I have the 450W Enduralast Charging System installed on my '83 R100CS. It works fine. It charges at 14.2V. My battery is healthy at 12.6 and load tested at 10v.
I just have this problem with the black wire not sensing 12.6+V as instructed in the installation manual. I had the black wire coming from the rectifier/regulator unit wired to the positive terminal in the coil and I get 11.2V. I then proceeded to go through all the connections from the reg/rect unit and check for corrosion. Nothing.
I then decided to wire the black wire to terminal 15 in the headlight bucket as instructed and I got 1V.
The only thing I havent checked is the emergency kill switch. Any ideas or thoughts on what could be the problem?
I forgot to mention that when I checked for resistance at the black wire, I get 6ohms. Something is going on and I can't figure it out. The wiring in the headlight bucket looks clean.
Stephanos,
The black wire provides power to the regulator and senses the voltage at the battery for the regulation. Connecting it to terminal 15 at the first coil or on the terminal board in the headlight bucket (not terminal 15U, that is not fuse protected) should work fine. This is battery power straight from the ignition switch. Use the terminal 15 near the fuse.
If you measured 11.2 volts at the coil with the engine not running, that is probably acceptable. Your concern should be that the voltage right at the battery is 14.2 or maybe 14.4 with the engine running at 2000 RPM or greater. And the wiring in the headlight bucket does look very clean in your photo, that's a good thing.
You are correct that the kill switch can be the source of a voltage drop in the ignition system. It can develop corrosion if not used very often. It is difficult to clean and has small spring loaded parts that disappear if you try to disassemble it. Regular use will help keep it clean.
I hope I answered your questions. If not, let me know and we will get your problems figured out.
Andy
ABC# 15601
1995 R100RT
Thanks for the reply Andy.
You are right. I connected the black wire to the terminal 15U. I realized it and wired it to terminal 15 with the fuse. I still got 11.2V without the engine running.
According to the instructions by EME, they write
The black “voltage sensing” lead must be supplied a true and stable 12.5+ volts; if not, the voltage regulator will automatically compensate for the lower voltage being sensed and produce constant and / or intermittent higher voltage. Please recheck the voltage source to the black lead. These are older motorcycles with corroded connections and poor-con- dition wiring. It may be required to identify or create a new switched-on 12 volt source to the black lead to eliminate this problem.
Maybe I misunderstood the instructions because I thought I was supposed to get 12.5+V from the hot black wire.
I do get 14.2V with the engine running. I never had any problems with charging. The only reason I started checking the connections was because I started getting dim gen light whereas before I never did.
After cleaning up SOME corrosion at the wires coming from the regulator/rectifier unit, I did not get a dimly gen light on. And I do believe I am charging at 14.2V.
So I guess there is no problem?
I wonder why I got 6ohms from the kill switch. The kill switch itself is clean and as you saw the wires inside the bucket look like new.
Stefanos,
So it sounds like your charging system is working correctly. The technical information in the instructions of most consumer electronics is sorely lacking. I am a retired electrical engineer with 37 years of experience in the instrumentation industry. If something in nature is happening, I know how to measure it. The voltage regulator needs to measure the battery voltage so it can control the voltage, and therefore the power, it sends to the battery to keep it charged and support the power requirements of the running motorcycle. The actual power from the generator is carried on the red wires from the regulator, the black wire is used to measure the voltage at the battery.
To measure the resistance, and possible voltage drop, in the kill switch, you will need to isolate one side of the switch. My schematic of your bike is a Clymer manual, well known to have inaccurate information. It shows the switch has a single circuit connector with green/blue wires in the headlight bucket but not connected through the terminal board. If this connection actually exists and you can find it, disconnect it and measure the resistance from female half to terminal 15U near the fuse. The male half runs down to the coils, the ignition module, and the starter relay. You should measure infinite resistance with the kill switch open, and almost zero ohms with the switch closed. A standard trick with any ohmmeter when trying to make very low resistance measurements is to connect the two probes together and either note the indicated resistance and subtract it from your measurement, or adjust the meter to read zero ohms if possible. This process eliminates the resistance of the probes.
Andy
ABC# 15601
1995 R100RT
Just wanted to thank you again for sharing your expertise on the matter. I think I have disconnected and measured the resistance from the female half but I probed the positive lead to the female half and the negative lead to a ground. I guess it would make more sense to touch the negative lead to terminal 15U.
Here's a photo of my wiring diagram. Much better than Clymers.
Everything works fine now though. I am charging 14.2. My kill switch works. The charging light doesnt come on dimly anymore. I think cleaning up some corrosion on the white wire which connects to the bulb probably fixed that. I probably shouldn't touch it anymore. 🙂
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