150cc Scooter not charging By brownk255 (Read 11,968 times)

[brownk255]

Hi Guys,
I have searched and not found a thread to answer my question so any help is much appreciated.

I have a 2007 150cc scooter that will not charge. It was charging before the winter and the battery developed an internal bad cell. after I replaced the battery I noticed that the headlights were not coming on except very low. I replaced the regulator/rectifier and the headlights work perfectly. However the scooter is not charging the battery.

I have ohm tested the wires from the stator and get about 7.5 ohms from each the yellow and white wires. One of the many different thoughts on testing say that the ohms should be around 4 and anything higher is a bad stator.... other troubleshooting guides don't mention this.

Question I have is, could I have received a bad regulator or is it a bad stator that needs to be replaced?
Thanks

[idnative1948]

Drop down about 2/3 rds on the forum and you will see *Library*. Look under electrical. Tons and tons of info there. As to your question, could be and/or both.

[brownk255]

I have looked at all the threads in the Electrical Library and searched the general forum. None of the information gives a good answer and in some cases you get multiple different answers depending on what you read. Some of the info is dated and wondering if anyone had more clear cut views on how to test accurately. It is strange that the scooter runs great, and now the headlights work great but it doesn't charge the battery.

[idnative1948]

I went through the same thing a couple of years ago. Even after changing out the stator it took two more regulators and one resistor because then my lights would go bright when I grabbed he brake.

[terrilee]

HI & WELCOME


check your ground wires
then if it isnt a simple fix like that
u need to run electrical diagnostics on everything

it might be your 'new' regulator
china parts have the prob of being bad right out of the box.

heres a good link
scooterdoc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=electrical&action=display&thread=1027

and another edit:: when my magneto / stator went i tested it on Ac volts
when doing that it should be over 50v's anything under that its toast

keep us notified--the big mechs should be on shortly to help

[Alleyoop]

Connect the Volt meter to the battery on DC and start the scoot and then Rev it up to at least 3000+rpms and see if the Volts go up. It could be that it is chargeing but discharges after sitting, does your scoot have an alarm or remote or do you have a radio or something?
Alleyoop

Here is a very good explanation of how to test your charging system.
www.scooterdoc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=electrical&action=display&thread=3919

[brownk255]

Thanks Terrilee for the help.

I have checked the green ground on the stator and it shows .1 ohm to scooter frame, can't get much better than that. I have not checked the grounds at the regulator and elsewhere. I did check the a/c voltage a while back and I remember that I got 45-55 vac on the yellow wire at idle but not sure if I had any on the white wire or what it was, I will recheck.

One of my concerns was that I got the wrong regulator but it looks like the one that came off except that the plug is white instead of black, otherwise same 4 pin connector. Replacing the stator is a lot more work and expense than the $10 regulator so want to try and rule out everything else first. Would rather not just throw money at it like a car mechanic.

[brownk255]

Alleyoop,

I have checked and it is not charging at all when revved up to 4-5k rpm. I do have a security sys and it was drawing some power so I pulled the fuse and verified that it was not pulling any power.

What tipped me off on the not charging was I replaced the battery and the regulator and then started driving until it stopped starting with the battery, recharged and started checking, no charging.

[justbuggin]

you should have afuse inline to the battery from the r/r on the little red wire make sure it is good with the meter and make sure you have good grounds from the motor to frame and the r/r to frame

[Bashan]

All good advice and links so far. Here's what I would recommend:

• Forget the ohms tests, stators and R/Rs vary wildly and the results don't mean much.
  
• Take the white wire off of the R/R, set your multi to AC voltage and hook one probe up to the white wire and ground the other. Start the scooter and give it some RPMs, you should get about 20v AC. If all your grounds and wires are good then you have a bad stator. Reattach the white to the R/R.
  
• Do the same to the yellow and you should get about 15v AC. If not, you have a bad stator.
  
• Reattach the yellow to the R/R and test it by touching one probe to an exposed portion of the yellow and the other probe to ground. With scooter running and some RPMs you should get 12v AC. If not you have a bad R/R, it's not regulating the voltage for the headlights etc..
  
• Do the same to the white and you should get 12v AC, if not you have a bad R/R. The voltage is regulated to 12v AC on that side of the R/R but is still not rectified for DC voltage to the battery.
  
• To check the rectification set your multi to DC voltage and check the red wire off of the R/R by touching an exposed portion of the wire, even at the red battery terminal, with your red probe and grounding the other. If your stator was pumping out white 20v AC on the previous test and you're not getting 12v DC on the red wire after all of the above you have a bad R/R. It isn't rectifying or regulating the voltage to 12v DC.
  
• This is all on this "dated" PDF that Shalom72c made for us and is on the previous link from Alley.

Rich

[brownk255]

Thanks Bashan

I have several "repair" books, and none of them told me what the voltage should be and focused just on the ohms which was significantly different between each book. Looking at all the comments, combined with the books is more than confusing. I appreciate your VERY easy to follow and check 5 bullets. I did see the PDF but I didn't get the same voltage and wasn't sure if it was for my engine or not.

What I measured was 56 vac on the white wire (at a fast idle ~2k rpm) which has to be the lights on this scooter since they work great after the new r/r. This is another confusing part since the PDF shows the white wire as the charging voltage line and what I was focused on.

The yellow wire was dead, no voltage. I am now assuming that this is the charging line.

Assuming it is a bad stator and will be replacing it.

Thanks to everyone for their help!

[terrilee]

magnetos / stators arent the easiest thing to change
{ esp if you dont have the right tools} ask me lmsao

so if i was you i would try to eliminate EVERYTHING else 1st

[brownk255]

Hi All,

Just wanted to close this problem out so everyone will know, I hate it when it's left hanging.

I replaced the stator and got about 20 vac on both the white and yellow wires. I first used the new r/r that I bought and it would not charge, I put the old r/r back on and it charges and the lights work like they are suppose to.

I now have to assume that not all r/r's are created equal or for the generic scooter. Remember we figured out that the charging circuit was on the yellow line instead of the white like the PDF showed. The original r/r has a black 4p plug while the new one had a white. Don't know if that makes a difference or not.....could be a bad "new" r/r.

FYI, the engine is a 1P57QMJ.

Finally all is well and back to riding.

Thanks again.

[terrilee]

GLAD UR RUNNING
STICK AROUND AND CHAT NOW AND THEN