Quick & dirty: chopped up stock wiring, solid state reg/rec and coils from a 79 CB650 (similar to DOHC 750 stuff), headlight OFF, and I just refilled my
half dry battery (two middle cells were near bone dry, others were ok) and charged it over night. Start it up, at 4k revs I was showing 17ish volts across the
battery. I'm assuming this isn't normal... Thoughts? Ideas? Random pearls of wisdom?
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Charging @ 17 volts!!!!
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 sixshooter |
Charging @ 17 volts!!!! |
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Posts: 139 (06/03/09 7:21 AM) |
"Now as ridiculous as some things may sound... there comes a time of desperation... when no one's looking... when you will give the ridiculous a
try." -Bill Cosby
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74rat |
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Posts: 4919 (06/03/09 7:25 AM) |
Run er with the lights on, to rob a bit of that voltage, and call er good..
74rat when in doubt..knock`um out...H.C.C.M.F LOCAL 6978 Flint Michigan..3rd most dangerous city in the USA..come back and visit us..sorry we "missed" you the first time..LOL |
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horseshoe |
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Posts: 296 (06/03/09 7:26 AM) |
i tried to use a reg/rec. from an 80 CB650 on mine, and it just wouldn't work for me. so i got the reg/rec LRT sells, works fine now. so i suggest just
getting the correct reg/rec.
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sixshooter |
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Posts: 141 (06/03/09 7:38 AM) |
Well the reg/rec has behaved well for over a year now, I just had my battery die the other day, so I'm looking into everything... I guess the quicker &
dirtier question would be: does 17 volts at 4k rpms with the lights off sound outrageous? Or is the reg/rec putting out too much juice for my battery?
"Now as ridiculous as some things may sound... there comes a time of desperation... when no one's looking... when you will give the ridiculous a
try." -Bill Cosby
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71CHOP |
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Posts: 11883 (06/03/09 8:18 AM) G.O.T.F. Member |
i would bet your cells were dry cause the high voltage cooked off the electolite.......
over 15 votls starts to boil the batt. you should be around 14.5......... or like rat said.....ad some lighting see where you end up. |
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Raggs |
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Posts: 329 (06/03/09 8:54 AM) |
I think 71Chop hit the nail on the head.......... you're going to go through batteries like crazy pushing 17 volts into those little batteries..
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asphaltwarrior1 |
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Posts: 4381 (06/03/09 3:19 PM) Motor Mouth |
nick that is alittle high man..the regulator should shut down at 15 volts bro....she sounds bad...
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sixshooter |
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Posts: 142 (06/03/09 7:16 PM) |
With the headlight on it doesn't get over 15v... My father made the point that these bikes were designed to run the headlight all the time, so running with
it off will give higher voltage readings. Everything seems to be working ok now. What I need is a volt meter that I can run all the time, so I can keep an eye
on it. No doubt that over 15v will cook the battery, and under 13v when running will drain it. That 2v window just seems evasive with an old battery and
chopped up wiring... thanks for the input all.
"Now as ridiculous as some things may sound... there comes a time of desperation... when no one's looking... when you will give the ridiculous a
try." -Bill Cosby
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chopperfreak |
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Posts: 708 (06/03/09 7:50 PM) senior member |
sixshooter wrote: Thats a bunch of BS.. sorry A voltage regulators output should not be so unstable that a headlight going out will cause it to fail to regulate within the safe zone Thats just not how they work. if adding a headlight makes the voltage come back into range, I think that you may have a problem with the regulator and possibly the stator. 71 chop is dead on as far as the batt being low on electrolyte.
Last Edited By: chopperfreak
06/03/09 7:53 PM.
Edited 1 times.
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rakeNtrail |
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Posts: 2937 (06/03/09 8:05 PM) G.O.T.F. Member |
Chopperfreak is right The headlamp has squat to do with your voltage.
The regulator is set up to limit the DC output to it's set voltage. In this case 14.5v. Excess "juice" is shunted off to ground and dissipated as heat. The reason for the heat sink fins on the regulators. As you increase demand the regulator allows more "juice" into your system to get back to that magic number (14.5V) If you're getting 17V your regulator is simply not working correctly.
Underneath all this fat lies the body of a
God!
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jpswino |
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Posts: 5659 (06/03/09 8:30 PM) |
Yep, thats how it was explained to me as well.
"In the wind, with my mind on my money and my money on my mind"...now I just gotta get some.
Check out my world at http://jpswino.u.yuku.com/ |
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sixshooter |
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Posts: 144 (06/04/09 11:51 AM) |
That all makes sense on paper... But on my bike it works the other way. I don't know why or how but it's working. It shows proper voltage across the
battery until I turn the headlight off - then it jumps up.
"Now as ridiculous as some things may sound... there comes a time of desperation... when no one's looking... when you will give the ridiculous a
try." -Bill Cosby
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Raggs |
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Posts: 332 (06/04/09 12:02 PM) |
At 3000 rpms mine shows 14.69 V When I turn the headlight on it drops about 1 volt for about 1 second then returns to 14.69V Your should do the same. Maybe
not the exact voltage, but it should not charge more than 15V at any time. The regulator does just that. It regulates charging. If you don't get your
charging voltage back down to where it's supposed to be you will be buying a lot of new batteries. You just might end up going through a few light bulbs
sooner than normal also.
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asphaltwarrior1 |
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Posts: 4401 (06/04/09 4:44 PM) Motor Mouth |
yup nick..headlight off or on 14.5-15.max..the reg should shut down over that....we are only trying to help.please dont think we are attacking you or your
dad..later bro
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chopperfreak |
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Posts: 710 (06/04/09 4:57 PM) senior member |
sixshooter wrote:Just trying to help man, This is what I do for a living. (motorcycle mechanic) BTW I also have a degree in Electrical engineering, and if it is working properly it will work the same way it is on paper. You have a bad regulator, and for good measure you need to check your stator output and static ohm values each wire to each other and to ground. |
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rakeNtrail |
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Posts: 2940 (06/04/09 5:28 PM) G.O.T.F. Member |
sixshooter wrote:Your regulator is not correcting it's output. It's stuck at that particular output. You get the drop when you turn on the headlight simply because you're increasing the load. Eventually it may fail completely and leave you stranded.
Underneath all this fat lies the body of a
God!
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74rat |
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Posts: 4920 (06/04/09 5:33 PM) |
Tell`in ya...run the bastard..
not all regulators are created equal.. My theory is that.. your battery is questionable as hell...your other then stock regulator, is picking up that fact that your battery is weak, needs heavy charge, and is doing what its suppose to.. throw a new battery in it, and let us know what reading you get then? Or, keep the headlight on, and run er.. Case in point...NOT a cb750...but on one of my other have funs...if one light blows/burns out, the others will get brighter..if two lights happen to burn out, the rest will pretty much emediatly blow out, due to high voltage...you can see them get rediculessly bright, for about a second, before they blow...and this is with a garranteed good regulator etc...just how it works.. If the headlight (biggest draw) happens to be the first to burn out for whatever reason, age, too many hard hits etc....the rest are gonners within seconds.. 74rat when in doubt..knock`um out...H.C.C.M.F LOCAL 6978 Flint Michigan..3rd most dangerous city in the USA..come back and visit us..sorry we "missed" you the first time..LOL |
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chopperfreak |
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Posts: 711 (06/04/09 6:25 PM) senior member |
sorry rat, but you are just plain wrong. no matter how bad the battery is. the regulator should not be outputting 17 volts.
Doesnt matter if you have a headlight on or not. You right they are not all created equal, but they are all created to do the same job, and all 12v lead acid batteries will begin to fry at about 16 volts. that is why all automotive 12v regulators clamp their maximum output to around 15.5. but what do I know, I just do this shit for a living. |
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sixshooter |
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Posts: 145 (06/05/09 1:20 PM) |
Ok... Bad regulator. I appreciate all the help guys. I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't willing to accept an answer. The good news is I have my old
stock stuff which I can adjust to spec or another cb650 at a junk yard down the street to grab another solid state reg/rec. Next thing is this: anyone know how
to bench test a solid state reg/rec? Also, is there something I could have done to make it fail? Or was it probably bad from the get-go and that's why my
battery keeps giving me shit?
"Now as ridiculous as some things may sound... there comes a time of desperation... when no one's looking... when you will give the ridiculous a
try." -Bill Cosby
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Da Big Sexy |
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Posts: 696 (06/05/09 2:42 PM) |
Mine was running at 18v but then I changed the battery in my cheap test and now its all good.
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74rat |
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Posts: 4923 (06/05/09 6:12 PM) |
chopperfreak...you ever taken the cover off a stock regulator, started the bike, and manually fittled with the points in the regulator? if so, what was the max
voltage you could get out of a stock good working voltage regulator?
I`ve done it a few times... 74rat when in doubt..knock`um out...H.C.C.M.F LOCAL 6978 Flint Michigan..3rd most dangerous city in the USA..come back and visit us..sorry we "missed" you the first time..LOL |
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