Damage to my Baja 150 by reversing battery polarity ?
 

In a move only an idiot would do -I reversed the positive and neg. leads when trying to install a new battery on my GY6 go cart !! Now the whole system is completely dead .
Can you tell me most likely what got burned out ......... the coil ? the C.D.I ?
the voltage regulator ?? thanks in advance

well, no thanks to any of you supposed "experts" here - but I found out that I will need a new R.R (rectifier/regulator)

Somehow I missed this post yesterday or I would have answered it. But I also think you are being a bit unreasonable on your end. No one here is paid to do this. We all volunteer our time as a community service, and sometimes we can't respond as timely as you might want. We have jobs, family, and a life too. I don't think it unreasonable to have to wait a couple days for a response ;).

I'm glad you found out that the regulator is the culprit. I'm wondering about whether you have a fuse (should be no more than 10 amps) feeding the wiring harness from the battery. Sometimes, for reasons that defy all logic, this gets taken out, or left out (a really bad idea).

I too put my battery in backwards once (me of all people :o), and all it did was blow the fuse. I corrected the error, replaced the fuse, and all was well. But if you don't have a fuse the current from the battery is virtually unlimited (100 amps or more). You can instantly blow stuff up, and even start a fire. So I would make sure you do have fuse and it is is the proper value (10 amps for a GY6 engine).

I am truly sorry for my impatient comments ...... and thank you for your input !

I do have a fuse in the circuit -but it looked to be O.K ; I will check it again , as that would be the easy fix. I went and bought a new reg. as well as a new " Racing" CDI ....I sure hope that sucker fires up now !

well my friend - YOU WERE RIGHT !! Although the fuse "looked" good , a continuity test showed it was blown ! I promise -in the future I will be more patient and heed the advice of the Experts . Thanks a million

yeah, i concur with Lynn on his reply to you. sorry i missed the post. but seriously, cut us volunteers some slack. i mean it's obvious by looking at your profile of 25 posts in 4 yrs you only post when you have problems. i have no problem with that. i cruise the forum almost everyday to learn and help out if i can. have a great day and glad you figured it out and glad Lynn, the forum's electrical expert, helped you out. :rolleyes:. happy trails and please put many happy joyous miles on your quad/go kart/toys now that you got'em going. ;)

Jaster -
well, u got me .......i come here when I need help

...,the rest of the time I am riding !!

I installed one of those new " racing" CDI's and frankly ,I have not noticed a difference at all in the performance . In fact , the stock one that was on there seemed to provide better acceleration and power ! Go figure ....

I had a private email from someone a while back who was having battery charging problems. It turns out that he had unplugged his "rev limiter" to get better performance. He swore that unplugging this "rev limiter" really improved the quad performance. In fact he had simply unplugged his voltage regulator (there was no rev limiter), and that was the cause of the battery charging problem. Of course this action had not improved his performance at all. But he wanted to believe....

I don't know anything about the "performance CDIs" actual performance. I've never measured it. There is reason to believe that some improvement is possible. I've read the literature on how this is done, and the description seems plausible on the surface. How would the average rider measure the increase (if any)? One way is by the vendor implanting "expectation" through hype and testimonials, then let human nature take its course.

I think that if you took a standard CDI and painted it a different color, you could sell it as a "performance" cdi for a lot more money, and (with some good promotion) 90% of the buyers would find some increase in performance.

i apologize for that. please don't take it wrong. i made a hasty remark. i was tired and ready for bed after being up all night. :o