Battery Screws Constantly Loosening
#21
Wow, a lot of responses to read through
1) I do not have spacers. If I do in fact need those, where do I get them?
2) I thought about star lock washers, but since I have a flat washer between the bolt head and the star washer, would it even help?
3) I ended up checking my charging system, and it is only providing 12.48V at idle and 12.98V while revving up. That is way too low.
Digging into the charging system:
So I looked into my manual to check which part of my charging is not doing well. Measuring between my stator plugs and ground are both infinite ohms, not connected in any way. Measuring the ohms between thee two stator plugs is .5 ohms, which does seem ever so slightly high, but something I'm willing to live with. Measuring the voltage between the stator plugs are around 29VAC, which seems correct.
Lastly, according to the tech sticky above, I checked the voltage between the regulator plugs and its between .5V - 1V. That appears to wrong and my regulator might be bad. My question is, would this be causing my loosening cables?
I attached a photo on my positive terminal.
1) I do not have spacers. If I do in fact need those, where do I get them?
2) I thought about star lock washers, but since I have a flat washer between the bolt head and the star washer, would it even help?
3) I ended up checking my charging system, and it is only providing 12.48V at idle and 12.98V while revving up. That is way too low.
Digging into the charging system:
So I looked into my manual to check which part of my charging is not doing well. Measuring between my stator plugs and ground are both infinite ohms, not connected in any way. Measuring the ohms between thee two stator plugs is .5 ohms, which does seem ever so slightly high, but something I'm willing to live with. Measuring the voltage between the stator plugs are around 29VAC, which seems correct.
Step 2. To check the regulator unplug it from the stator. Take a test light and clip it to the negative terminal of the battery and then touch first one pin and then the other on the plug that goes to the regulator. If you get even the slightest amount of light from the test light the regulator is toast.
To do this with a meter: black lead to battery ground, red lead to each pin on the plug, start with the voltage scale higher than 12vdc and move voltage scale down in steps for each pin. Any voltage is a bad regulator.
To do this with a meter: black lead to battery ground, red lead to each pin on the plug, start with the voltage scale higher than 12vdc and move voltage scale down in steps for each pin. Any voltage is a bad regulator.
I attached a photo on my positive terminal.
#22
It looks like you have washers (?) of different sizes, so that could be a source of your problem. It doesn't look like you need spacers from what I can see, but make sure all the washers and ring connectors have the same inside diameter, not off to one side or another. Yours look a bit shifty to me.
Is that copper looking one from the starter? It looks off center of the bolt.
Or is it the silver one just right of the wire with the yellow crimp on?
You should only need/have two wires, one big, and one small. More, and you're probably asking for loose connections. If you have an accessory wire, move it to the terminal block or circuit breaker for power.
John
Is that copper looking one from the starter? It looks off center of the bolt.
Or is it the silver one just right of the wire with the yellow crimp on?
You should only need/have two wires, one big, and one small. More, and you're probably asking for loose connections. If you have an accessory wire, move it to the terminal block or circuit breaker for power.
John
Last edited by John Harper; 08-29-2019 at 08:34 PM.
#23
It looks like you have washers (?) of different sizes, so that could be a source of your problem. It doesn't look like you need spacers from what I can see, but make sure all the washers and ring connectors have the same inside diameter, not off to one side or another. Yours look a bit shifty to me.
Is that copper looking one from the starter? It looks off center of the bolt.
Or is it the silver one just right of the wire with the yellow crimp on?
You should only need/have two wires, one big, and one small. More, and you're probably asking for loose connections. If you have an accessory wire, move it to the terminal block or circuit breaker for power.
John
Is that copper looking one from the starter? It looks off center of the bolt.
Or is it the silver one just right of the wire with the yellow crimp on?
You should only need/have two wires, one big, and one small. More, and you're probably asking for loose connections. If you have an accessory wire, move it to the terminal block or circuit breaker for power.
John
So when I thought I tightened it the other day, I was just squeezing the terminal metal through the "hole" created by the difference in diameter between the terminal bolt and copper ring. Do you agree that's what's happening?
What should I do to fix this? I obviously need a smaller diameter ring terminal, but what do I do about the battery terminal?
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Longplay (08-30-2019)
#29
Why should I put a star in between the aux and the Cooper? Doesn't a star just prevent turning?
Thanks again,
Jake
#30