Charging Question ?

Can I check the voltage output coming out of regulator-rectifier before going into the main harness ? I am getting
25-27 AC out of the alternator,but not showing any charge at the battery.I first thought it was the early-style
rectifier so I installed a new podtronics unit.Still not showing any charge at battery.I went back and bench tested
the original rectifier and it tested good.I have gone through all of my connections and they all are tight and clean.
I think my problem is in the loom somewhere as the warning light came on when everything else seemed good.Any
ideas as to what I should check next ?
Thanks,
YING













w

As Hobot mentioned in an earlier thread, the yellow wires of the Pods unit goes to the two wires of the stator (any order) The red wire from the pods unit goes to the + plus side of the battery (which of course is the ground) and the black wire from the pods unit goes to the (-) negative side of the battery. None of this stuff is going through the loom or switch.

Maybe not totally accurate but a good way of thinking about this system is, 1. the stator/rotor feeds the battery through the pods unit and 2. the battery feeds the bike. Thinking about it this way helps separate the confusion from the facts. Keeping the charging system separate form the rest of the electricals can really help with dependability. This is why balance within the charging system is important.

I feel matching the stator output with the battery capacity is important and the pods unit MUST match the stator. That is to say 200 watt stator must have a 200 watt Pods unit. Their are 3 sizes of Podtronics units in the single phase category, 120, 180 and 200.

The wires from the stator go directly to the rectifier (or the Pod). If you're getting 25VAC unloaded, that's a good sign. There should be no switches or connectors between them other than the wiring bullets and spade lugs. The output of the rectifier / regulator then feeds the battery and you should measure DC there. Very straight forward.

Maybe still on AC voltage instead of DC to check the out put side of Podtronic?, which no matter its wattage or phase count, it should be showing 14ish volts and should light up a headlight if meter is shot. If Podtronic wattage rating is too low for the charger it could heat up and melt, but our Lucas chargers ain't up to that level. If too small a wet cell battery it tends to boil off - if running about w/o any lights on, but otherwise not much an issue either. If gel cell or matt type battery, say like the 1.2 hr shirt pocket size I ran with for some years, that's a non issue even with 3 phase 210 watt alternator. I've put my battery in with reversed polarity by mistake and it blew the fuse, so put back right and a new fuse and rode off. If battery too big then may not fully charge up with our whimpy chargers.

with nothing else connected to the charging system other than the stator wires to the podtronic ,properly
grounded,I get a reading of only 2-3 volts coming out

of the black wire.Is this an improper test ?
YING

Well then looks like time to try another Podtronic and send the old one to me or someone else to plug in and see if it fails to rec/reg enough to run and charge.

Steve,
Its brand new !!!

What were your RPM when you took the read from the black - and red + wires.
Hook the wire to the battery and run it up to three grand

What watt is you stator and what watt is the Pods Unit. If you are running a 160 or 200 watt stator and a 120 watt Podtronic unit, it will pop like and weak fuse.

There are absolutely no wiring splices within your motorcycle's wiring harness. If there were any splices to be done, they're done at terminals at various electrical components. This is why you see wires paired off at various terminals. In that case the terminals double as wire splices. I doubt that there is an internal wiring problem within the wiring harness. However, all wires can be easily checked with your ohm meter. The battery should be disconnected before you do any ohm meter checks - that is to protect your ohm meter from possible damage.

To check the charging system wires:

• Disconnect the colored wires (green and yellow; white and green) stator wire connectors

• Disconnect the point where you hooked up your Podtronics

• Check the continuity of the wires, they should read zero ohms

• If that checks good, also check to see if the wires are not shorted out some place to ground

• If that is good, check to see where your Podtronics red wire would be hooked up, ensure that you have zero ohms to the positive battery terminal

• The Podtronics black wire is hooked up either to the negative battery terminal or anywhere along the brown and blue wire. You should have zero ohms from wherever you hook your Podtronics to the negative battery terminal and also you should have zero ohms from your Podtronics to your ignition switch.

• Also check to see if your green and yellow stator wire to the warning light assimilator reads zero ohms. Again make sure that there are no shorts to ground.

• Check the warning light assimilator using your ohm meter, you should have about 24 ohms between the AL terminal and E terminal. If you read no continuity, the circuit is open and your assimilator is shot. If it reads zero ohms, there is a short and your assimilator is shot. You should also have zero ohms between the WL terminal and E terminal (I am sure you do because you mentioned previously that the light does turn on). You might as well check the red wire that went to the assimilator and make sure that it reads zero ohms at the battery terminal.

You mentioned that you checked the output voltage and read something like 25- 27 volts. This tells me that you did not use the 1 ohm load resistor. You are not going to get a good reading of your alternator output without using the 1 ohm load resistor. Check the voltage drop across the 1 ohm resistor. The service manual states that you should have a minimum of 9 volts (the more the merrier) at 3000 RPM. Using Ohms Law 9 volts translates directly into 9 amps. Also you shouldn't read any voltage output between ground and the terminals of the 1 ohm resistor. If you do, that would indicate a short circuit to ground within the stator.

Once all of the wiring has all been checked, the Podtronics and all electrical connections are hooked up, verified good and sound, you should read 14-14.5 volts at your battery terminal when the engine is running. Turn on all the loads (lights, etc.) and you still should read 14-14.5 volts. Whatever components you disconnected (Zenar diode, 2 MC Capacitor, your old rectifier) - make sure that the brown and blue wire terminals can't short to ground.

Ying, maybe you should check to see if the voltmeter is made in China ?