Gel battery blew its "do not remove" top

[Carter Turk]

Electrically challenged here. I went for a ride yesterday after installing a used stator and new rectifier. Used stator was in working order. My gel battery was fully charged before the ride. Rode 65 miles stopped, tried to start, click. Nothing. Changed all fuses eventhough none appeared bad. When the starter button was pushed the dash would go out and the starter relay would click. So I disconnected the starter relay wires and bumped started it, everything worked.

Should have went home, but ran one more errand. No juice showing, no dash, no head light. Tried bumping again and it started, but the now lit dash was pulsating and the engine wouldn't take revs. I nursed it out of a parking lot when boom/crack/backfire sound startled me. I was on a hill so I backed it up to a flat spot, took off the seat and discovered the "do not remove this cap" was blown off and laying on the hill.


When I installed the stator and RR, I wired three yellow wires from the RR to the stator, red to positive battery post, black to negative battery post and another black pigtail to frame, green to frame.

A different battery in there now read 12.1 volts in the garage. When I started it, at idle it read 16 volts. That's too high right? Any ideas where to go from here? 83 Katana wiring harness, with 1150 engine.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

It sounds like your battery was getting way overcharged.

If you connect the r/r output (red) directly to the battery, you should put it through a fuse.

What wires do you have on your r/r unit? It sounds like you have 3 yellow inputs, 1 red output, 2 black and one green wire. Is this correct? Was this a "new" unit? From where? Did it come with instructions on where to make the connections? I'm wondering if you hooked a "sense" wire directly to the battery (or ground).


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[TheCafeKid]

Yikes Carter! I guess that answers my question about whether that stator worked out for you. Definately charging. Sounds like your regulator was not working at all though I think I have a couple Duanage styled ones laying around if you need a quick replacement. Sorry bout your troubles though reading that again you def have it wired wrong. The green wire is a sense wire. Designed to sense whn the batt is o isn't needing charge. If you hooked it up to the frame it was allowig the full juice of the stator to go to the battery because the regulator "sensed" that the battery was getting or had no charge.. That would definately blow it up. Unfortunately, for those of us who are more familiar with home wiring ( like myself) than cars or bikes, green is NOT ground. Black and white usually are. In this case your common sense may have bitten you. sucks dude.

[Steve]

When I installed the stator and RR, I wired three yellow wires from the RR to the stator, red to positive battery post, black to negative battery post and another black pigtail to frame, green to frame.

Don't know how to tell you this, but you messed up.

The two black wires are, indeed, grounds, but the GREEN wire is your sense wire and should be connected to a switched HOT wire. Many use the tail light wire for this connection.

The R/R reads the voltage at the green wire and adjusts the output to try to bring the voltage at the green wire up to its setpoint, usually about 14 volts. Since you had that wire connected to ground, the R/R was doing an admirable job of trying to get it to 14. I'm going to venture a guess that it was pumping out over 18 volts, and, considering the time involved, it is not surprising at all that the battery blew. What is surprising is how long it lasted.

.

[Carter Turk]

As I said, I'm electrically challenged. So where should I tie the green wire into. To the tail light? How do you propose I do that?

[Steve]

There are five fuses in your fuse panel. At one end will also be a couple of screw terminals, the AUX outlet.
The fuse closest to the AUX terminals is the AUX fuse. It is hot all the time.
The next fuse is the MAIN fuse, it will be hot all the time.
The next fuse is the IGNITION fuse, it will be switched with the key and powers the coils and the ignitor.
The next fuse is the SIGNALS fuse. Also switched by the key, it powers the turn signals, horns and brake lights.
The last fuse is the LIGHTS fuse. Also switched by the key, it powers the lights.

You can tap into any of the switched circuits. Usually there is a connection for the tail light just behind the battery area, you can tap into the tail light wire there.

.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Yes the green wire is the sense wire, so you miss wired it. Your new reg is toast to...another note if you use the tail light for the sense wire , make sure it has the same voltage as the battery, Grounding issues can cause it to over charge where the brake voltage is lower than the battery voltage and the reg tries to over come the difference

[Carter Turk]

There was no heat at all on the fins of the RR, after the battery blew its top. I don't recall a green sense wire on previous Ricks RR. Maybe my old Ricks RR is ok and the stator went south, is that possible?

[Carter Turk]

I just went out to the garage and the GREEN wire in question had a looped connector on the end. It was a short wire too, about a perfect fit to the bolt holding the metal backing plate where I attached it. Why would it come with a loop if I'm supposed to tie into switched hot wire? Anyone?

[TheCafeKid]

I'm no electrical genious but the stator is supposed to put off the current, the regulators job is to regulate it. If the stator was charging the system and blew your battery, it was doing it's job. Your regulator wasn't. If a stator goes south, usually it has a bum leg in the three legs or it's not charging at all. Overcharging isn't the stators fault.

[Steve]

Why would it come with a loop if I'm supposed to tie into switched hot wire? Anyone?

Because on the bike it was designed for, it may have connected to a terminal block that connected that terminal to switched battery power.

Just because it was on the bike when you got it does not mean it came that way from the factory.

.

[TheCafeKid]

I just went out to the garage and the GREEN wire in question had a looped connector on the end. It was a short wire too, about a perfect fit to the bolt holding the metal backing plate where I attached it. Why would it come with a loop if I'm supposed to tie into switched hot wire? Anyone?

Perhaps because some bikes have a bolt point to mount the sense wire to, or some people actually mount it to the battery terminal. If it's a duanage regulator, it actually usuually comes from a Honda bike and therefore has different connectors. No one is trying to steer you wrong here man, the green wire is a sense wire. Didn't it come with a wiring diagram?

[Carter Turk]

I wasn't implying anyone was wrong with the green sense wire, I trust you guys are right and I'm the noob. I'm also not blaming the stator or the RR, it just that the other RR's in the past had no green wire. Three yellows, red, and black.

I obviously wired it wrong and may have to buy another from Duaneage, however, knowing he's selling these Honda RR's for our GS's, where is that green looped wire supposed to go? No instructions were sent and I didn't think I needed any and he probably thought I didn't need any either.

[TheCafeKid]

I wasn't implying anyone was wrong with the green sense wire, I trust you guys are right and I'm the noob. I'm also not blaming the stator or the RR, it just that the other RR's in the past had no green wire. Three yellows, red, and black.

I obviously wired it wrong and may have to buy another from Duaneage, however, knowing he's selling these Honda RR's for our GS's, where is that green looped wire supposed to go? No instructions were sent and I didn't think I needed any and he probably thought I didn't need any either.

You might contact him. He may hook you up since it was a misunderstanding. Not either parties fault really. But, the original ZOOK R/Rs DONT have a green wire. Cause they didnt use a "sense" wire in the original set up. Confusing, I know, but the sense wire is actually supposed to help the Regulator keep itself from overcharging by sensing how much voltage is in the system, at least thats the way i understood it. Now, if you think THATs confusing, imagine me the first time I hooked up the wiring harness in this 750B I am working on, and had an extra YELLOW wire (The 750B had a separate Regulator from the Rectifier...lol)

[Carter Turk]

I don't have any contact info except an address. The RR also has an extra connector tied into the black wire. Don't know what that is for either.