84 200es question ...electrical?

[shawn77]

Hi guys , new to the site and new to the trike as well
Last month I purchased my first big red ,a lot of new parts on it and besides having to clean the carb to get it running good its been a good trike ....I've been getting the chance to ride a couple days a week after work and its always started fine either by pulling or using elect. start ...while on my way home I lost my power to headlight and drove threat of the way home got to the garage put it in neutral and no neutral light ...rode it in to the garage and shut it off and it would not start....now being that it was a brand new battery as of last month I figured I would put my charger on it and after hooking up charger headlight comes on and trike will start but still no neutral light ...I checked the fuse by the battery and it was good and after that I noticed the neutral light had come on ...so I left my charger on over night on trickle went out this morning and take charger of and again no power and no neutral light ...I don't have my meter at home so for giggles I put a test light on battery and bulb barely lights so I figure bad battery ,I took battery out ad figured I would try to ride without battery and it won't start at all I am new but I've read a lot of different discussions and ppl say you don't need a battery to ride ...well I hope hope this helps would a bad voltage regulator cause all this? Maybe it messed up the new battery and is keeping it running without one don't know if that would explain the neutral light ...well hope to hear your ideas ...thanks

[shawn77]

Ok, I went and picked up my multi meter...I tested battery and its at 8.4 so i put it back on charge ..found out that even though i had it on trickle all last night the outlet my charger is plugged into is controlled with the lights and light switch i never new this and when i turned out the lights last night it turned off the charge..lol...so i have it on charge again and on a different outlet... I have the battery out and on the bench to charge and for the hell of it i hooked the charger to thr negative cable on trike and the positive to the small wire that hooks to pos. On battery not the pos. Cable and all lights came on including neutral light and it started I unhooked charger and it stayed running but it will not start without charger or a battery...is this unusual ...and while running when you hit the throttle thrre is a charge going to the small wire of atleast 4.5 depending on how much throttle I gave.......so tommorow I will put in a new battery or a fully charged one and im sure it will start and run and charge but i dont know why battery went dead while i was riding ....i do use lights I rarely use elec start its so easy to start on pull and the battery is getting a charge I checked the two in line glass fuse and they were good and all connections so far are tight and clean....ive been riding in some deep snow and its been cold here under 10° and lower....thanks

[shawn77]

Just took battery off charge...13.1 seems good to me ill install tommorow after work still dont know why it drained in first place, it is new as of december the guy I bought the trike off of put it in the day befor i bought it but there sre no part # on battery just a brand name so im gonna see what i can do to make sure its the right battery..
still would like to know why it wont start without battery but will run without it..

[cap]

My 84 200m starts the same with or without the battery, voltage is similar to yours with the battery removed and engine running. Check your grounds at the coil maybe.

[shawn77]

Ok , thanks ill try that tonite after work ..sure would like it to start w/o battery if needed

[kb0nly]

If your seeing less than 12-14v to the battery when running depending on engine speed then you have either a bad regulator/rectifier or a bad alternator/stator coil. Most likely its the regulator/rectifier as i have replaced them fairly often.

Take a voltmeter and set it to AC Volts and check the two Yellow wires coming out down by the recoil, they are up to the frame tube by the sub trans shifter. Put your meter leads on the Yellow wires, doesn't matter which gets the positive and which gets the negative since its AC at that point. With it running you should see around 10-30v depending on engine speed. If you do then the Alternator/Stator coil is fine and its just a bad Regulator/Rectifier causing the issue.

Also, you should be able to start it with the recoil regardless of the battery and charging system. These have two separate systems, ignition and battery charging and lighting. They are completely separate systems electrically and have no impact on one another.

[shawn77]

Ok thanks kb I willl check that...it will stay running when you disconnect battery just wont start without it ...i just got home from work will be going out to garage in a bit to mess with it.... key on switch on and you can just pull away and nothing..attach battery and it will start on first pull