I have been having issues with the charing system on my 08 klr, I originally thought that the voltage regulator had died on my as the charging system was showing 19 volts on the voltmeter I have installed on the bike (confirmed with a multimeter). I replaced the regulator with the The Super Mosfet Kit FH020AA kit from http://roadstercycle.com. This included running new 10 gauge charging wires from the regulator to the battery with a circuit breaker in line. After the install I took the bike for a ride and I am seeing voltages up to 16 volts on my voltmeter. I am not sure where to look or go from here to get this under control. Just for reference I am running a Odyssey battery on the bike and I have converted the headlight to HID and the taillight to LED; other that those changes the load on the system is the same as stock. Any ideas what to look at now, or what the issue could be?
I'm pretty familiar with the charging system on that bike. I'll see if I can dig up some info for you. Do you have the shop manual for it? If so, there is some good trouble shooting tips in there. Grab a meter and check the wires between the stator and the regulator to make sure you don't have an exposed wire there touching the frame or something. It's common to pinch one of the three yellow wires where the upper motor mount connects to the frame (the triangle one). I'll do my best to help you from there. Edit: What I described above will not likely be you issue, after giving it some thought. If your overcharging, that is.
ya.... if it's over charging it's the regulator. I have heard of some new mosfet regs being bad out of the box. how good is the meter you are testing with? if it's actually going to 16 V then the reg is no good. I assume it is a 5 wire.... 3 AC inputs and 2 DC out
the only possible wire problem is if there is a high resistance connection between the regulator sense points and the battery. a 5 wire system with new wire makes that pretty much impossible.... thats why I asked about it. I was also assuming the reg's DC outputs go straight to the battery, which is what the aftermarket Mosfet regulator guys want you to do. but, a high resistance connection could make the regulator think voltage is low & drive to a higher value. so depending on how it was wired, it is possible the battery ground cable could produce the drop. if the OP put the regulator's ground wire to the frame & there is a bad battery ground then ya, thats the wire you need to check. to pull the ground off at the starter motor end you usually have to remove the exhaust, but thats where the problem will be
This may help the OP or other 2008+ KLR owners locate trouble spots. The guy in the video a bit angry with Kawi, notably so, but he does a good job pointing out the bad spots and offers up the DIY fix. My 2009 was supposed to have had the "upgraded" harness from it's date of production. That term, "upgraded" is a serious misnomer. My harness failed--- it was an intermittent break somewhere- but NOT grounding out and not popping fuses. Still it persisted and would conk out the bike in random fashion. Never could find the trouble spot. I replaced the harness myself out of pocket at 13,000 miles, armoring every inch with cable armor. Kawi would not stand behind it. No more worries after that. Easy Saturday project. Here is that video I speak of. Kawasaki 2008 KLR 650 electrical wire harness recall repair - YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dJQczy9-88
Thanks for the ideas, I have not had a chance to work on the bike this week. I am hoping to get some time this weekend to go over everything again and check the measurements with another voltmeter just to verify.. I will check the resistance across the new wiring from the regulator to the battery and go over the wiring to see if I can identify any faults or issues.. this is a frustrating problem to be working on but I can be glad that i am working on it at home and not on the side of the road 1000's of miles from home....
Disconnecting the HID ballasts is in the plan also, from what I understand there is a chance they are providing feedback into the system that is messing with things.
the only item of equipment that can make the system over volt is the regulator.... every thing else causes a low volt condition if anything. possible exception is wiring that affects the ability of the regulator to see the battery's actual voltage... that could be a bad ground between the regulator and battery or a bad "hot" between the regulator and battery. if the regulator ground lead is attached to the frame then a bad battery ground lead is a possibility. any extra resistance in the sense loop will cause the regulator to allow a higher voltage
