Never mind, I fixed it.

Yamaha_chop · Posted: September 29, 2008, 1:55 pm Post subject: Never mind, I fixed it.

OK everyone, I'd really appreciate any input I could get here. Electrical is not my strong point, especially on these old bikes.

Specs: 1979 XS650 The only factory wiring on the bike is the wires that come off of the stator and brushes, everything else was scratch built by me.

The problem: Last week my headlight burned out, I had been running the bike for a couple months and everything seemed fine. So I wired up the low beam light, and that burned out pretty quickly as well. So I checked the voltage at the light connection, and it was around 17.5volts with the engine running!

I have the solid state regulator and rectifier replacements as outlined in Pamcopete's post over at the XS650 Garage.

Here's how the bike is wired:
The regulator- the orange and yellow wires are connected to a switched 12v wire.
The black is grounded to the battery(in fact, all of my grounds go to the battery, except one wire that goes from the battery ground to the frame. Also, I do not have a standard battery box as you can see in the pictures.)
The green wire is connected to the green wire coming from the brushes.

In looking at the diagrams out there, there's supposed to be a black wire coming from the stator/brushes harness, I have a brown one, not black. I connected this wire to ground, was that incorrect?

The rectifier is wired according to Pamcopete's diagrams online, including the 20a fused line to the positive side of the battery.

To date, I have replaced both the regulator and the rectifier diodes, neither has done anything. If I start the bike, I'm registering right about 20 volts at the battery terminals (Is that even possible?)

Anyway, I am stumped on this one, I want to be out riding my bike, but I have no real idea where to go from here. Any thoughts you might have would help me immensely.

Any questions about how I've wired something feel free to ask, I'll try to answer it as accurately as possible.

Here's some pictures of the bike:

Thanks again for any possible help.
Sky

Yamaha_chop

Another note, the tail-light bulbs have not burned out at all, and the engine seems to run great right now no problems there.

Also, I just removed the ground wire from the brown wire that goes to the brushes, and the voltage at the battery terminals is now jumping anywhere from 13.0volts to 15.7volts with the engine running at idle.

Don't know if that helps or hurts to know.

Thanks
Sky

Retiredgentleman

I suggest you post this over at 650garage. You are using Pamcopete's system so I'm sure he will help with your problem.

Yamaha_chop

already did, redundancy is the best option sometimes Smile

Yamaha_chop · Posted: September 29, 2008, 7:27 pm Post subject: Re: Never mind, I fixed it.

Fixed it.

I had the brown wire from the brushes and the black wire from the regulator grounded to their own grounds, I hooked those two wires together and BAM 12.5v at idle.

sheesh! I need to take some electrical courses or something.

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650