alright so the other day i was riding down the street and that god forsaken generator dummy light popped up. i have a brand new regulator and generator as of last year. but i tested both to make sure and they pass all tests. so i know i have a ground somewhere because when touching the ground wire and the frame i get a slight ohms reading. i started by disconnecting one wire at a time from each circuit breaker to see if it when away but no luck. another thing i noticed is that when i went repolarize the generator, the tail lamp turns on, seems like somethign is crossed somewhere? any ideas or pointers on how to find the ground would be great thank you.

 

I am no expert, but here goes. It sounds like the ground wire from the battery is not good. Make sure that the ground wire is connected properly, tight clean etc... Check it by ohmmeter from neg terminal to the frame... then check it from neg term to the motor should have high resistance to both. circuit breakers are on the positive wires so no possible help there.

 

PlUS 1 on the battery to chassis ground is not doing the job --

 

ive got two ground wires to the battery. one to the frame and one to the case bolt. been like this since i bought the bike. and the bike passed both those tests you gave me.

 

What tests did you use for the reg and for the gen?

 

take off the battery ground cables BOTH ends and clean all of it than see what happens

 

If you're really measuring ohms, this is what you want. The lower ohms, the better.

If you're measuring voltage, you don't want any voltage between these two points.



Sorry, I have to correct that statement....

Should be NO resistance, or VERY LOW resistance (less than 1 ohm) when measuring using an ohmmeter, if what you're measuring should have a very good electrical connection between the two points....which is what you want between the battery neg terminal and the frame, and between the battery neg terminal and the motor.

No resistance = no ohms = good electrical connection and good current flow.

A high ohms reading means you have a bad electrical connection somewhere between your ohmmeter leads, which will produce heat as electric current flows, which will produce a worse and worse connection over time.


I think there's a wiring problem here, but it's not a battery ground problem. I'd be looking at the wires going to the taillight to see if they have the insulation worn off or something.

I have no idea how you're getting a taillight to light up when you're polarizing the genny.

 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet in the posts above is that the regulator itself has to be grounded correctly.

Different regulators are grounded in different ways. Some use the mounting bolts to ground them, some after-market ones have a separate ground wire that grounds it.

Make sure your regulator is grounded well, with no loose mounting bolts and no corrosion at the grounding point.

 

Here is a procedure you can use to thoroughly check out your entire electrical system ...

Ironhead Voltage Drop Testing
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/s....php?t=1608465