Charge voltage

[Kurt in S.A.]

What is the procedure for checking the Voltage regulator?

Snowbum has a procedure on his website. There's a procedure in Motorrad Elektrik's Classic Boxer Charging book...we'll worth it, BTW.

Kurt in S.A.

[dougie]

The Haynes manual has a test for the regulator in the charging system section.

[chasbmw]

I don't if this helps, my r90/6 has an almost standard electrics apart from the standard electronic regulator and an oldish thunderchild diode board, all connections are good and bright, the main harness is original, but the subharness from diode board to regulator and starter relay is new. The battery is a 680 Odessey. I running a parking light as a daytime light, currently recording around 13.5 volts charging voltage at the battery, the on bike voltmeter shows about 1/2 volt less. I'm now around 2500 miles into my trip, no charging issues yet. Yes some of the riding days are long, but speeds can be low (Greece) I'm rarely exceeding 4000 rpm for any period of time.

SO my suggestion might be not to sweat the numbers too much, the charging will soo enough tell you if is not working well enough and this is most likely to happen at home.

[Major Softie]

Higher CCA (cold cranking amps) may be better, or worse, depending upon what a person wants most. A battery with higher CCA just means that it has thinner plates. Which is another way of saying that it has a greater surface area. That means that it can discharge at a greater rate. It has huge downsides too, as there is no free lunch.

Assuming that the new battery is the same physical size as the old one. The plates are thinner and the material will wear off faster. They will be more prone to warping, as they can get hot faster. This risks an internal short, which is a common failure mode in any lead acid battery. More warping can cause more of the crud that collects on the surface to fall off. That stuff falls down to the bottom and builds up to eventually cause more trouble.

All of this info is very old, so modern technology could well obviate some of it. In other words, I haven't learned a thing in a long time.

This is mostly still "current" (sorry), but only when talking about conventional wet lead acid batteries. When you get into different battery technologies, it doesn't always apply (for instance: AGM).

[Chuey]

It seems that it was the voltage regulator. My friend Bob came over to help me with the details today. We ironed out most of the problems. The test we did was to jumper across the two non-ground contacts in the voltage regulator plug when it was disconnected from the VR. Thus, we were able to see if the alternator is charging. It is. Like a champ. So, I'll try a different VR. I tried to take the one from my RS and I couldn't get the front screw out.

I have an aftermarket VR (electronic) that was on my Cafe' Racer when I bought it as a tired old bike. It has male spade connectors but I don't know which ones to plug into the VR plug on the harness. Any guidance there?

If you remember, the bike was heating up super hot right away. When Bob was looking for the vacuum take off tubes to hook up his manometer (?) we found the reason for the hot running. The vacuum take offs had not been plugged so were creating a super lean condition. OOPS!

So, the things I need to chase down are: (1) hook up a VR. (2)nuetral light does not come on. (3) voltmeter seems stuck and is reading 12v even with the ignition off. (5)high beam light is on when the low beam is used and vice-a-versa (it's backwards).

There is no registration or insurance on the bike yet so that is on the agenda. It sure sounds nice. Bob said the carbs are really nice due to how they responded to adjustments.

Thanks for the help. Please let me know if there's an obvious answer to the nuetral light and high beam indicator.

Chuey

[lrz]

Sounded like the VR; installing a new one is a no brainer however, I used a borg-warner unit that would not put out more than 12 ( more like 11.8).

Neutral light could be bulb or switch-bulb easier & less time consuming than switch r&r.However, a "stuck" voltmeter & reversed hi/lo along w/ lack of neutral light seems an odd combo...

Are the connections of your speedo/tach unit clean & secure?

[Duane Ausherman]

Neutral lights are usually very simple to make work. What year is the transmission?

The neutral light switch inside the transmission grounds the wire. Did you ground the neutral light wire on the transmission? You need not remove the wire, just short it across to ground. If that doesn't make it come on, then ground the same wire at the top end. Are you sure that the bulb works?

[Chuey]

I checked the switch under the trans for the neutral light. When the bike is in neutral, there is juice if I put each probe on a spade connector. There is a brown wire that has a ring connector captive under a transmission bolt. I'm looking into the instrument cluster to see if the lamp works.

On the voltmeter front, I learned that the polarity is important to the voltmeter. The wiring at the gauge is good, as it comes on with the ignition switch. Both gauges I have (BMW) are very slow to return to zero, or maybe they don't return at all unless turned upside down. I'm not as worried about the gauge because if it is necessary, I can buy a similar VDO for $35.00. And, it doesn't make the bike unusable.

On the voltage regulator, does it matter which wire goes into the wiring harness plug? In other words, does polarity matter to the VR? I have an electronic (non BMW) VR which has four wires. Three were hooked up to the bike they came from. I assume that the green wire is ground. I don't want to hook it up wrong and fry something. Is this enough information to say which wire to hook up where?

Thanks, Chuey

[lrz]

What brand VR have you got? As mentioned above, I used a BorgWarner substitute as per airheads.org; though it did not put out sufficient voltage, the factory pigtail was a direct fit.

[Kurt in S.A.]

I tried the Borg Warner which I got from AutoZone...I wasn't happy with the voltage that was set. I ended up buying from a local starter repair place a Transpo IB301 regulator...it is a fixed value for voltage regulation. I believe the IB301A is adjustable.

Kurt in S.A.