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Bad boy revolt not charging

#1

E

Ebtate8

I have a bad boy revolt with a Kawasaki FX850V. I changed the battery after it died a couple of weeks ago. The new battery died soon after changing. I found the voltage regulator was bad. I changed the regulator and jumped off the battery to get the mower started. Voltage between the regulator and the battery is now showing 8V while running. There was no voltage before. Is the new regulator bad? What else could be the problem? I was hoping that running the mower with the new voltage regulator would charge the battery back to 12V but it’s not going to get there with only 8V being supplied. Any ideas?


#2

S

slomo

Does that reg require a ground to make it work? With that voltage drop, you have a bad ground or faulty hot wire some place. Post reg should be 13'ish+ volts.


#3

E

Ebtate8

slomo said:
Does that reg require a ground to make it work? With that voltage drop, you have a bad ground or faulty hot wire some place. Post reg should be 13'ish+ volts.
Click to expand...
It is grounded to the same screw that mounts the regulator to the metal cover. This was the ground location from the factory.


#4

S

slomo

Ebtate8 said:
It is grounded to the same screw that mounts the regulator to the metal cover. This was the ground location from the factory.
Click to expand...
Multimeter on Ohms. Go from - batt post to reg ground screw. What do you get?


#5

Hammermechanicman

Hammermechanicman

You may have fried the stator.
You should have approx 28 volts AC @ 3000rpm across the two stator wires going to the regulator. Unplug and check the stator output.


#6

E

Ebtate8

slomo said:
Multimeter on Ohms. Go from - batt post to reg ground screw. What do you get?
Click to expand...

Hammermechanicman said:
You may have fried the stator.
You should have approx 28 volts AC @ 3000rpm across the two stator wires going to the regulator. Unplug and check the stator output.
Click to expand...
The stator is good. Measuring 30v


#7

Hammermechanicman

Hammermechanicman

With engine running and battery connected what is the voltage from ground to output tab on regulator? Is it the same as ground to battery positive?


#8

E

Ebtate8

Hammermechanicman said:
With engine running and battery connected what is the voltage from ground to output tab on regulator? Is it the same as ground to battery positive?
Click to expand...
Yes. These are both 8v and does not change with a higher rpm.


#9

Hammermechanicman

Hammermechanicman

With a charged battery you should be getting approx 12v at the output tab on the regulator even with it not putting out charging voltage. How are you measuring the 8v?
Battery charged?


#10

E

Ebtate8

Hammermechanicman said:
With engine running and battery connected what is the voltage from ground to output tab on regulator? Is it the same as ground to battery positive?
Click to expand...
Yes. These are both 8v and does not change
Hammermechanicman said:
With a charged battery you should be getting approx 12v at the output tab on the regulator even with it not putting out charging voltage. How are you measuring the 8v?
Battery charged?
Click to expand...
the battery is not fully charged. I’m jumping it off to start the mower.


#11

Tiger Small Engine

Tiger Small Engine

Ebtate8 said:
Yes. These are both 8v and does not change

the battery is not fully charged. I’m jumping it off to start the mower.
Click to expand...
Charge the battery to 12.75 volts, then check to see if it is charging. System will not charge a flat uncharged battery.


#12

E

Ebtate8

Tiger Small Engine said:
Charge the battery to 12.75 volts, then check to see if it is charging. System will not charge a flat uncharged battery.
Click to expand...
Shouldn’t the higher rpm show a higher voltage output from regulator to battery?


#13

Hammermechanicman

Hammermechanicman

Regularors need the battery to excite them to start charging. 8v should be enough. It does sound like a bad regulator


#14

E

Ebtate8

Hammermechanicman said:
Regularors need the battery to excite them to start charging. 8v should be enough. It does sound like a bad regulator
Click to expand...
I have 8.5v across the battery. 10V from the regulator to ground with the engine running WOT. The stator is 32VAC. Any other ideas? It seems the battery is slowly discharging. It started at 9.5v and continues to decline with the motor running.


#15

E

Ebtate8

Ebtate8 said:
I have 8.5v across the battery. 10V from the regulator to ground with the engine running WOT. The stator is 32VAC. Any other ideas? It seems the battery is slowly discharging. It started at 9.5v and continues to decline with the motor running.
Click to expand...
Also, the ground is good measuring the same voltage from the ground screw to the positive on the battery as it does across the battery.


#16

E

Ebtate8

Ebtate8 said:
Also, the ground is good measuring the same voltage from the ground screw to the positive on the battery as it does across the battery.
Click to expand...
Update - I put a charged battery in place and everything is not operating perfectly. It seems the regulator needs 12V to produce the continued 12V+ charge. Measuring across the battery at WOT now reads 13.5V+. Thanks for all the help.


#17

S

slomo

Another satisfied customer. Glad to heat she is running again. (y)


#18

E

Ebtate8

slomo said:
Another satisfied customer. Glad to heat she is running again. (y)
Click to expand...
So it seems we have an issue again. After two days of starting and running strong, I had to jump the battery to get the mower running this morning. While mowing, it just died and I cannot get it restarted. Nothing works. There is no power at all. Am I looking at a bad starter switch issue?


#19

S

slomo

I would say a parasitic current draw. Something is drawing current with the key off. Need to go circuit by circuit and find it. Many youtubes out there on this subject.


#20

StarTech

StarTech

Sounds like a blown fuse or a loose wire terminal but without the serial number can't look up anything.

But here is a wiring diagram from a 2019 model which definely lacking info on what ea connector is for.
1725084937531.png


#21

F

Freddie21

Charge the battery then take to auto parts store and have it checked. It may not be able to charge, or hold, a full charge. Make sure all connections are clean and tight. If you measure voltage from Batt-, or regulator ground, to chassis it should be very close to 0v with battery connected, or 0 ohms with it not.


#22

P

Poodlehead

I know you verified the ground connection, but I'd make sure the negative end of the bat cable is nice and "tight" where it connects to the engine. I had funky voltage readings before and it was due to that loose ground conn.


#23

F

Freddie21

If you're jumping it at the battery, measure the regulator voltage with the charge on. Should be same as at the battery. With the engine running and the jump still on, I'm not sure if the stator would supply enough to measure an increase from a large battery's output. Get the mower's battery charged and verified. Can be done at any auto parts store. The reinstall and see if you're measuring the 12v at the regulator with engine off. Start and see if it increases. Should never be less than battery voltage. I can see how you can damage a regulator jumping with a car battery with a high amperage output.


#24

VRR.DYNDNS>BIZ

VRR.DYNDNS>BIZ

Hammermechanicman said:
With engine running and battery connected what is the voltage from ground to output tab on regulator? Is it the same as ground to battery positive?
Click to expand...
You may find all is good, just need to allow the battery voltage to grow from a low level to full. Put on a charger. measure key on engine off, key on engine running. If an increase, system is charging.


#25

A

Auto Doc's

You need to quit jump starting it and put the battery on a charger to get it fully charged. Fortunately, you have not burned up the stator (yet). The charging system on the machine is for maintaining a fully charged battery, not to recharge a low or dead one.

Once a fully charged battery is installed, run a jumper wire from the regulator 12V out charging pin directly to the battery positive and see if it has charging voltage (above idle). If it does, that would indicate an open in the harness or a bad connector pin. trace wire down to find the problem.

If the regulator is not putting out charge voltage (above idle), it is defective.


#26

E

Ebtate8

Auto Doc's said:
You need to quit jump starting it and put the battery on a charger to get it fully charged. Fortunately, you have not burned up the stator (yet). The charging system on the machine is for maintaining a fully charged battery, not to recharge a low or dead one.

Once a fully charged battery is installed, run a jumper wire from the regulator 12V out charging pin directly to the battery positive and see if it has charging voltage (above idle). If it does, that would indicate an open in the harness or a bad connector pin. trace wire down to find the problem.

If the regulator is not putting out charge voltage (above idle), it is defective.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the help. It seems the regulator pins from the aftermarket regulator do not line up the same as the factory. I had to split the stator wires from their harness and run them individually to the correct posts. All is good now.


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