94 XJ 600 charge issues

What has been done.
Engine is in a stretched Warrior quad frame. Harness is out of the Seca II the engine came from.
Checked the windings (perm magnet type NO brushes) the reading on all 3 wires are within spec per Haynes manual.
Checked AC voltage at idle, 50V AC within spec.
Cleaned plug in at 3 wire from stator, to harness, to R/R.
Replaced regulator with brand new one.
Battery only gets a charge with no lights on and reved up of about 12.8V and when lights are on falls to 12.11V.
Added ground wire directly from battery to R/R to eliminate any bad ground issues there.
Used the fault finding chart from Electrosport and led me to the possibility of the ignition switch being faulty but it ohms properly when the key is turned but i get a funky reading on the brown switched 12V wire according to their test.
Cleaned all grounds, tightened all spade connectors and ohmed wires etc, Thing just will flat out NOT charge.
Battery is brand spankin new AGM 12 AH and load tests properly and is not suspect.

I am looking for any insight on this as its drivin me nuts! Dirt track car racing is coming soon and I use this ride at the track as I work for the officiating team.. ANY help will be GREATLY appreciated!!! Thank you all!

 

What is the amp load of the lights?
These charging systems are regulated at approximately 19 amps, and going from a motorcycle with single headlight/taillight to a quad with dual would double the load of the lights on the system. It is possible to exceed the load of the charging system very easily when adding lights.

Also things like adding strobe/flashing/warning lights would greatly increase the load on the system.

Some things you can do to reduce the load is replacing regular bulbs with LED bulbs to reduce the amp draw of the lights.

Ghost

 

I can turn the head lights off or on. The strobes are LED. The head lights are just wired to the high side of the switch and to turn them off I just turn the switch to low. Hope this helps some and thanks for the reply

 

Do you know anyone with a dc current clamp - sometimes called "Tong tester"?

That way you would know how much actual current was flowing from the RR to the battery.

 

no. It is unfortunate that I do not know anyone with one, sitting out here with it right now and have made a little, very little head way. The regulator for once is getting warm as it should and with the engine running I am getting 12.81 at the battery, 12.31 at the battery with the 2 55W head lights on. So I guess now, even though the stator is putting out 70Vac @ 5000 rpm+, that its possible that it is weak? I had ordered an electroshit stator and they sent the wrong one, so I had to send it back costing another 11 bucks and who knows what else.
It appears to me that it is some what charging, just not at 14 V as the book says it should, or I possibly have a crap multi meter. Im off to check that now.

 

I also have two wires coming out of the back of my ign. switch so I have a total of 4. One red, one brown, one blue with red marking, and one black with white square. The manual says they should go to the meter lighting and an aux. bulb. When I turn my ign. switch on, there is NO power coming out of these two wires what so ever. Dont know if this means anything or not but doesnt seem right

 

Another poster had "Overcharging" problems which turned out to be a low meter battery

Does the battery go flat after a while? Your readings suggest the RR has no output. Can you post battery voltage without the engine running?

Regarding the aux lamp - UK bikes have a "Park" position which makes the tail lamp work with the keys out. I will check the manual later and see if that is it.

 

reading without engine running as of today is 12.14. You are correct, no output from the RR as checked at the red lead comming out of it. SO confused........

 

Looking at the drawing - there is a fuse between the regulator output and the battery as well as the red connection to the ignition switch. Has this failed although, it seems likely it is working if you retained the old loom and fusebox?
What was the funky reading on the ignition you mentioned in the first post?

Have you got a 4 or 5 terminal RR (5 terminal RR's were from the 1998 models - but will work)

 

4 terminal. the funky reading I got is lost in my mind right now but according to the electrosport trouble shooting chart it was out of spec. The factory fuse box (blade fuses) is intact. Im inclined that the new RR I got from 4moto on Ebay could be faulty? I also would like to know where the wires should be positioned in the plug, I know the whites can be anywhere but what post should the red be attached to? When looking at the plug, plugged into the regulator, the red is in the connector on the bottom right. Tried looking for a pic on the net last night and came up with nothing, so I am going to run a new red wire out of the plug tonight . I also ran the red wire from the RR directly to the battery and nothing changed there either, so no power output from the RR for sure.

 

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=22180.html

Check this post BUT it is a photo of the earlier XJ600 regulator - UK model which also featured a permanent magnet rotor.

 

Ordered another regulator today from Ricks. The one I got off Epay was new but says on the box that its for a fzr 400. SO, I bit the bullet and made the choice to get another one, so far 67$usd for the one on the way and 39$usd for the one from Japan off of Epay. If it doesnt correct the issue, i flat out give up and will have to buy another 4 wheeler. I NEED one for my tech inspector job at the local dirt track. I replaced the terminal ends at the RR tonight, still not working, 12.48V with no load. My ignition switch ohms good and seems to work, but almost ready to just put a good amp toggle there instead of the key to see if it makes any difference. Is there any type of resistor in the brown lead that runs back to the fuse box for the ignition power? This is my 12V switched wire. I followed it back to the fuse panel and it goes to the ignition slot. Maybe I will just punch a hole in the stator cover and mount an old racing alternator on there with a belt !!! LOL

 

Don't give up!

The red wire goes to the ignition switch and the brown wire powers the circuits you want on from the key, like ignition etc.

The 4 terminal RR does rely on a chassis ground for negative battery connection.

 

Hmmm, I just noticed I went from Biker wannabe to Gear Grinder! WOO HOO!! Yes on the colors, everything is hooked up correctly and I have ran seperate- extra grounds to the RR and also ran a direct wire from the red lead out of the RR straight to the battery. No improvement, but I have all weekend to get the tank done etc before the new RR shows up. Hopefully I just got screwed on the other one and this one will work.

 

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The new regulator I bought new off Ebay was no good! So, I removed all the factory wire protectors, found all the factory splices and soldered them all up good, then we organized everything. So Thanks Markie, not just from me but from all the others you help on here too!