch is bypassed. Then this is the bypass?

But then it isn't related to the charging problem. Im leaving for vacation later today, should i order a regulator before i leave?

The regulator you linked to fits an XT600E. You said yours was kick only so I am suggesting a 'double check'. That one needs a single square plug with 4 connections - 3 white and 1 red.

My 1984 kick only 43F looks different to that and has more plugs, picure here:
Ebay link

If yours looks the same as the one you linked to and you have a single square plug with 4 connectors then you should be fine.