Lights not going brighter By adamhoyer (Read 497 times)

[adamhoyer]

Normal lights in the front stay dim so I cant see at night and just replaced them and they do the same thing. Can only drive at night with my brights on. Only 2000miles and the small front lights had burn marks on front of them. I'm thinking do I need a rectifier? Here is a shot of my rectifier from last dis-mantel do you think this is a 6 pin?  1drv.ms/1rYIEUM

[Bashan]

No man, that looks like a four. How many wires going into it? Just undo the wires and count the pins. You can test your stator right from there, as in the photo. Take the white wire off, put a lead of your multi in the end of the white wire and ground the other lead. Set it to AC and start the bike, it should be around 30v AC +-5v. Reattach and do the same with the yellow, should be 20v AC +-5v. If you don't get those values it's probably the stator. If you don't take them off of the R/R they will be regulated and they should be around 12v AC. You can check the R/R by touching the test probe to a bare spot, like the connector, on the white and yellow wire while they're hooked to the R/R and grounding the other probe. That will give you an idea of what the R/R is doing. If those aren't around 12v AC with some RPM something is wrong, probably the R/R. Then you can check the red wire, right there at the R/R by touching the probe to a bare spot on the red wire, grounding the other probe, and have your meter set to DC. If you're not getting 13.5vDC +-.5v, it's probably the R/R.

But say your headlight keeps blowing or it's real dim, you check the yellow and it seems OK and that is what usually powers the headlight. The white appears fine but the red is overcharging or just anemic. That still could be the R/R because it's all tied together in there. The charging circuit affects the yellow AC supply and ad infinitum. What happens is under load things start to switch around in the R/R and if the yellow side is not getting enough (and who ever does?) it starts pulling resources, things overheat, the yellow goes down (fat chance), boom no lights. So just because one wire is right doesn't mean it will do it's job under extended use, the R/R would still be bad. By the way, check the wattage on your bulbs, they might just be those sorry arse bulbs they use. The burn marks aren't unusual with those cheap reflectors but that may make it difficult to up the bulb watts. Rich

[adamhoyer]

Four pin and the battery does not charge that well when riding a lot. www.ebay.com/itm/370265761061 here is the link to the four pin I broke off, didn't check it with a multi meter yet but already broke the R/R plastic clip LOL here is the pic of my R/R 1drv.ms/1mu1jzf

[Bashan]

Your R/R looks the same as the first link, I'm sure it's the right type:

If two R/R's react the same the chances are it's something else. Have you checked the stator wires for voltage? Not charging could be the R/R, the stator, or the battery won't accept a charge. Bad headlights is usually the yellow if they're AC fired. I'll get back on this tomorrow. Rich

[Bashan]

Your original R/R didn't have FLP stamped on it someplace did it? Check your voltages on the stator unhooked like I outlined above. Then check the W, Y, and R hooked up like I outlined above. Then check the supply voltages to the headlight either hooked up or not, it doesn't matter. If they're 12v AC with a few RPMs, it's the lighting system. At that point you would need to upgrade to an HID system or an additional light rack. There's no way I would take my Bashans out at night, even the Fashion would be questionable without the additional lights I installed. The SYM company brags about the lighting on their bikes in their advertisements. The fact that they even bring that up says a lot. It's saying grrrrrrrrrrr...

[adamhoyer]

I have an lcd light that went out on the clock on my dashboard for about a month, then when I put the old rectifier back in and started it up this morning and it turned blue for just 5 or 8 seconds and then turned back off! Might just be rectifier hopefully, two days and I will know.