LC4 Charging problems

[AllEuro]

I'm working on a 00 LC4 enduro and it is failing to charge the battery and has a slight voltage drain with the key off and a meter hooked between the ground and - terminal of the battery. It will run if kicked over but the voltage on the battery is around 10.5 volts while running 12+ if turned off and battery is charged. Ideas? or does anyone have emailable service manual info that I could test out the various components to sort out the culprit.

Cheers,
Mr. B

[meat popsicle]

there is a manual to the 03 LC4 adventure that has the wiring diagrams. might not have changed much since 00...

in the thread index at the top of this forum is a "links to other downloads" near the top that goes to my yahoo briefcase and the manual is in two parts near the bottom.

[Thorny]

My lc4 charges only when it is revved above idle. At idle the draw from the parking lights and whatever other reisitence there is only allows the battery to sit at about 10v as well. Test your bike again (if you have not already) at higer rpm and see if that does not help. I've also found that with the headlight on the battery will not charge even at higher revs.


I always chalked it up to a weak stator, if you find a fix please post it here, I'd love to learn what you find out.

thorny

[Ignore Amos]

LC4 Adventure...can you upgrade the stator?

[Gaz]

Sounds like time for a new battery. A voltage that low will kill a battery very quickly.

[Happe]

Originally Posted by AllEuro

I'm working on a 00 LC4 enduro and it is failing to charge the battery and has a slight voltage drain with the key off and a meter hooked between the ground and - terminal of the battery. It will run if kicked over but the voltage on the battery is around 10.5 volts while running 12+ if turned off and battery is charged. Ideas? or does anyone have emailable service manual info that I could test out the various components to sort out the culprit.

Cheers,
Mr. B

Hi mate,

sounds like your rectifier has a problem. You will find the little bugger next to the battery. The strange thing with the cooling fins on it.
Measure if the diodes in there are still working.
Take a multimeter set it to ohms and measure between yellow and red in both directions.
One direction should give you no read out. Do this with all three yellow cables.
If one or more give you a readout in both directions you will have to get a new rectifier.

Also just FYI.
If your bike is at 3500revs you should have a charging voltage of 13.6 to 14.5 V. Even at idle the voltage should not go below 13V. Otherwise your connectors are corroded or something is broken.

Very common problem on KTM's is the main ground wire from the battery to the frame. Check if the contact is clean and tight.
If you need mor information give me a PM.

cheers

Stefan

[AllEuro]

Originally Posted by Happe

Hi mate,

sounds like your rectifier has a problem. You will find the little bugger next to the battery. The strange thing with the cooling fins on it.
Measure if the diodes in there are still working.
Take a multimeter set it to ohms and measure between yellow and red in both directions.
One direction should give you no read out. Do this with all three yellow cables.
If one or more give you a readout in both directions you will have to get a new rectifier.

Also just FYI.
If your bike is at 3500revs you should have a charging voltage of 13.6 to 14.5 V. Even at idle the voltage should not go below 13V. Otherwise your connectors are corroded or something is broken.




Very common problem on KTM's is the main ground wire from the battery to the frame. Check if the contact is clean and tight.
If you need mor information give me a PM.

cheers

Stefan

The Battery is new and charged and I did rev the engine with no results or change in the output. I will do the diode check and look into the ground wire connections. Is there a test to see if the stator is putting out or is the fact that the bike is running confirm that the stator is making power?

Cheers,
Brian

[Velocibiker]

Fault finding flow chart for motorcycle charging systems

[meat popsicle]

Originally Posted by Ignore Amos

LC4 Adventure...can you upgrade the stator?

I heard one mention (flanny I believe) that there is no room for any more stator in there; no rewinding room. Unless rewindings can upgrade output with the same volume of windings? Increasing charging system output is almost a dead horse BTW; the best output improvement is reducing load, and HID replacements for the halogens is the biggest bang, for big bucks unfortunately...

[Ignore Amos]

Between the flow chart and Happe's post I hope to lick (or at least diagnose) the problem..

[Happe]

Originally Posted by AllEuro

The Battery is new and charged and I did rev the engine with no results or change in the output. I will do the diode check and look into the ground wire connections. Is there a test to see if the stator is putting out or is the fact that the bike is running confirm that the stator is making power?

Cheers,
Brian

Here we go:

If you want to measure the Stator find the cables colored black, red and white. If you measure red to black and to white you should have 12.7ohms +-20%
Charging Coil: locate the yellow cables and the white cable
measure all yellow cables to ground, should read 0.65ohms +-20%
all yellow cables to the white cable should read 0.16ohms +-20%

This is for the Kokusan system (in all 640 Lc4 E /Adventure with E-start)

hope that helps

cheers

Stefan

[Brucasso]

One thing you might check is the Solenoid, I was riding with a friend and his LC4's solenoid worked its way up out of the rubber clamp and shorted out on the frame. Didn't fry anything, just would not start after he shut it down.

[bmwktmbill]

Hi Stefan,
Trying to follow your directions and colors and am copying down the procedure for any future problems. The colors for the stator wires are a little different on my wiring diagram.
They are:
Black/red, Red/black, white, yellow, green
Are your instructions to check as follows:
red/black to black/red=12.7V
red/black to white=12.7V
All yellow to ground .65 Ohms
All yellow to white .16 Ohms
All ohms +-20%
Thanks for your help on this. I can't find this anywhere. Please correct me.
Bill in Tomahawk, WI.

[AllEuro]

I'm not finding the wire colors that Stefan called out in his post regarding the stator test. It appears that I did kill the new battery as well by riding the bike with it not charging and the lights, fan etc. taking it's toll on the battery. ( I charged it last night and it failed to come up to 12.6 V still in the 11.3 V range.) Maybe we can get some more info from the brain trust on some additional testing to sort this thing out. I appreciate all the help on this one from the gang. I got my Gas Gas back on the trail for this weekend so I have some time to sort this one out now.

Aloha,
Brian

[Happe]

Originally Posted by AllEuro

I'm not finding the wire colors that Stefan called out in his post regarding the stator test. It appears that I did kill the new battery as well by riding the bike with it not charging and the lights, fan etc. taking it's toll on the battery. ( I charged it last night and it failed to come up to 12.6 V still in the 11.3 V range.) Maybe we can get some more info from the brain trust on some additional testing to sort this thing out. I appreciate all the help on this one from the gang. I got my Gas Gas back on the trail for this weekend so I have some time to sort this one out now.

Aloha,
Brian

Hi check this Plan to find your colors.
http://www.ktminfo.com/partscat/imag...640adv_ele.pdf

If you can't find it let me know.
I'm back in the office tomorrow


cheers

Stefan