JDX FIRST RIDE!!!!

[400brian]

Bob, this has a Walbro, you are supposed to open the throttle a third of the way or so to start it, warm or cold.

50 : 1 is fine.

If the bulbs are burnt out, its a pretty good bet that the voltage regulator is shot.

On the speedo, the first thing to look at is the drive key.

[Mr. Deere]

Ok great! Thanks for the help brian! I'll have to check the key tomorrow. I know my brake light works. I wonder if the wires came out of the switch. Maybe its grounding out and causeing the tachometer to short out?

[400brian]

Put a volt meter on that tail light and see what you have.

[Mr. Deere]

Alright so I messed around a little today and heres what I found. All connections were nice and tight. Warmed sled up and grabbed the meter. No voltage at the headlight with the switch on. Pull the brake and the brake lights up. pulled bulb and had 1.2volts. This doesn't seem right to me tho.. Doesn't it need to be 12? I flipped the headlight switch on and check for voltage too. Nothing. Strange thing is tho if i put bulb in and squeeze brake with switch on its very dim. Almost like a short. I checked and had milivolts reading on my meter. Im puzzled on how its lighting up! On a side note I think i figured out my throttle issue. I think my cable is sticking causing the butterfly to stay open partially.

[400brian]

Troy just went through this with his 340/S, same symptoms.

First, all his bulbs were blown. Classic V reg failure: no regulation, over voltage burns bulbs out.

Next; he swaps on a different used regulator, and sees what you are seeing. V reg has failed in a grounded condition.

Most likely if you replace your V reg your problem will be solved.

[Mr. Deere]

Nice! Its always nice when someone has gone through the same thing. I'll have to get one from Matt. Thanks for all the help!

[JDT]

Mr. Bob, do you have your meter on AC volts???

[Mr. Deere]

No Mr. Todd I did not. Wouldn't the voltage at the lamps be DC? Dont these sleds have rectifiers? I wouldn't think the bulbs would work on AC. I may be wrong but if you were to plug your headlamp into the wall socket it might not work to well. Did I measure wrong?

[harleysportster]

No Mr. Todd I did not. Wouldn't the voltage at the lamps be DC? Dont these sleds have rectifiers? I wouldn't think the bulbs would work on AC. I may be wrong but if you were to plug your headlamp into the wall socket it might not work to well. Did I measure wrong?

Mr Deere,
The lighting circuit is AC volts as stated before. The rectifiers were only used on engines with electric start to convert the AC to DC to charge the battery. The lights do not run off of the battery, just the lighting coil of the stator.

[Mr. Deere]

Harley I'm confused tho. How do the bulbs not blow with AC voltage goin to them?

[Matt]

Harley I'm confused tho. How do the bulbs not blow with AC voltage goin to them?

It's still only 12 volts, a simple lamp can run on AC or DC.

[HoosierDeereMan]

Bob,

The first thing you need to check is the lighting coil. Unplug the white connector on the fan tower. The connector that is bolted stationary to the fan tower is the one you want to test. The top two wires in that white connector should be the lighting coil. They will be solid green or green with yellow stripes I think. Set your meter to Ohms. That's the upside down horse shoe on the meter. Test across the top two slots (green wires) in the connector. You should get a resistance reading or hear your meter buzz. If it reads open (OL)the wiring in the lighting coil has a break in it somewhere. You want to see resistance. Resistance is good! Next, raise the back of the sled off the ground so that the track clears the ground using a jack stand or something secure. Set your volt meter to AC. Start the sled and insert meter leads into the same slots in the connector. At idle the lighting coil should be showing a reading of about 20 volts AC. Next, open the throttle up to almost half way. The AC output on the coil should increase to between 40 to 60 volts AC on your meter. If you are getting close to these readings your lighting coil is good. Keep in mind that with the white connector unplugged you have bypassed the kill switch. You will have to plug it back in to stop the engine.

In my case I had a bad voltage regulator that was shorting out the light circuit. If you looked at the tail light or headlight with the sled running and the lights on you barely saw a orange glow in the bulb filament. My tachometer also did not read correct. I would unplug the tach and all the lights except for the tail light and then unplug the voltage regulator. Start the sled and see if the tail light is very bright. If it is the voltage regulator is bad! Be quick about this as the bulb may only last 3 or 4 seconds before it blows.

Good Luck!

Troy

[JDT]

Bob a light or bulb or lamp is a passive device. It does not care if you put AC to it or DC.

The only thing that matters is that you do not exceed the rated voltage for a peticular lamp.
For example...

If you put say 6 volts across a 12 volt lamp it will light but rather dim.

If you put 12 volts across a 12 v lamp it will light to the rated candlepower or lumens.

If you put 24 volts across said bulb it will be very bright, but only for an instant and than it will blow.

Lamps used in sleds and autos that have 12 volt systems carry a 12 volt rating but actually have a saftey factor built into them because a fully charged 12 volt lead acid battery actually puts out 13.2 VDC.
As most alternators charge the battery at 13.6-14.2 volts they have to be able to take a little higher voltage and still maintain some reasonable life expectancy.

And yes Bob if you hook up a 12 volt headlamp to an extension cord and plug it into a 120vac outlet it will be the brightest thing you have seen since you put that stray cat in your mom's microwave.

[harleysportster]

And yes Bob if you hook up a 12 volt headlamp to an extension cord and plug it into a 120vac outlet it will be the brightest thing you have seen since you put that stray cat in your mom's microwave.

Now thats funny, but I hope it is not true.

[Mr. Deere]

Hahahah leave it to you Todd. You mus ta had that one saved for a while. hahaha. thanks for the clarification. I always assumed there were differences in the bulbs for the current. I mean technically if you had enough power you could run an Incandescent house bulb on DC correct?