I agree with what you guys are generally saying it makes sense, but hear me out now, if the alternator is providing the current for all the major loads of a vehicle and the ground is disconnected from the battery the alternator is still grounded am I correct? what I assume is the current's path would no longer go through the battery to charge it and it would just re-route and go through the chassis circuit and back to the alternator and keep looping normally.

btw I have never seen the arc

Also want to state is it does get more poor man than that $10 bucs might not seem much but when you got to choose between a voltmeter or food, hunger wins most of the time. But the poor mans test is more not for poor people but people who wouldn't know how to use a voltmeter in my opinion.

 

The negative terminal is the ground. The chassis is grounded and bonded to the battery.

 

Yeah but the alternator and chassis is grounded independently from the battery.

 

To what?
Please teach me.

 

First of all, your battery is insulated with plastic no body ground.. Secondly, Terminals are the only source of polarity negative and positive. Unsafe to disconnect and connect the negative terminal while the vehicle or motorcycle is running, causing a spike or surge for the electricity voltage to close its loop. That is why you can burn out your Voltage Regulator. Lastly, fuel leak will ignite and no more vroom, vroom...

 

Key words...closed loop!

 

Alright, to say that the battery is the only ground then how is it possible a car can keep running without a battery? obviously there is an independent ground. The chassis serves as a ground it is metal so it's a path so that means it's grounded.

There is more than 1 loop in a vehicle that is what I been trying to say.... and nobody has disputed that yet and if I'm wrong fine but at least explain how electric flows threw a vehicle without it's battery please.

 

Electricity will continue to flow but it will not be regulated. The voltage spike can damage the diodes in the rectifier, the sensitive electronics in the CDI, or even the stator. As long as the the fixed magnet is turning in the stator there will be voltage generated...without a battery there is nowhere to shunt the excess to or the ability to store it.
The frame is used as a conductor...but to close the loop between the battery and the loads.

 

Wow, this thread blew up lol. Well it ended up being the groung that goes to the battery had a break in it. Sometimes it was making a connection, sometimes not. Thanks for all the input guys!

 

Hello everyone i am new to this forum i will post in the new members a bit later

I have recently brought a 2000 cbr600f Fhsh gd condition great bike BUT the battery went dead last week so i replaced with a brand new one it lasted a day then it started missfiring at low revs and finally died and bat was dead i done a voltage test at the battery and was at about 12volts at idle and went up to 13 at about 5k so thought it was fine rode home and the bike cut out at around 40mph and wouldnt start.

tryed bumping it but wouldnt idle. I got the bike home by swapping the battery for my old one. I thenb retested the voltage at battery and was only the 12volts so thought the R/R was dead so i put a new one on and voltage was at 13.8 GREAT but after 2/3mins the R/R gets burning hot! it was so hot the top of the R/R bubbled up like a balloon, so hot it blistered my finger surly this is not right? any ideas guys really need this sorted im thing stator? or am i missing something?