new battery woes

[3Phase]

I don't have a '79 Special schematic handy but the wiring harness will work with the 1981 4R0 TCI.

The '81 schematic shows that the ballast resistor start-up bypass wiring was deleted when Yamaha added the 3 Ohm ignition coils.


1978 to 1980 2H7 TCI





1981 4R0 TCI

[Blank Slate]

Mack and I did a complete cleaning of the entire harness 2 years ago. soaked it in the untrasonic cleaner, replaced old fuse box with top cat blades, geezer regulator, etc... im curious what he says about 81 engine/tci with the rest of the bike being 79s. I mean the bike has no electrical issues or battery problems for 2 yeaes. So this is weird.

Then you need to email geezer, because the reg/rec is now toast. You will also NEED to find out WHAT caused the diodes to short! My schematics stop at 1980, the latest bike I've owned. See if you can get a 1981 from 3Phase, and compare it to the 1979. As you have the '79 harness and '81 TCI, there COULD be a problem that caused the problem. The other thing is what did the PO do with the harness? If it was my bike, I'd be cutting the wrap off the wire harness to asses the condition of the wires. My '79 standard DID have a short that took out the headlight circuit, and it was NOT visible until I pulled the wrapping off the wire harness.

[bikerphil]

the bike has no electrical issues or battery problems for 2 years

I would try another voltage regulator if all was fine prior.

[3Phase]

An ultrasonic cleaning solution is usually a mildly alkaline soap. If you've got flaky corrosion on the connector terminals, you may not have neutralized and rinsed all of the cleaning solution out of the wiring harness, then it slowly oxidized the terminals and/or their anti-corrosion plating.


IF you use the correct mechanical parts on the engine to match the TCI you're planning to use then you can swap the 2H7 and 4R0 TCIs.

The TCI wiring harness connector shells and pin-outs are identical for all XS1100s from 1978 to 1980 and they're all wired for the start-up ballast resistor bypass circuit.

The 1981 4R0/4R1 wiring harness pin-outs are almost identical to the earlier models with the 2H7 but they are pin-compatible. They won't have the ballast resistor start-up bypass wires because they're made for 3 Ohm ignition coils with no external ballast resistor. If you put a 4R0 TCI in an earlier harness it will work but there are no terminals or isolation diode for the start-up ballast resistor bypass circuit in the TCI, they're blank.

If you go the other way and put a 2H7 TCI in a 4R0/4R1 wiring harness, the start-up ballast resistor bypass terminals and isolation diode are there in the TCI but the 4R0/4R1 wiring harness connector is blank.

It will work, you can swap the 2H7 and 4R0 TCIs.

[motoman]

I would try another voltage regulator if all was fine prior.

As stated by Phil, and I totally agree, another known working correctly votage regulator is the likely issue. Stating what the voltage was using two scenarios definitely tells me the VR is at fault. In ANY twelve volt charging system, the ideal charge rate of regulator IS ideally 13.8v-14.2v. Majority of bikes of all makes tend to run at that upper end of charging rate, and then some. For whatever reason(overcharging rate of regulator), that being the case, motorcycle batteries tend to be getting over charged, which shortens the life of battery in the long run, causing sulfated or shorted cells. If interested, easy way to determine which cell or cells are dead/shorted and fill caps can be removed is to touch volt meter ground(-) to negative batt. post and positive(+) lead dipped into cell without touching plates. Normally, a GOOD fully charged battery will have 2.1v per cell. A shorted battery cell is normally due to flaking off plating building up in bottom of batt. cell till it reaches the lead plates...….then wa-la.....shorted cell. This is why it is important to have battery solidly attached in place, whether it be auto or motorcycle. Also, if any water has to be added to battery over time, for battery longgivity only distilled water should be used. I personally get 7-11yrs. use of a wet cell lead acid battery with not ever a re-charge needed using these learned safe-guard methods. This of course all comes from decades of OJT and on the job classes pertaining to this subject. I hope this sort of information can be of help to folks here on the site.

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Motoman, Maybe some day ill get the battery to last more than 2 years.

Waiting to hear back from geezer on how to troubleshoot his vrrem3

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I found my old regulator in the parts bin. Should I hook it up?

note: with geezer’s regulator unplugged, the voltage of the battery has been holding steady at 12.9

[3Phase]

I found my old regulator in the parts bin. Should I hook it up?

note: with geezer’s regulator unplugged, the voltage of the battery has been holding steady at 12.9

Sure, unless it wasn't wasn't working before you put on Geezer's regulator. If that relay clicks again as you're plugging it in, sing out.

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my email to geezer bounced back to me undeliverable. i sent it two days ago!

scott, yes ill disconnect the old regulator if it clicks.

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no clicks when i put the old regulator. tacho is working.
headlight is not working even when i turn on the engine.

[3Phase]

no clicks when i put the old regulator. tacho is working.
headlight is not working even when i turn on the engine.

Cool! Does the voltage go up to somewhere in the vicinity of 14 Volts when you run the engine at 2,000 RPM?

Check the 10 Amp headlight fuse to see if it's loose or blown. After that, it gets slightly more complicated but it's mostly time-consuming (aggravating), it's not difficult.

[DiverRay]

Geezers site said he's had an email problem, try OregonMotorcycleParts@gMail.com

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Thanks Ray. I sent him a new email.

Scott, will do the test later today.

It’s so nice to put the bike back together and hear it purrrr

[3Phase]

Thanks Ray. I sent him a new email.

Scott, will do the test later today.

It’s so nice to put the bike back together and hear it purrrr

They do sound good, don't they?

I'm assuming there is no headlight and the White warning light on the instrument cluster is not lit.

Start the engine, then turn it off with the kill switch.
Listen as you turn off the ignition switch and you should hear the headlight relay click when it turns off.

If the headlight relay itself is working, there is most likely no power from the headlight fuse and the relay has nothing to, uh, relay.

[Blank Slate]

Cool! Does the voltage go up to somewhere in the vicinity of 14 Volts when you run the engine at 2,000 RPM?.

yes! 14.82

my bike has a high idle, at first it idles at 1200, but when it warms up after 10 min ride it idles around 2200, so I guess Im charging the battery all the time with an idle that high