New battery, cables, and starter switch.

[dieselbikin]

I upgraded my battery and cables. I installed a Walmart EverStart UP17 battery with 350/275 cranking amps. Also ran a new 4 gauge ground cables battery to chassis and starter mounting bolt to chassis. Finally, I installed a 4 gauge hot from the battery to the starter. She starts extremely well and I’m very pleased with the results. Unfortunately my charging system has finally died. Looks like an opportunity to upgrade. My favorite money pit. LOL

[TnFan]

Sam,
It might just be the regulator that has died ..... not to worry.
The regulator uses a little power even if it is doing nothing ...
so taking it out will give your system a little more available power
These 10 amp systems are so weak that you may be better off
with no regulator at all ..... simply a full bridge rectifier may suffice.
A battey as big as yours can stand a little "over charging" .... and your
headlamp will use up a lot of excess output.
The way to test is to use a voltmeter on the battery while driving.
A battery at rest is about 12.5 volts. Running down the highway you
are looking for 14.2 volts. 15 or 16 volts is too high.
Ask others on this forum ..... I've heard them talk about this before.
Sincerely, TnFan

[dieselbikin]

So I do need a full bridge rectifier and may not need a regulator? Would any full bridge rectifier that can handle 10 amps work? Singe phase, ect? Thanks for your help.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1N4436-Single-Phase ... .m20.l1116

[Nanko]

So I do need a full bridge rectifier and may not need a regulator? Would any full bridge rectifier that can handle 10 amps work? Singe phase, ect? Thanks for your help.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1N4436-Single-Phase ... .m20.l1116

The 1N4436 can handle 10 Amp continuous and 100 Amp surge , its a good choice.
Under full load it will convert abt 5 watt into heat , so mount it with some heatconducting grease on a small heatsink
Regarding regulator or not , I would not run it without.
Batteries dont like to get overcharged .
A well designed regulator takes less than 0,1 % from the generator power .

[dieselbikin]

I just remembered that thundercougarfalconbird suggested Kawasaki motorcycle regulator/rectifiers since he how to wire them up.

https://www.dieselbikeforum.com/view ... f=28&t=752
thundercougarfalconbird says,
“The regulator i used was from a 1984 kawasaki kl 250, part number 21066-1035 thanks to ebay, no longer available from canadian kawasaki, not sure about other markets
you can use a 3 phase regulator ,i.e kawasaki vulcan 800 if you have one or find one that is in the right price range, just leave one of the yellow wires open.
the reason i used the kawasaki regulator is i know what the wire colors are for, it simple with all modern kawasaki bikes
. white wire is battery power
.black wire is ground
.tan wire key on power / voltage sencing
.yellow wires are ac stator input”

There are many Kawasaki EX500 and EN500 regulators on Ebay cheap. Thanks for everyones’ help.

[Diesel Dave]

Lombardini single phase regulators are rated at 30 amps but.....

They do have a nice pin out on the unit for a charge light - light on = no charge just like a car.

Dead simple connections - 2 AC in, 1 live out, 1 charge light, unit shell is earth.

Dave

[TnFan]

Here's some single phase rectifiers that are powerful
and easy to mount:



MB254 25-AMP 400-PRV

MDA990-6 30-AMP 600-PRV

NTE5326 25-AMP 600-PRV

GBPC3506 35-AMP 600-PRV

All of these mount on any flat metal surface as
heat sink and handle 400 to 600 peak reverse voltage.

Search Google for suppliers Jameco, Mouser, Digi-Key etc.
They run about $3 to $6 each.

About overcharge ... if your stator can do 10 amps at full
throttle and your headlamp uses 5 amps and your running and
tail lamps use 3 amps ... then there are only 2 amps left
over and that is the standard current a lead acid battery will
use when it is doing a trickle charge .... and that is at full
throttle. A battery can charge all night at 2 amps and just be a
charged battery in the morning. Your butt probably can't sit on
a motorcycle for enough hours in a day to do any serious over
charging of a battery. At least you'll find out what the maximum
capability of your stator is.

It all depends what the electrical loads are and the average rpms are.
Yes .... a regulator would be ideal .... but with weak stators not
really a necessity.

The thing to do is go to Harbor Freight and buy a cheap digital multimeter
for about $6 ..... duct tape it to the handlebars ..... ride the bike and
watch the voltage. If the voltage climbs over 15, 16 or 17 volts then you
are over charging. But as a test you won't damage that big battery.
You'll be able to tell .... the battery will get warm and you'll smell the
sulphuric acid.

I really don't know how much current your headlamp pulls or what other
electriacal loads you have .... those meters also have a 10amp ammeter
built in you can use to test the draw of your appliances.
The truth is these Yanclone engines were designed for stationary engine
use with a simple 10amp stator to charge only the battery. It's gonna take
a little energy management and maximimation of the sator output to get
satisfactory results on a motorcycle.
TnFan

[TimppaX]

I´ve been wondering would it be possible to add extra altenator to keep big battery happy and use stator system for keeping smaller battery charged and use it to keep gauges etc panels lit. Bigger one is there to feed starter and lights + sidecar stereosytem.

[dieselbikin]

First I want to say thanks for all of the help. I probably should have tried running with just a rectifier first, but I went ahead and bought a rec/reg from a 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 for $25 out the door. I’ll let everyone know how it works out.
Speaking of cheap voltage meters; Harbor Freight had some small nice looking dash mount digital voltmeters for $6. The only connection was two wires to the battery. I you do a search for “battery tester” on its website several nice things come up. Thanks again.
On board battery tester from Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=65928

[dieselbikin]

I finally installed my Regulator from a 2004 Kawasaki EN500. Even when the engine was new I had serious charging problems. Now I'm showing 14.1 volts at idle with the lights on and 15+ volts at cruise. I can even use my brights! Of course my headlight is a 35/35 watt Halogen. Again, that for all the advice.

[TnFan]

Hey DieselBikin,
Nice fix of your electrical problem ....
a much nicer fix that what I was suggesting ....
Your voltage tests look good .... I'm grateful for the idea
of using the EN500 regulator.
Sincerely, TnFan

[coachgeo]

Isn' t 15v overcharging?

[thundercougarfalconbird]

- hey dieselbikin, looks like that kawasaki fix is just what you needed, the regulator you are using is made for a sealed motorcycle battery and they need to be pushed to 15 volt range to charge properly, i see you are using a large lawn and garden type battery, so it should not be a problem other then keeping an eye on the fluid level in the battery, it may want to evaporate faster then if it were charged at 13.5 or 14 volts.
- you could install a higher wattage headlight now and enjoy that rather then driving by candle light, LOL
- good to see my advice worked for you

[dieselbikin]

Thanks TN fan. I just copied Thundercougurfalconbird's idea. I'm relieved that my alternator is adequate. This regulator can be found on EX500 Ninjas as well and are cheap and plentiful. I followed Thundercougurfalconbird's wiring directions. I answered my own question on the two wires coming out of the engine block. Run each one to a seperate yellow wire on the regulator. I will definitely go with a larger headlight.