1985 250R and 1986 Tecate 3 owner here! Also a pristine 87 Fourtrax!

[bryank30]

Just wanted to reach out and say hello! I'm trying to figure out lights on my T3. Currently trying to use a old 250r voltage regulator. Any tips?

Bryan

[Aulbaugh]

Welcome to the site Bryan! I think we chatted on the phone a couple weeks back. We like pictures here!!!

[ps2fixer]

First welcome to 3ww.

Question I have is why do you want a voltage regulator? Are you trying to run LED lights, lower wattage than stock lights or what? Stock there is no voltage regulator, the lights use up all the power the alternator puts out. Here's a wire diagram for 85-86 tecate. If you want to run a voltage regulator, from memory it should go from power to ground, so yellow or red wire to black/frame ground.

Looks like the machine uses a total of 58w for the lighting, more wattage isn't a big deal if it's just a little bit, lower will be a problem with out a voltage regulator (bulbs instant blow, or have shorter life depending how much different it is).

Good luck with the build.

[bryank30]

Wow. Thank you for your well thought out reply. Awesome!!! Ok. I've been blowing my test lights bulb when I rev up the throttle. The bulb in that test light was 28 years old. So I thought something was wrong maybe the bigger headlight and taillight can handle it.

[bryank30]

[bryank30]

[Aulbaugh]

Nice looking rides!

[ps2fixer]

Yea how the system works is if there's a low load (say just a tail light, or your test light), it increases in voltage a lot since there's nothing to sink the extra power to which is all the old school voltage regulators did. If you get ~60w of load on it, then the max voltage should be somewhere acceptable like 14v. Test lights are good enough to say if there's power, but for real diag work, a multi meter generally is better because it can give real numbers instead of "dim" or "bright" light. Sounds like your alternator is working well =).

Also for the machines like the 350x (and I'm guessing the 250r with out looking it up), if you leave the voltage regulator out of it, it will do the exact same thing, except the alternator puts out more power than the bulbs can take, so a rev up blows all your lights. I did that exact thing a week or so ago testing a reproduction 350x harness and forgot to hook up the regulator, when I tested the lights I blew them all out at high idle lol.

A voltage regulator wouldn't hurt anything, you could upgrade to a higher output alternator down the road and not have issues, and if you ever have one of your bulbs blow, it will protect the rest from going at the same time.

[ironchop]

I've used these Tympanium Regulator/rectifiers on British street bikes and ATVs like my 85 ATC200X I converted to run a battery and LED lights.

Great little units. Easy instructions included. Never had a bad one in thirty years.

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[ps2fixer]

Does that part support AC and DC? Like the 350x is AC, the Tecate might be DC, I'm not sure. Based on the wiring, it works with a single field (single phase I guess) alternator, a 3 phase one would require a different regulator, but then again those really only show up when the machine has a stock voltage regulator.

[fieldy]

Were you the man making the Tecate harnesses? I didn't see any last time i checked 3ww shop.

[ps2fixer]

Yep, I'm "the wire harness guy" lol. The only Kawasaki harness in there atm is the 84-85 Tecate harness. Not sure why it didn't come up for you, I tried a few searches and it came up for me. It's probably been listed for about 2 weeks so that might be why.

[bryank30]

Ok. Well I just blew the headlight bulb in less than 3 minutes. I was running power through a old 86 250r voltage regulator. Either the voltage regulator is bad or its not made for the Tecate electrical system. Also, I'm sure that stator on the tecate is a aftermarket stator, what are the chances its the original 86? Not much. Ricky stator says you must use a voltage regulator with there stators.

Bryan

[bryank30]

New Hot Shot Kawasaki Stator 21_705H
Description
Reviews
Applications
New Hot Shot Kawasaki Stator: This high output stator has an additional lighting coil with an output of 80 watts. So this is what I'm working with. So could I just buy a used regulator off ebay ? I'm all about being frugal.

[bryank30]

Found this on Ebay for 10 dollars shipped. As long as its 12 volts it should do the job right? Part # 66V-81960-00-00

Yamaha fitting chart shows this is original on the following models.

2000 XR1800 - XRT1200Y ELECTRICAL 1
2001 XR1800 - XRT1200Z ELECTRICAL 1
1999 WAVE RUNNER XL1200 LTD - XA1200X ELECTRICAL 1
2000 GP1200 - GP1200AY ELECTRICAL 1
2000 WAVERUNNER (Metallic Marine Silver) - XL1200Y ELECTRICAL 1
2000 XL1200 LTD - XA1200Y ELECTRICAL 1
2001 GP1200R - GP1200AZ ELECTRICAL 1
2001 XLT1200 - XA1200AZ ELECTRICAL 1
2002 GP1200 - GP1200AA ELECTRICAL 1
2002 WAVE RUNNER GP1200R - GP1200ACA ELECTRICAL 1
2002 WAVERUNNER GP1200R - GP1200A ELECTRICAL 1
2002 WAVERUNNER XLT1200 - XA1200AA ELECTRICAL 1
2003 XLT1200 - XA1200AB ELECTRICAL 1
2004 XLT1200 - XA1200AC ELECTRICAL 1
2005 WaveRunner XLT1200 - XA1200AD ELECTRICAL 1