I have a question on the charging system on my Joyner 250. When I turn all the lights on it drags my volt meter into the red. I just installed a new battery replacing the stock one. It is the same 9ah as the stock one.

If I just turn on the overhead floods its fine or if I just turn on the headlights its fine. It only happens when I turn them on together.

Would a larger battery fix this or is there a upgrade to the charging system that will fix it? (stator?...rectifier?...I hear these names alot around here but have no clue as to what they are.)

Maybe a thread or Sticky someone knows about to bring this greenhorn up to speed on the charging system?

Thx...K

you say 9v battery i think i put a 12v in mine so idk i do not have a volt meter or the top lights and i dont run my lights much so i am interested in this too

Its a 12volt battery. 9ah refers to the size. I think pghruby was running a 30ah battery or something like that. It was a monster.

The Joyner 250 and 650 were designed to run either the top or bottom lights - Not both at the same time. I do not know of a larger capacity stator for the 250 so your only option is to get a larger capacity battery. The alternator on the 650 can be upgraded so both sets of lights can be run at the same time.

wow so if i am going to get top lights it would be good to have a second battery?
i am surprised by this because last year at the buggy bash jim(jfdrewett) ran all of his lights on his 250 joyner at the same time

I have run both sets together but it is right at its limit. My volt meter is right at the red. Probably not putting any charge to the battery at all.

Thx pghruby

i run a lot at night, had same problem with old batt,but with new walmart batt $26, with good charge! seems good for about 1 hour, then if i am just going slow, its at the fine line of red, what i do is, turn off all lights and let buggy run for about 1-2min reving 1500-3000 rpm. this makes me feel a little more confident that it will start again when i turn it off in the middle of nowhere at night with no lights and no way to bump start or kick it over, don't u wish u had a kick starter, i do!!!!!!! ya what do u do when this happens????

I dont. I only run with one or the other. I dont like getting stuck so I just wanted to know if there was a fix. If not I will live with what I have.

You are right about CVT-based engines. I added a kick starter to my 150, a large capacity battery to my 250 and can push start the 650. I used to carry jumper cabes with me and I have a RV battery in a marine enclosure I always keep at the truck just in case.

Well we ran into a problem last week with our charging system set up. When the battery dies, so does the Kart, just like my Jialing Dualsport.. We had to wait 10 minutes, than it would start, go 5-600', then quit. Wait, and do it all over again. 2 miles of this. This was the reasoning for adding the 21Ah battery.

I finaly got the tester on the alternator, and got a capacity of 14.2A @ 14.6v at 6400 rpms. Sounds like alot, but it isnt, 207.3 watts to be exact. The Kart running takes 37.2W with no load. This is to power the coil, fuel enrichment solenoid, CDI, and VR. This leaves you less than 170W to run any accesories or illumination. Figure each light takes 55W, thats another 110, so now you are down to less than 60W (4Ah) left to charge the battery, or run anything else you may have..

I am in the process of installing an Auxillary Alternator off a Suzuki Katana. It makes another 500W, enough to run any goodie you could dream of. Now figuring these motors make 12.5KW of power, the additional 500W would give a net loss of 4-5% gross(.5/12.5). Now this is with a maximum load on the alternator, most of the time if you were running 150-200W, you would see a loss of maybe 2-3%. This most this loss would likely add up to 1-2 MPH off the top speed on the 250 (35x.95).

I have a spare stator sitting on my workbench, and see see no way to wire it any tighter than it already is. It is wound with what looks like 24ga magnetic wire, and to add, actually wound quite well. I was able to get an extra 30W out of my enduro's, as it was wound poorly, and with LARGE wire, but in this case it is really the opposite.

Will get photos of the alternator conversion as progress is made. Right now, I only have the alternator, chain, sprockets, and the new version of CAD..