Electrical Problem!

[BigB]

hey guys, long time no speak! hope everyone is gettin on ok through the winter weather n had a good xmas n happy new year!

well first things first, started college studying Motorbike Mechanics in Merton College, goin great! and i passed my A2 test with flying colours (well with 5 minors lol) n bought myself a ZXR400 a couple of months back, but have got a problem with the electrics in it.

ive checked the whole bike over, regulator/rectifier has been changed aswell as the battery and its deffinately not a loose wire shorting out the circuit because no fuses have blown, so its not them, so its between the Generator or Stator... really hate electrics n dont know where to start now if it is the Geny or the Stator

[rictus01]

you don't actually say what the electrical problem is?

also some history would be nice, both of the problem and the bike.

Cheers Mark.

[BigB]

sorry my bad :D

turn the engine on and it runs fine without the headlights on, turn the lights on and the battery discharges itself n bike dies - thats whats happenin

other than that, the bike has been sent down the road before but thats about it, no other problems with it cept wear and tear on a few of the parts that i can replace n know what to do!

[rictus01]

so it'll run fine if you don't put any additional drain on the battery ? or is it a case of it would just take longer to die and it's just running off the battery ?

Check the voltage across the battery (without the bike turned on), then once again when it's running, if it hasn't increased then you're not getting any output from the bike.

You'll then need to check the electrical output, if all these things are fine, next move on to loading the system, first try the horn with the bike runing, the sidelights, then dip beam the high beam, which ever system causes the problen to re-occur should have all the wiring visually checked and traced, don't forget the switch internals.

another thing to check is any and all cut outs, so the kill switch, clutch cutout (if it has one), sidestand switch.

that shoud give you something to be getting on with, good luck and report back if this doesn't resolve it.

Oh and don't forget to check the main earth for everything as this can become corroded and breakdown with additional load.

Cheers Mark.

[BigB]

nice one, cheers mate, will have a look on friday n will let you know then!

[BigB]

got the bike up n running, long 9 hours, but its running, just a few things that i need to sort out before i can legally ride it!

[rictus01]

so what was the main cause ?

[Viney]

Bad spelling

[BigB]

all four sparkies were knackered, they were sparking, but not enough to generate enough to start the bike

and the last thing i checked, being the plank i am was the battery acid ... would help if there was any acid in it :p

also my bad spelling ;)

[Viney]

I hope you filled the battery with distilled water?

[BigB]

i did, went and bought some from the petrol station, got the right sparkies i needed too