About two months ago I took a spill - and since then what can go wrong, has gone wrong. I won't fill you in on all the tiny details, but basically my chain, fork seals, front tire, and voltage regulator (fortunately, not the generator) are getting replaced tomorrow.

I put a brand new battery in on Saturday and it was dead Sunday night. Obviously, the battery isn't getting recharged (or at least maintained) because the regulator is out, but I began to wonder why I was having all these electrical issues, which raises my question:

I jerry-rigged a 1992 F2 headlight and turn signal set to the front of my F1. Here's a link to see the lamp. Here's a link to see the battery I just put in. Could this be pulling too much juice for this electrical system?

Thanks,
Brad

 

Did the bike sit from saturday to sunday, not running? If so sounds like a short.

 

didnt really sit, only about 12 hours between when i got home sat night and left sunday morning. i'm fairly certain the regulator needs to be replaced so i can keep the charge in the battery, however my question is more towards the future... if i keep the F2 headlight, am i risking blowing another regulator? is it too much power for the F1 system?
b

 

Depends on total wattage of the F2 headlight. I've got 130W headlight in my F1 and it works fine. When I first fitted it, the battery ran down after a while. I thought I had stuffed the R/R but then I found that the 3 pin alternator connector was faulty.Fixed it, now nomore problems.

A R/R manufacturer told me that a high wattage headlight is unlikely to cause a R/R to blow. I don't know the electrical engineering theory behind this, but Drakito might be able to confirm that if you can get his attention.

One website reckons that lots of charging/electrical problems are simply due to poor maintenance of connectors. One bad connectioncauses more load on other parts of the system, which have to work harder, and then they also give problems over time, which compounds the original problem, and then you are faced with fried R/R or alternator or whatever. I think they are probably right.

 

motorcycle electrical systems are ran in series-parallel meaning that all of the components are on their own leg of the circuit. this is done so that you do not have problems in other areas of your electrical.if you have a bad part then that part is bad. if you have problems in more than one area of the system then it is do to a short to ground in the system or something is bad in the charging or ignition system. having bad connectors on a given part doesn't mean that it will cause error in any other part of the system unless it is the regulator or the stator. try to get a wire diagram and manual for your bike as this will help with anything you are doing with your electrical system.

 

try it get a multi meter to check the stator as it will cause charging problems.