Idle too low or faulty charging system?

[vonh]

I'm worried about your duller lights while driving, that shouldn't be. Fire-up the bike and warm it up , turn on the gloves and rev to 3-4k and take a volt reading if you still get 14v at the battery and your lights are still dull check your headlight connections because that shouldn't happen. Imo!

[John Hopkins]

I think sorting out the three yellow wires cured your problem..however.. if you feel that one or more of your lights is not bright enough use the voltmeter again and read the voltage across the bulbs, you should have the same as you have across the battery, if the voltage is lower put the postive lead of the meter on to the positive pole of the battery and the negative lead on to the positive lead of the bulb, you should get a very low reading..as near to 0v as you can get..if you do this means the positive voltage to the bulb is correct..Now put the negative lead of the meter to the negative pole of the battery and the positive meter lead to the frame..you should read 0v again..if you read any voltage at all you need to run a lead from the negative battery post to the frame, this should bring the brightness up..If it doesn't put the positive meter lead to the negative bulb connector and the negative to the frame and you should read 0v again any more than that and you need to run a wire from the negative bulb connector to the frame..If all of these things are correct and the voltage across the bulb is the same as the battery voltage you need to change the bulb.

John.

[dluszcz]

I think that it's possible the idle is too low by maybe 100-150 rpms. Hovering around 550rpms at idle but once she warms up, the idle levels off around 600 rpms. The headlight dims as the rpms drop to idle. However, a slight blip on the throttle and the lights are bright as can be. I look at the green neutral light on my bike when I say the lights are dimming and if I notice a difference there, I then watch the headlight.

I just took her off the battery trickle charger and when I tested the volts on the battery before starting her up, I was at 13.2 to 13.3. When it was at idle, the volts were about the same reading. The rpms increased as the throttle was increased.

I touched the negative probe to the negative post of the battery and the positive probe to the frame and I got a zero reading.

I believe that the charging system is good. I also think that the headlight and heated gloves are not over drawing power. I just think that I'm reading too much into something that really isn't an issue.

[John Hopkins]

Idle speed should be about 900 to 1100, it is possible that you are only firing on one cylinder, the way to check this is to start the engine and place your hand on the exhaust pipe where it comes out of the engine, within a few seconds it will be too hot to touch, if one is cold you are only firing on one, if both are hot you are good to go and can adjust the black plastic wheel on the carb to about 900 revs.

John.

[dluszcz]

I will try that when I get home. I think I'm running on 2 cylinders though since I average 85 mph when on the highway on the way to and from work.

[dluszcz]

Success! Both cylinders are firing. I got the bike sort of warmed up and it melted the crayon on both pipes.

This weekend, I will adjust the idle and I believe I will be good to go.

Thanks to all for the advice and help.

[PainterD]

Typical for these Shadows. The stock regulators are junk - don't send enough power to the battery in alot of cases and run very hot, with the added power being sent to ground. I always wondered why Honda never addressed this issue and went with a better charging system.

My three yellow wire connector was removed and the wires soldered years ago, so that wasn't the problem. The stock stator is still good (which I originally thought might be the problem) But first I replaced the regulator with the Mosfet (off of a Yamaha R1)
I went thru the same problems for years before installing a volt meter to monitor my battery condition while riding. With a stereo, heated grips and driving lights, I need to monitor the battery condition, and found my charging system just wasn't good enough.
After installing the Mosfet regulator, I observed the normal 12.5 volts when I turn on the key. At idle, it reads 13.7-9 volts and 14+ volts while riding. The voltage drops a little (just a little) when I run my driving lights, but comes right back up when the charging system catches up. the voltage barely drops when I use the heated grips, so that's no problem. The stereo doesn't take enough power to be concerned about and I run it with the bike shut off sometimes without draining the battery.
I read where alot of riders have changed their stators because of them burning out and found it's probably caused (more than likely) the voltage regulator that caused them to fail. Mine is still good and puts out plenty of power, so the Mosfet regulator was the answer. It will maybe give you piece of mind to change yours also. Just a thought. PD

[jpr1968]

I don't think the R/R is a problem. 550rpm idle is low. If you are sitting still a lot on your commute the battery won't charge up. The battery doesn't start chraging until your engine is turning 1200-1300rpms so prolonged idling with any extra load will depleat your battery charge. Try truning the gloves off when your idling for any length of time.