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Battery is charging poorly (Regulator direct wire mod) - 450/700/750by Glenlivet, 2009-02-27A team effort by Suzuki owners. 
First we want to be sure that what is wrong really is a charging problem and not something else like the Battery Drain Issue discussed in that Tech Tip, a poorly initially prepared battery discussed in This Tech Tip, or that the battery has simply developed poor contact at the posts from corrosion (more common than you might think!) The way to tell if it's really a charging problem is to take a voltage reading when the ATV is idling, measured across a healthy charged battery and using a good meter. The charge voltage should be very close to 14 volts, above or below within a few 10ths. Several owners have experienced problems with battery charging and with poor low speed operation and stalling, particularly it seems with the '07 King Quad models. (though other models that have developed bad grounds as described below, can benefit as well) * One possible reason for a low charge voltage in the King Quad is found to be that the connection from the regulator to either or both ground and/or battery positive, can be bad. This results in reduced battery charging and vehicle operating voltage. The relatively simple cure is to hard-wire the regulator output directly to the battery. People who have done this on their King Quads and who had been reading charge voltages little greater than the battery's resting voltage, have seen immediate increases to the low to mid 14 volt range. Just where it should be. Here is where the regulator hides, just behind the left side fender/body plastic. Here it peeks out after removing the 'oil check' cover. Photo: Zundappchef  Basically what you are doing is making a more secure electrical connection between the output of the regulator and the battery, using larger wire and direct connection that is not reliant on the vehicle ground. According to the wiring diagram the wires this mod introduces are in no way a shortcut nor do they make a path of conductivity not intended by Suzuki engineers, they (the wires) simply provide a solid electrical path from the charge regulator to the battery, one not reliant on the vagueries of a vehicle ground. Here is the regulator plug. There are five wire connections. The three yellow are the wires from the generator to the regulator and they carry 75 volts in any two of the three when measured paired. The red and the black/white stripe ones are the ones we want. Photo: Zundappchef  The simple modification is to tap into the black/white stripe wire just as it exits this plug and run a good 14 gauge or larger wire from there to the battery negative. In the same way and as an option you can tap into the red wire and run a 14 gauge wire from here to the battery positive terminal. A good tap would be carefully baring a section of the wire a short distance from the plug, soldering on your wire tap, and then covering the joint with several applications of 'liquid tape' or alternately wrapping the soldered joint in heat shrinking tape and applying a heat gun. Many people who formerly had low charging/operating voltage have seen their voltage at the battery posts increase by .5 to 1.5 volts or even more in a few bad cases, just by installing this direct wiring mod. 
Here the wires are ready for installing. Zundappchef has chosen spade lugs for the taps. These are good due to their relatively large contact area and sliding connection.  The regulator plug output side has it's red and black/white stripe wires cut and fitted with crimped on spade males. The stock wiring is fitted with crimped female/male tap connectors. The fittings are crimped on and heat shrink insulated.  Now before Zundappchef plugs everything together for the final installation he slips large heat shrink tubing over each plug set. A treatment of the plugs with dielectric grease before they are hidden away (forever?) would be good insurance.  And here is the finished wiring upgrade, after a heat gun has shrunk the insulating tubing to the connections. The new wires have not yet been fished upward to reach the battery. The heat shrink protects the joint and makes a virtual waterproof seal, and provides a good measure of physical bond holding the plugs together against light to moderate forces that might try to shake them apart. The other ends of the new wires attach to the battery posts directly, providing the positive path of conductivity needed for the regulator when this path is less than adequate on some machines. Good job Zundappchef!
 A word of caution: The use of the commonly available 'Scotch Locks' for such things as this mod, is not recommended. These taps use a narrow blade-like slotted connector plate to cut down through an insulated wire without the need to prepare it by stripping insulation. While quick and easy to use, they are a decidedly poor way to make a secure electrical connection and are widely reviled among professional installation technicians for their poor performance and unreliable tiny contact area, particularly in weather-exposed applications.  * This Tech Tip uses pics from Zundappchef's (Netherlands) version of the modification, whom he credits to Carlosio (Spain), who modestly says he merely improved on an idea he got from sskingquad (Canada), who in turn says "I actually didn't do this myself... I had a Suzuki tech from Suzuki Canada come and test my charging system... ...and he found that the wiring harness just didn't have sufficient ground and therefor was not charging enough..." Look at that, people from all over the world contribute to identifying and fixing this problem (including others not yet named), and nobody is claiming credit, just crediting those before! I think they all deserve the credit.  |
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