Kazuma 110 charging problems
Hello , I'm new to this forum , and I'm hoping you can help me out . I bought my daughter a Kazuma 110 mini hummer , and it runs fine when it runs . The problem is that after running the quad for approx 20 min , it drains all the juice out of the battery , , and if she shuts it off , she can't re-start . the battery is good , because after putting it on the charger for an hour my meter is reading 12+ VDC and holding . None of the lights are left on , and I disabled ( pulled the plug on the alarm ) I have boosted the quad with a booster box , and afetr disconeecting it does stay running with NO battery , and my meter shows no voltage on the battery wires ..

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone has any ideas as to what might be causing this. I'm at my wits end , and I'm ready to throw this thing off a cliff someplace .

 

First off, the ignition system runs off its own high voltage supply coming from a winding on the stator. It has nothing to do with the battery or battery charging system, That is why the quad runs with no battery installed. The purpose of the battery is to turn the starter motor instead of having to pull a rope or kick start the engine.

So I assume that after charging the battery you can start the quad, but 20 minutes later you cannot? This sounds like your battery is not holding a charge, plus the charging system isn't working.

To test the charging system: Charge up the battery overnight, then put a voltmeter on the battery terminals while the engine is running. Rev the engine up to a medium fast speed and measure the battery voltage. If it reads between 13.5 to 14.5 volts then your charging system is working. If it reads 12.6 volts or less then shut the engine off and watch the battery voltage. If it doesn't drop by more than a volt then the charging system is not working. If the battery voltage drops significantly then you have a bad battery.

Fully charged good batteries don't go dead in 20 minutes. For a six amp hour battery to discharge in 20 minutes would require a continuous 15 amp load. There is nothing on the quad that draws that much without other obvious symptoms (such as smoke). Besides, that sort of load would blow your main fuse anyway.

A bad battery can self discharge. This is easy to test. Remove the quad main fuse. Now everything is disconnected from the battery and can't discharge it. Charge up the battery for several hours and let it sit overnight. Put the fuse back in and then try to start the quad. If the battery goes dead overnight then your battery is bad.

If you still think the quad is discharging the battery then remove the main fuse and insert your meter in its place. Set the meter to measure current on the 10 amp scale (you'll have to hook the probes up differently at the meter than for measuring voltage). Now you can see directly if the quad is draining the battery, and by how much.

 

Thank you so much for the quick response , I will go out to the garage today to see what meter readings I get . The battery I'm useing is brand new out of the box , so I don't think thats what it is . When I charged the battery overnight , and reinstalled , I heard a click as soon as I hooked up the positive cable . It's like something is continuously being energised . Is there a selenoid or something someplace on this bike that I don't know about?

 

I haven't seen the wiring diagram for that particular quad, but normally on 110cc quads the only relay (or solenoid) is the starter solenoid.

Can you trace that click with your ears and see where it is coming from? Use a short piece of hose holding one end to your ear as a stethoscope.

The starter solenoid is easy to spot - it sits between the battery and the starter motor. It has two heavy gauge wires bolted to it - one goes to the battery plus terminal, the other goes to the starter motor.

When you got your new out of the box battery did you have to put the acid in it from a separate plastic jug?

When you take out the main fuse does the clicking stop when you hook up the battery cable?

 

Hi Lynn ,

Here is what I have found out so far . I charged the battery over night , and it holds , and maintains a charge of 12.9VDc with out being hooked up to the quad . I attache both + and - cables to the battery, and start the beast ( with no issues) I rev the machine up , and see NO increase in voltage coming back at all. I turn this thing off , and to my surprise , I actual;ly see the voltage from the battery start dropping . After I see this , I unhook the - (ground cable ) . and the voltage draw stops. I cant figure this out , so I check my meter , and sure enough , an hour later without the ground cable on , the voltage in the battery is still 12.9 VDC. I then put the ground cable on , and I can actually see the power being drained from the battery bit by bit. i figured this might be a selenoid in the starter , so I disconnected the starter. With the starter disconected , I still see a voltage suck on the battery . I'm totally lost !!!!! Could this somehow be the voltage regulator ??? I just bought a new 338 cal , and I'm about to turn this thing into a very expensive target . Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

 

You have convinced me that the battery is good, and your charging system is *not* working. To find the source of the battery drain start unplugging things until it stops. Since the charging system is not working I'd start there, and the voltage regulator seems the most likely culprit.

If you use the 10 amp full scale current function on your meter and place the probes to ench end of the main fuse (after removing the fuse) you won't have to wait and see if the battery voltage drops. You will have an instant and exact measurement of the current drain (which should be zero amps when the quad is off). Or you could watch the battery voltage droop over time if you prefer - it just seems a lot harder way to do things to me.

You'll probably find that the regulator is letting current go backwards through it and then through stator winding to ground. Thus disconnecting the voltage regulator or the stator wires will also cause the current to stop. But the voltage regulator would be the one at fault in this case.

Do you notice anything getting hot? For example, let's say you're drawing 5 amps off the battery. That's 60 watts thats going up in heat somewhere (12 volts times 5 amps = 60 watts).

 

Thanks for all your help Lynn! Once I diconnected the voltage regulator , all draw on the battery stopped . I assume that this is the problem , and I will see if anybody in Red Deer sells a new one . I will let you know if this was the culprit once I get the new one installed . Do you know if all regulators for 50-90-and 110 cc machines are the same ?

 

To the best of my knowledge the 4 pin regulators for 110cc machines and a few others are the same. There are other 4 pin regulators listed for 150cc machines that are not the same, and they use the same connector, so beware. They are also much bigger so you can easilly tell them apart. I don't have a 110cc machine so I can't speak from personal knowledge, though everything I've read says all the 110cc 4 pin regulators are the same.

I saw spliffy's test which measures the temperature of the regulator after ten minutes. I thought that test was very clever, which I have committed to memory. It too suggests your regulator is bad. I don't think this test is 100% definitive since an open stator charge winding would also result in a cool regulator, but your stator obviously isn't open since you have battery current flowing through it. Therefore I think the regulator is definately bad.

I'm a little concerned about the stator charge winding. Based on your observation that the battery was draining fast, and an absence of anything external getting hot, the stator must be the one getting hot. Whenever you have voltage present and current flowing at the same time there must also be energy being consumed, in this case it would be heat. Maybe its OK - especially if you didn't notice any burn smell, and stators are built to run fairly hot anyway. I would change the regulator first then see if the charging system works.

 

Lynn ,thanks for all your help I bought the 4 pin voltage regulator for $23.00 and all my problems went away.

 

Glad you got it working!