Newbie charging issue questions

[nortstudio]

Ok, so I've blown 2 master fuses in the last 12 hours. I think I found some flaky connections on the front turn signals. New bullet connectors should solve that. Lots of spare 30A fuses in the storage space just in case. also, the one brake bulb was flipping around, and I read that this could cause mayhem as well.

I began running through the tests for the VR from the archives. Seems my charging system is at 13.7V at the battery while idling (using choke - not sure if this throws off test), but when I choke it up to 3000 RPM, it dips down to 13.4V. I checked the amp loss by removing negative wire from battery and testing wire to beg terminal, it showed no amps. I didn't get past that part of the VR test.

Also, I notice a small dip in The neutral light when I pull the brake lever. Is this normal?

The bike seems to be idling a little rough. Not horrible, but not smooth either. I tried adjusting the idle to 1000 RPM this morning, and now at about 1200. Not sure if either seems great. What is standard. I didn't see it in the manual - but searching it on my phone is tough

Any help is much appreciated.

Scott

[DonTZ125]

The 'running lights', being the 5W element in the front turn signals and tail / brake lights, are unprotected by any fuse except the main 30A fuse. I find this incredible, and it took Y_G rather some time to convince me of it!

The fact remains, despite my disbelief, that a short / bad connection / wobbly bulb in the running light circuit can blow your main fuse leaving you stranded in the middle of no-where. I am planning to develop a plug-in fuse adaptor to address this foolishness, but in the mean time all you can do is ensure that any and all 'suspect' connections are well and truly dealt with.

As for the odd charging behavior (13.7v dipping to 13.4v @3k rpm), this may be an artifact of the charging ability of the alternator vs the power required to spark at a given engine speed; the wasted spark inductive ignition design is very power-hungry. Check the voltage across the battery terminals at 5k rpm, see what you get.

[nortstudio]

Thanks Don.

I think/hope I have the bad connections dealt with. Given your explanation, it seems I had enough of those "loose ends" to cause the headache. Fortunately, although the fuse blew the second time, while I was riding to buy extra fuses, it only happened 3 blocks from the auto store. Could have been worse

Does seem like a silly design with the blinkers unfused. But then again, the main fuse being hidden under a side cover baffles me.... Don't even get me started with having to drop the radiator to access the spark plugs!

I'll give the 5k RPM A TRY - see if that gives me anything better.

Now, on to the low idle hesitation..... Oh sweet carb overhaul...

[DonTZ125]

First - double-post deleted.

Just to clarify, it's not the 'blinkers' (21W element in front signal lamps, rear signal lamps) that are unfused / only covered by the main fuse; it's the running / marker / parking lights (5W elements in the front signals & rear tail / brake lamps). The 21W signals and brake light elements are covered by the 'SIGNAL' fuse.

[nortstudio]

Gotcha. I was just using it as a generic term - because that's where my lose connection was.

Any idea whether the dimming of the neutral light is normal? This is durning idle, and just a quick grab of the brake lever.

[DonTZ125]

I don't see it being a problem - you're at idle, and basically running off the battery at that point, and you just turned on 54W worth of brake bulbs (correction to previous posts - the signal / brake elements are 27W, not 21W). That's gonna draw down your system, even if just a little.

Now, if pulling the brake lever dims anything at WFO, then your charging system is well and truly FUBAR ...

[nortstudio]

Good point about WOT. I'm sure it close to normal - I was just going off that VR check diagram in the WIKI.

Any thought on whether this type of electrical gremlin (if I haven't gotten it fixed already) would be leading to stuttering at very low throttle? It's pretty extreme - like it's gas is being withheld, and then not, and then withheld again. I bought new plugs today but no time to install them.

I threw some seafoam in it to see if that worked anything loose. The tank was full when I got it - but not sure how old it was.

VR was waiting for me when I got home. Might be able to install it tomorrow with the new plugs. Hopefully that will eliminate future problems.

Thanks for all the help.