new battery woes

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i feel we’re getting closer. today ill do all the tests mentioned above. thanks!

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when i disconnected the regulator thick connector (red white black white white) the relay was clicking a lot. upon inspection it doesn’t look very clean in there. like dry white paint on brass male parts.

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big difference between my two regulator male connectors

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I tried to dremmel the white stuff off my brass connectors and i think i ended up with shavings in hard to clean places. then i connected everything to the bike to see the result and the relay was going click crazy. my cleaning didnt help the situation.

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Im occasional checking the battery voltage. When the relay is unplugged the battery stabilizes around 12.99. When the regulator is unplugged the voltage steadies around 12.93. when relay and regulator are plugged in, it kills the battery.

[skids]

Im occasional checking the battery voltage. When the relay is unplugged the battery stabilizes around 12.99. When the regulator is unplugged the voltage steadies around 12.93. when relay and regulator are plugged in, it kills the battery.

Let me apologize. I have been saying that the reserve lighting unit (RLU) and the headlight relay are one of the same. They are not. However the stock HL relay should not be active with the key off. I was confused because I forgot that I ripped-out the RLU from both of my 78E bikes and also replaced the stock HL relays with aftermarket. In my case, I wanted to make the HL switchable. In Colorado, you do not need to burn the HL, and when I run the bike in the garage, there is no need to burn it. I also switch it off in traffic jams to prevent discharging the battery at low rpms.

[DiverRay]

You should NOT have cleaned the contacts with a dremmel! The difference between the two is one is brass, one is tin plated steel. You took the tin plating off the steel, and it will now rust.
You are to the point of buying a new regulator, as everything points to it being bad. Spend a little money, and go to geezers site, http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com/Reg_rec_units.html and order a VREM-3. $145 US, and it works MUCH better than the stock ever did!
Looking closer, I think you do have geezers unit installed! So this is going to the fact you have the '79 wire harness with the 81 ignition system. I think there may be a problem with the wires, and it's shorted the regulator. Scott has the newer schematics, and if I can't get to mine today maybe he can check the plugs on the TCI to see if Yamaha swapped a wire between the years.

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yep i got the geezer regulator. yet the 1100 still hates me

[skids]

So you checked/cleaned the connector to the VR. Did you pull off the right side panel and move the fuse panel out of the way and check that clip with the 3 whits and one yellow wire yet??? THAT is the one that has caused problems with arcing and melting due to corrosion.

[3Phase]

yep i got the geezer regulator. yet the 1100 still hates me

Right on, you'll have to check with Geezer for troubleshooting one of his parts.

From the look of the corrosion, the clicking you heard from the relay as you removed the connectors would have been the same thing electrically that you'd get if you dragged the tonearm across a record on a turntable.

Now that you have the regulator/rectifier disconnected from the main wiring harness and the battery voltage seems stable, does the headlight relay still click when you connect and disconnect the battery?

It's possible that the Red wire from the battery got hot and melted or just frayed and shorted to one of the White wires from the alternator.

So you checked/cleaned the connector to the VR. Did you pull off the right side panel and move the fuse panel out of the way and check that clip with the 3 whits and one yellow wire yet??? THAT is the one that has caused problems with arcing and melting due to corrosion.

Skids, the two alternator connectors behind the fuse panel should never have any voltage or current when the ignition switch is off. Yeah, they really should be cleaned or replaced while the bike's getting some tlc.

I'm pretty sure that one of the rectifier diodes failed 'shorted' instead of 'open' and turned into a very small jumper wire but unless there's a problem with the bike's wiring harness, that's Geezer's call, not mine.

[skids]

Skids, the two alternator connectors behind the fuse panel should never have any voltage or current when the ignition switch is off. Yeah, they really should be cleaned or replaced while the bike's getting some tlc.

I'm pretty sure that one of the rectifier diodes failed 'shorted' instead of 'open' and turned into a very small jumper wire but unless there's a problem with the bike's wiring harness, that's Geezer's call, not mine.

He said he got the new Geezer VR, so I doubt that it a diode problem with diodes within the VR/rectifier unit. If it isn't charging at higher rpms, there are other issues, like the clip behind the fuse panel. (or are you referring to the diode encase in the loom?)

Of course the issue with the headlight relay being on even with the key off is a real mystery. I would start with that relay and trace the live wire until I found where it was connected to the battery source. I think it must be spiced to a red wire instead of a brown wire (shooting in the dark here) as I believe the red to the key switch is always hot and when switched on, it connects voltage to the brown and main fuse. All I know for sure is that the headlight relay should NOT come on with the key in the off position.

I am beginning to think that some wires are crossed at the key switch connection?

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So you checked/cleaned the connector to the VR. Did you pull off the right side panel and move the fuse panel out of the way and check that clip with the 3 whits and one yellow wire yet??? THAT is the one that has caused problems with arcing and melting due to corrosion.

I moved the fuse panel out of the way, I see the clip with 4 white wires. and a bigger clip with white/green, white/red, green, yellow/green, white/red. they’re hard to access behind there.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/2cl6srnzi

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Now that you have the regulator/rectifier disconnected from the main wiring harness and the battery voltage seems stable, does the headlight relay still click when you connect and disconnect the battery?.

no more clicking with the regulator disconnected

[motoman]

I moved the fuse panel out of the way, I see the clip with 4 white wires. and a bigger clip with white/green, white/red, green, yellow/green, white/red. they’re hard to access behind there.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/2cl6srnzi

With fuse panel unbolted and swung out of way, actually really easy to access all those plug-ins.

[DiverRay]

no more clicking with the regulator disconnected

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.