magunit420 Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Am i correct? does the regulator just just regulate the voltage to the lights? or if this is bad can it cause me to not have spark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowit Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Am i correct? does the regulator just just regulate the voltage to the lights? or if this is bad can it cause me to not have spark? Your voltage regulator is designed to pass any voltage above 15V direct to ground through the chassis. If your regulator is not properly grounded, this can cause an over voltage condition same as having a bad regulator. Your regulator is part of the "charging" system and is is completely separate from your " ignition" system. The only thing they share is the flywheel and housing. Wiring is completely separate so one will NOT affect another. If you have a lack of spark, there are many things that can cause it but most common are the safety switches associated with the TORS carb tops and thumb throttle. The very first thing to do is resistance checks across your source coil, and ignition primary and secondary coils. Also look for simple issues like severed or unplugged wires. The banshee electric is stupid simple so the problem should not take very long to find. Brandon Mull Engineering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magunit420 Posted March 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 (edited) Your voltage regulator is designed to pass any voltage above 15V direct to ground through the chassis. If your regulator is not properly grounded, this can cause an over voltage condition same as having a bad regulator. Your regulator is part of the "charging" system and is is completely separate from your " ignition" system. The only thing they share is the flywheel and housing. Wiring is completely separate so one will NOT affect another. If you have a lack of spark, there are many things that can cause it but most common are the safety switches associated with the TORS carb tops and thumb throttle. The very first thing to do is resistance checks across your source coil, and ignition primary and secondary coils. Also look for simple issues like severed or unplugged wires. The banshee electric is stupid simple so the problem should not take very long to find. Brandon Mull Engineering Right right..... the tors are removed and when the bike quit all of a sudden after like 30 seconds of riding....so i pulled the flywheel cover and the pickup coil was knicked by the flywheel and the copper wires exposed and magnet exposed...so i replaced the stator and pickup still no spark...so i did an ohm check on the coil and the secondary test failed so i got a new coil and still no spark....so now im down to the CDI ive checked the harness and everything looks A ok so i got a CDI on its way this week so that should be the final test right?>the kill switch is bypassed and i hot wired the key switch by cutting the 2 going into the key and wrapped them up so i guess the only thing is the CDI right? the regulator wouldnt cause me no spark? Edited March 7, 2007 by magunit420 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowit Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Right right..... the tors are removed and when the bike quit all of a sudden after like 30 seconds of riding....so i pulled the flywheel cover and the pickup coil was knicked by the flywheel and the copper wires exposed and magnet exposed...so i replaced the stator and pickup still no spark...so i did an ohm check on the coil and the secondary test failed so i got a new coil and still no spark....so now im down to the CDI ive checked the harness and everything looks A ok so i got a CDI on its way this week so that should be the final test right?>the kill switch is bypassed and i hot wired the key switch by cutting the 2 going into the key and wrapped them up so i guess the only thing is the CDI right? the regulator wouldnt cause me no spark? NO, the regulator will not cause this problem. It is also rare for a CDI failure but I have had to replace a few. One this to check is those damn spark plug caps. pull them off and check the coil without them. then remove the plug wires from the coil and check all that. You should not just loose your CDI over this but I am not the one looking at it right now either. Brandon Mull Engineering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magunit420 Posted March 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 NO, the regulator will not cause this problem. It is also rare for a CDI failure but I have had to replace a few. One this to check is those damn spark plug caps. pull them off and check the coil without them. then remove the plug wires from the coil and check all that. You should not just loose your CDI over this but I am not the one looking at it right now either. Brandon Mull Engineering well the coil was shot and the pickup was shot and replaced and no spark so what else is there? cdi i really hope it works man im depressed without shee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snopczynski Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 The voltage regulator just regulates the ac voltage for the lights. What year is this bike, some key switches were bypassed by shorting the two wires together, other were bypassed by disconnecting it. You also need to make sure none of your wires down near the stator are rubbed through and touching any aluminum components down there. It is very rare to see a cdi failure. Did you set pick up coil gap, and if the flywheel was dropped, hit hard, or severly damaged when it hit the pickup coil it could crack the magnets in it internally. This would cause no spark or intermittent spark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87sheerips Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 Buy a CDI on here for what, 50 bucks? Itll probly fix your problem as they go without warning. And if its not your problem, throw it in your toolbox it will be as handy as a 12mm socket someday!!! :thumbsup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bansh-eman Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 im not an electrician so this might be incorrect.. but im pretty sure the regulator is for more then your lights??? the blue wire plugs into your cdi from the regulator..but i havent cracked open a cdi to see if it only supports the lighting or if it bridges on to the ignition side also... cdi's go out all the time without warning... that could be your problem... theres a ton of reasons electical units fail, just test each component and start narrowing it down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csrmel Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 the lighting circuit on the banshee has 2 power wires. (neutral and power). the voltage regulator has 2 wires on it. 1 wire goes to a ground. the second wire plugs directly into the power wire that comes out of the stator. the 2 power wires (neutral and power because its alternating current) go directly to the headlights via the headlight switch. you can UNPLUG the voltage regulator (turn off you headlights first) and start the bike, it will run normally. you can unplug the 2 power wires for the lighting that come out of the stator and the bike will still start and run normally. the lighting circuit and voltage regulator are completely independant from the ignition. the ONLY way they could ever have ANYTHING to do with ignition is if some wires insulation somehow got stripped off and you had some short circuiting. actually, what i have said applies to my 2006 banshee. other years, espically the real old years, may be different. maybe not. i have no expierence with older banshees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snopczynski Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 That is right, ignition and lighting circuits on the stator are completely isolated from each other. The only way the lighting circuit can cause a problem is if you have the 2 wires out of the stator reversed for the lighting circuit (yellow and black). If you do that then ac is ran into the ground system and the bike will run very poorly. Last time I checked the voltage regulator only has 1 wire and its grounded through the housing. Otherwise you dont have to worry about the regulator unless your having lighting issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bansh-eman Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 ill have to recheck my harness when i get home but from what i remember the blue wire goes into my cdi... but i might be thinking of a differnt wire... i guess ill have to take a gander at it once i get home... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrenaline junky Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 speaking of voltage regulaters, i just got one because i have two 100 watt lights and ricky stator said i needed one. i fund somethng on my quad that looked like one but there was two tabs on the stock one and just a hole through the middle of the aftermarket one. can anyone help me? And by the way the voltage regulater that i found was right next to the cdi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magunit420 Posted March 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 speaking of voltage regulaters, i just got one because i have two 100 watt lights and ricky stator said i needed one. i fund somethng on my quad that looked like one but there was two tabs on the stock one and just a hole through the middle of the aftermarket one. can anyone help me? And by the way the voltage regulater that i found was right next to the cdi. right just making sure....i got a cdi commin this week sometime...so ill bolt that on and giveher a kick.,....with the new stator and pickup gap set and a new coil...ive heard that if you shake your flywheel and you hear something loose then its no good. i dont have that problem...like i said i did the test on the coil and it passed the primary test and failed the secondary (threw the spark plug wire). so i thought that this was my problem but i replaced it and still no spark...so now i guess its just the CDI that could possibly be bad...so lemme get this str8...the power is produced from the flywheel and the pickup and goes to the CDI in which return gives a charge to the coil? also...i have a rick stator and it has an extra wire for more lighting...but i guess it needs another regulator off that extra wire comming outta the stator? if im going to run bigger lights or extra lights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bansh-eman Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 yea thats the stock regulator... the one ricky stator sold you was probly some after market one that can be used on any application so it wasnt built to bolt directly to the stock mount... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowit Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 yea thats the stock regulator... the one ricky stator sold you was probly some after market one that can be used on any application so it wasnt built to bolt directly to the stock mount... OK, the regulator has zero to do with the CDI ignition circuit. The regulator that we refer to is called a bridge rectified, regulator. It functions by by first rectifying voltage or smoothing the ripple AC voltage created by the a stator. Because the flywheel rpms change all the time, so does the AC current produced by the stator. When you test your lighting circuit on a constant loss ignition like the banshee (with no battery) the power will be very dirty thus the reason it will read with your meter set on AC and not DC. Make no mistake though, your lighting system IS DC. The reason for the dirty power is because your rectifier does not include the extra capacitance needed to suppress all the ripple voltage into a flat line +/- DC. The extra caps are just not needed on the banshee because the power is clean enough for the lights to work. A battery acts like a big capacitor thus the reason that electric start bikes will have much cleaner voltage. your regulator functions to drain excess voltage to the chassis through ground of the component chassis or a remote wire. Either or. Now if that regulator is not grounded, the part can still be good and your lights will still blow. Ground is a must. your CDI box is "potted" which means you are not going to open it and see what is happening. The reasons for potting are many but mostly moisture lock, vibration damping, heat dissipation through conduction. The CDI is all DIGITAL which I think is always funny when people market a "digital" ignition. The CDI has many diodes built in to rectify it's current and prevent overload and transient failures. The common voltage regulator can be many shapes and sizes but all serve the same purpose. I am convinced in this instance that something else is going on that is very simple. The exciter coil or pulse generator only creates a very small voltage to offer a reference voltage to the CDI for timing. It does not contribute any sizable amount of power thus it can be grounded shorted or whatever and would never cause a complete ignition failure. I would be looking closer at wiring and let that multimeter be your guide. Resistance checks all around and unplug those coils and reference them to ground. Shorting is easy to find. Hope that helps a bit. Brandon Mull Engineering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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