my new bike wont charge right!!

[imdawrlus]

i bought the bike on friday its a yzf600 with 13k miles...the previous owner put a new battery in while i watched...so it has a new wal mart battery.

anyways the bike dosent charge like it should...i left the headlights on and drained the battery on saturday, but i jumpstarted it and took it for a ride figuring it should charge up the battery, but it wouldent.

i'm completly new to bikes but i'm not new to troubleshooting automotove type problems.

i charged the battery with a trickle charger for a few hours yesterday and got to the voltage to 13 volts after the battery sat for an hour off the charger...my repair manual spec says it should be at 12.8. i put it back in the bike and started it, and at idle it has 12.5 volts, i rev it up to 5K and it has 12.8 volts. so the magneto is atleast doing SOMETHING.

my manual says to check all fuses and connections...i did that. it says to check the resistance on the three wire plug that comes from the mag...it says resistance between the pins should be between .36 and .44 ohms.

my mulitmeter is digital and was bouncing around a little bit...between pins 1&2 and pins 1&3 the resistance would bounce between .2 and .6 ohms, but it would always seem to come back and sort of "stabalize" around .3-.4.

.........i'm hoping i can rule out the stator/mag..........

right now i'm pretty much up against a brick wall...my manual dosent give a way to test the voltage regulator...should i just go ahead and replace it or should i try to get a more solid reading on the resistance on the mag wires?

thank you in advance for any help!

[RayOSV]

Charge the battery overnight. A few hours of charging on a battery that was fully discharged isn't enough. Plus, bikes don't have enough extra amps to charge a battery quickly by riding around.

[imdawrlus]

the battery wasent fully discharged, it was at about 9 volts when i found out i left the key on.

i tried charging it by riding it first, and it didnt work. i trickle charged it for about 6 hours, and let it sit for an hour off the charger before i read the voltage with my multimeter, which was 13 volts. book says 12.8 is what it needs.

bike running it has less voltage than with the bike off. somewhere somehow it isnt being given enough charge.

at this point even if the battery is bad, if the charging system is working right it should atleast bring up the voltage to the book spec of 14.7 volts, especially since the battery is already at 13...right?

something must be wrong with it or else the previous owner wouldent have put a new battery in it just before i bought it (i watched him put it in)

[thebird_19]

It should have jumped to around 13 or 14 volts when you throttled up to 5000rpm's so if its not I would start going through the charging system. Everything to do with the charging system, but always start with the cheapest easiest things first. Also make sure all harness connections are good and check your grounds.

[CBRAWR]

9 volts is WAY low...anything under about 12.3 volts is low and needs to be charged....hook it up to a real battery charger....or better...a battery tender...after it sits on that overnight check the voltage on the battery again and it should be over 13v.....after its fully charged and you've been on a few rides check voltage again to make sure the bike is keeping it charged. if it's not check the voltages on the regulator


^^^^ thats what i get for not reading all the posts

[hybrid]

Your charging system should have went up to a maximum of 14.7 volts and then dropped off if the battery didnt need the juice.

Youll have to make sure the regulator recitifier is working. It has diode that only let current pass one way so youll need to check for continuity and it will only go one direction for each lead. Then check to ground

Then on the charging coil youll need to check for any grounds...........and make sure that it at least sends a bit of current when you bumb the starter motor.

you need the OEM manual if youre going to do electrical diagnostics.

[imdawrlus]

i do have the oem manual and it dosent give any special tests for the recitifer..it just said check all connections, check fuses and check resistance at the stator plug, and it all tests good replace the recitifer.

i still havent really gone over the grounds, but i will do that next.

i cant really see that stator burning out...all it is is a few copper coils and some magnets...the voltage regulator seems a lot more venerable.

i will keep you updated

[imdawrlus]

i went to the yamaha dealer a couple towns away to find out a little bit more about the problem i'm having...i didnt expect them to be so nice.

the parts guy was very nice and had plenty of knowlege...he told me i should go to the next building over and talk to the owner and the mechanics and he said they would be more than glad to help me...crazy.

so i walked over to the service building and sure enough they were very pleased to help me trouble shoot my problem...i told them what i had checked and what i knew...they told me exactly how to check the stator with my multimeter...sure enough its good so the only thing left to fail is the regulator/rectifier...they even offered to test my battery for me for free, so i went home and got it and it tests good...great people.

so they ordered the part for me and i'll have it in under a week...i'll try to update once i get the bike back together

[raznhel_n_vt]

Glad to hear you found a shop that would help you out like that. Good luck with the repair.

[imdawrlus]

with the battery trickle charged to 13 volts and a new voltage regulator, the bike now charges at 14.25 volts at all engine rpms, even at an idle...i'm happy with that.

[imdawrlus]

double post sorry

[velocity bmg]

Glad you got it fixed, and let people know what the problem was.

Good post.

[imdawrlus]

i always try to update...i've found that it helps me...if in the future i have the same problem again i can read the post again and get reminded of the exact details of the problem