2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

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OxideSoldier
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 8:23 pm
My Bike: ZXR400 L1
Location: Dorset

2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

Post by OxideSoldier »

Having a nightmare with the latest zxr.

Had a fuel pump and battery die on me, replaced. I put that down to a loose earth terminal in the battery. Fine

Fuel pump runs fine, was a cheap battery, died in a week. I Strip the bike down and take a look. Wiring from the REG REC all melted together and the bottom middle pin burnt out. Re wire the whole lot re use the plastic plug and attach new connectors etc (bare in mind I just joined the wires with bullets and then heat shrinked them) and I assume that the REG REC has died, so I replace that too.

I then also bought a Yausa battery to replace the cheap shite thing.

Run a multimeter over it whilst idling at 4k (as per the fault sticky) and it steadily climbs up to and over 15V.

This Screams reg rec to me and no doubt you lot! This will be it's second one in 4 months! Where do I go next?? I'm going through batteries like no tomorrow!

She runs fine whilst using her, leave her overnight and go out in the morning and she's completely dead. No dash lights, nothing. Last time it did that (this morning) I checked and the battery had 0.8V, hence the replacement today.

I know there is a way to test a reg rec using a multimeter but I'll be damned if I know how.

The only thing I can think of is replacing the whole lot of wiring from the REG REC to wherever it leads. Or I could buy a loom.

Any suggestions? I don't want to ride it whilst over charging and have it fry this battery. It's my transport for work though! :ffs
Rust is lighter than carbon fibre winks
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Miles
zxr400 oc member
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Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:00 pm
My Bike: ZXR 400 L3
Location: Bangor, Northern Ireland

Re: 2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

Post by Miles »

Have you checked the alternator output & impedance? Possibly a short in the winding producing to high a voltage
OxideSoldier
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 8:23 pm
My Bike: ZXR400 L1
Location: Dorset

Re: 2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

Post by OxideSoldier »

I haven't, I assumed that because the battery was charging that it could now be that!

The bike is gutted, I'm working on it as we speak. I found a write up on kawasaki electrical systems and it said to test the brown wire to the REG REC and if it read a lower voltage than the battery there is a wiring issue between the batter reg rec and ignition switch.

Following the brown wire up to the barrel and the voltage is dropping off. Is this normal? Currently trying to get the back of my barrel apart to check the wiring there.

There are so many joins etc done by previous owners, it's a mess.
Rust is lighter than carbon fibre winks
OxideSoldier
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 8:23 pm
My Bike: ZXR400 L1
Location: Dorset

Re: 2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

Post by OxideSoldier »

OK so a little update:

So this is what I was talking about earlier: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&sourc ... qXLQxKOKEw

It's a fault finding diagram for motorcycles. This is what I'm working with. Really useful thing that breaks everything down nicely. A real gem for anyone having electrical issues.

so I got to the bit where it says test black/ground wire (black and yellow I assume) on the REG REC plug and it read -0.21 which is less than 0.2.

So next I go to B on the diagram and it reads well over 0.2v on the brown wire which it then points to ignition switch.

So start fiddling around, the back of the barrel is loose, one of the bolts is missing so I take it apart clean her up And put back together adding a new bolt, nice and secure.

Now for some reason I had a brain fart and didn't retest for 0.2 I instead tested the brown wire for the REG REC against the battery voltage again. So originally battery was 12.8v and the brown wire at the RR was reading 12ish. After repairing and cleaning the switch that brown wire now reads 12.4V so it's gone up.

I need to go back through from the beginning now with a multi meter and see where it leads me next. Any bets on what this is going to be?

I reckon it's wiring between the RR and the battery.

Oh and when charging now the voltage has dropped from 15.2/3V to 14.9V?? Was it the ignition switch that has done that?

I'm such an electrical noon. Getting well stuck in though and it's scrambling my head. What a bank holiday! :ffs
Rust is lighter than carbon fibre winks
OxideSoldier
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 8:23 pm
My Bike: ZXR400 L1
Location: Dorset

Re: 2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

Post by OxideSoldier »

Just re reading your comment Miles nd going through the wiring diagrams for the zxr.

So we have 3 yellows coming from the stator which all go to the REG REC, all 3 are on the bottom row of the pins.

I had to rewire a nd replace my reg rec as the plug burnt out and the wiring melted together. The plug burnt out at the middle yellow connector.

Looking at the diagrams the 3 yellow wires come from the stator/generator. You mentioning it has made me wonder if the two things are linked?

Interesting :smt017

I will dog deeper after work tomorrow.
Rust is lighter than carbon fibre winks
OxideSoldier
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 8:23 pm
My Bike: ZXR400 L1
Location: Dorset

Re: 2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

Post by OxideSoldier »

New stator ordered for good measure.

That will be a new battery, new RR and new stator. If that doesn't work, I'll have to buy a loom LOL

All this before Friday. When I'm suppose to be going on a weekend ride out with friends on other zxr400s

Annoyingly my old one that I sold due to a few issues is one of them and is running superbly.

Fecker
Rust is lighter than carbon fibre winks
OxideSoldier
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 8:23 pm
My Bike: ZXR400 L1
Location: Dorset

Re: 2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

Post by OxideSoldier »

SORTED!!!

Pro tip: do not rush out and buy batteries, RRS or stator windings without going over your bike with a multi meter and using the fault finder PDF as mentioned above.

Be calm, methodical and eliminate things one by one.

I am shite with electrics and I have managed to solve this one.

Every bit of shite wiring I found or joined wiring, I replaced with one complete piece of wire to each end. I end up rewiring the 3 yellow wires from alternator to RR, the live, switched live and ground in the RR. Eliminating any wiring faukt between the lot as it was a complete mess. Next..

Using the above diagram and a multimeter, it kept taking me to the point that says bad connection between positive on the battery and ignition switch.....

Yesterday I took apart and cleaned the switch etc all up, so I assumed that was it. Nope.

Inspecting the switch live (brown) from ignition down to connector plug where it joins the loom, plug looks a bit many anyway so I think bugger it replace it while I'm there, snip the wire, low and behold wire is as black as black cn be. Cut down to fresh wire and re connect, test charging rate at the battery, hey presto bang on 14.5V.

So after buying everything and even going over that the day before it was something as simple as a burnt out wire from the ignition to the battery (never would have thought of that).

I can't stress enough how much help the above diagram was. Please share it about or print one off and stick it in your garage/toolbox.

Absolute life saver.

Now to work out why my lights are off with bike started started, however if I flash the lights they work fine and then low beam comes on. Strange as they are suppose to be all aw ys on and the fuse is fine.

f*** ELECTRICS!!! :rant
Rust is lighter than carbon fibre winks
lixianda
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2014 3:31 am
My Bike: ZXR400

Re: 2 new reg/rec STILL over charging! Help!

Post by lixianda »

Reg/rec failure would affect charging. And bad reg/rec would burn out the CDI/ECU.
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