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headlight circuit and voltage regulator

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 4:43 pm
by jartist
I tried to find my answer by searching older posts but I can't find quite what I'm looking for. I just bought an '08 buddy 150 and the headlight was burned out and upon replacing it just burned out again right away. Is AC lighting circuit (yellow wire) voltage governed by the voltage regulator or does it just feed the regulator?

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 4:56 pm
by pairofscoots
I'm not sure of the answer but I was going through headlights and taillights every few weeks until I changed the regulator.

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:46 pm
by charlie55
Here's a link to the 125's wiring diagram:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22255953@N ... 2/sizes/l/

If you trace the yellow wire from the generator, you'll see that one branch goes left to the voltage regulator input and autochoke, while the other snakes its way up and to the left, into the headlamp switch, where the current is then fed through the Purple/White and Brown/White wires to the headlight and high beam indicator.

So, the headlight looks as if it's getting unregulated AC.

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:27 pm
by jartist
It looks to me like the headlight gets unregulated current as well according to the diagram but I thought there may be a possibility that the regulator is basically bleeding excess current from the yellow wire that goes into the regulator.

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:30 pm
by jartist
pairofscoots wrote:I'm not sure of the answer but I was going through headlights and taillights every few weeks until I changed the regulator.
I don't like to diagnose with parts but I may just throw in a new regulator because the regulator only costs about two headlight bulbs. Thanks for sharing your experience!

not thread related

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:54 pm
by amy
pairofscoots wrote:I'm not sure of the answer but...
pairofscoots: at first glance at your picture I thought your Buddy was admiring itself in the mirror.

Then I saw your nic. lol either way it's a cute pic.

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 4:24 am
by jartist
I spent a some time with GY6 rectifier/regulator diagrams on and got my answer. The yellow wire splits and goes to the lights and the regulator. Excess voltage is used up by the regulator. On scooters in other markets with switched headlights power is switched to a resistor to ground when the lights are off so as not to overburden the regulator. So it seems that running your buddy with a burned out headlight could kill your regulator. Ahhh, the fun of sorting a used scoot!