switched batteries now head light and start fail to work

hi everybody i just got a new battery for my bike it started fine right after i installed it rode to a friends house like 25 miles away and a little while later went to start it again and the herad lights failed to come on and the starter would not work ( there was a poping noise when i tryed to start it ) what went wrong how can i fix it

Sounds like the wires might have come loose, do you remember if you torqued them down good?

wires were very tight talked to a yamaha mechanic he said it was a bad statter or voltage regulator thanks for the reply

As Chevy said check the connections at the battery terminals. Also there could be a dead short. Was everything reinstalled as factory original at the top of the battery? There is a relay and main fuse assembly mounted on the battery cover on top of the battery. If this assembly is not tied down it could be shorting against the fuel tank. Undo the fuel tank and check!

hastwdo said:

wires were very tight talked to a yamaha mechanic he said it was a bad statter or voltage regulator thanks for the reply

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Wait... the mechanic said it was either a bad stator or regulator? Did he actually check it or did he diagnose over the phone?

A bad stator/regulator could be the problem. Do you still have the old battery? You could see if it will take a charge and then take it to an auto parts store and have them test it for you. Maybe the battery wasn't taking a good charge on the bike. Take the new battery with a good charge and see how it tests too. If the battery is good you know it's something else.

It's definitely an electrical issue and the Battery, stator and regulator seem to be prime suspects. Also look at all the wires and connections in the whole system. I had an old CBR600 that wouldn't start and it was because of a loose ground wire. I simply tightend it up and problem was solved.

i looked over everything i could and made sure everthing was tight .still same problem headlight fails so come on will not start

old battery no good new battery fine had them checked out at advanced auto no loose wires i can find or connections 8(( very unhappy about this

motogiro i talked to the mechanic inperson 2 of them at diffrent shops both said same thing think i'm going to have to replace the stator and rectifier. thanks for responce

Well I guess if you replace all three main parts if the charging system you've got to finally fix it unless it's a wire or plug failure. Kind of strange to me that the mechanic can't test the stator as many members do here to eliminate having to replace the regulator. That's like charging you for a part you don't need! Unless of course they did test both of those unit's and they both failed. Why did you replace the battery? Did someone load test your battery?

Surely there's some way to test the rectifier and if that's good then it's the stator most likely.

Kind of shooting from the hip here but if you had a bad battery then the rectifier was probably having trouble regulating the voltage which could have caused it to go bad. Hooking the new battery up could possibly have caused it to go out.

In most bikes today the regulator and rectifier are in one unit. I believe this is the case with ours.

I bet the rectifier is the culprit.

Guitar Man said:

Surely there's some way to test the rectifier and if that's good then it's the stator most likely.

Kind of shooting from the hip here but if you had a bad battery then the rectifier was probably having trouble regulating the voltage which could have caused it to go bad. Hooking the new battery up could possibly have caused it to go out.

In most bikes today the regulator and rectifier are in one unit. I believe this is the case with ours.

I bet the rectifier is the culprit.

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Hooking up a battery (correct polarity)would not blow the regulator. The regulator is a rectifier and shunt type regulator. If you want to do the process of elimination between the stator and the regulator/rectifier most people will find it easier to do a resistance test to the stator's 3 windings.

The regulator is a solid state device and would be more prone to damage than the stator so chances are it might be the regulator.
Still .... guessing is more expensive than a cheap DVM and simple testing.

the mechanic has not seen bike yet just talked to them . my wife found a 60 year old motorcycle mechanic that will go over it for free tell me whats wrong and fix it at 1/3 the price of my local shop now i'm hoping for a 100 dollar or less fix *)) thanks for replys

my wife has known the guy for over 10 years

Motogiro said:

Hooking up a battery (correct polarity)would not blow the regulator. The regulator is a rectifier and shunt type regulator. If you want to do the process of elimination between the stator and the regulator/rectifier most people will find it easier to do a resistance test to the stator's 3 windings.

The regulator is a solid state device and would be more prone to damage than the stator so chances are it might be the regulator.
Still .... guessing is more expensive than a cheap DVM and simple testing.

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You're probably right. I was just shooting from the hip with no research really. I wasn't thinking of shooting the resistance on the stator. Good call.