Tao Tao ATA135D charging issues FIXED HOW TO.

[xntrik]

Purchased a nearly new 12/2015 Tao ATA135D 110 (107cc) for my 4 year old back in November planning on giving it to him for Christmas. When I say nearly new, I mean it! Fuzzy still on tires, protective covers still on headlights/indicators, the works. I was told by the guy I bought it from that he bought it new, his kids rode it maybe twice, and it sat after that as they’d lost interest. Got it to fire with carb clean in his driveway enough to know that it would run, gave him his cash, and bounced.

it was only after I got it home, giddy with such a cheap buy, that I learned he left out the fact that the thing looks like it had burned through its factory battery, was replaced with a Walmart, and had boiled it as well.

The same issues I see bunch of people posting about… charging upwards of 17volts PLUS, with no end in sight!

No doubt it sat, as obvious by the carb bowl being half full of green lacquer.

I’ve bought and sold a lot of stuff on Craigslist and marketplace, and have ALWAYS fully represented what I’ve sold. God I loathe a$$holes who leave things out. Just be honest for Christ’s sake.

Anyway.

This particular quad, so far as my digging is an oddball. Incandescent headlights/tail. And a hodgepodge of parts from a 125, 110, etc. I’m guessing this was some kind of mid changeover model to the 125, and by the sounds of it, they did this same BS to a bunch.

Your charging system is grossly anemic. And there’s no way this thing charged correctly from the factory and they knew it, but shoved them out the door anyway.

Here’s how to fix it. Or rather how “I” fixed it by buying and returning probably $300 in parts from Amazon in my pursuit of perfecting this. At this point it’s been going strong with over 40+hrs on the meter.

Disclaimer: Try at your own risk. This involves splicing into your wiring, and modifications etc, etc. you may blow your own $hit up, cause a fire, or whatever.

First, purchase THIS RR UNIT. I tried every damn one on Amazon and THIS is the only one that works “correctly”. I did try a buck converter as another fella posted, and while it did work good, and allowed me to adjust the charging voltage, I really didn’t want another thing on the bike that would have to be diagnosed later if something went awry.

Next, buy THESE headlights. You’ll need to re-wire the connectors, but if you want adequately bright headlights, while still using as few milliamps as possible so that you have enough left over to charge your bike, get THESE. Again, I tried 9 different H6M led bulbs for them ALL to draw just a little too much to allow the bike to change at idle with them on.

On that note, buy THIS tail light. Again with the amp draw thing. I tried tons of things… this is the one.
I actually made a home brew light, but my tail light build has the same amp draws as this one, and I tested this one on my setup, and it worked just fine.

You’ll need a decent DVM (volt meter), good soldering iron or mini torch (think crack lighter), solder (obviously), a little wire of your own, some electrical tape, and some zippies (zip ties).

AND you’ll need a wiring diagram. Here’s the one I used, but always double check with a volt meter / ohm(resistance) for what’s what. Colors on this one didn’t exactly match what was on my quad, and those colors changed at the connector from let’s say orange to light blue. Ya kinda gotta have an idea of what you’re doing to play with these things. My quad also has a OFF/LOW/HIGH light switch on the left handlebar that’s NOT in this diagram.

GENERALLY SPEAKING on these Asian bikes, SOLID BLACK is keyed +12v (on with key on), SOLID GREEN is “usually” a ground (-) , and SOLID RED, is “generally” a constant 12+. But test, test, test.

Before we get started, a brief synopsis: You’ll be converting your AC powered, always-on-while-running incandescent headlight and taillight to led’s using a switch to turn them on and off, using factory parts, and a couple wiring mods, and replacing whatever turd RR’s you’ve been using with one that works.

The bikes factory wiring/charging system has two feeds from its stator, one (the white wire) which directly feeds into the RR. The second (a yellow wire) which splits before the RR, and also feeds the lighting circuit. Hence, when your bike is running, this AC feed is powering your incandescent headlights, and running tail light.

First things first. Open up your loom. No need to remove the body panels, on the left side upper frame rail, it’s zip tied up there. Just open it all up, we’re about to do some surgery.

Find the stator charging wires coming out of the left side cover. Look for a yellow and a white wire, it MAY, be on a two pin, or a five pin connector, but you’re looking for a yellow wire and a white wire that exit that left side cover, and go to a connector in your loom.

Once you find that yellow wire, follow it, about mid way up the loom
You’ll find a ganky taped bulge where that one yellow wire turns into two more, one which feeds the RR, and the other that goes further up your loom and ends up at your headlight switch on your left handle switch assembly.

CUT the feed that goes to the handlebar light switch and gently lay it aside.

Before you tape up the yellow wire going back to your RR, do yourself a huge favor and solder the hell out of that splice. Then tape it up.

Next, solder whatever color spare wire u got of equal size to the headlight switch wire.

Now, look for pretty much ANY black wire in that loom around that area, and follow it to some nearby location where there’s several black wires all spliced together unwrap that splice and confirm that it’s the +12v feed when the key is ON. Coo?

Solder the snot out of that splice as well, and ADD another wire (again of equal size) to that splice. The tape it up nice and good.

While you got that loom opened up, find your ground splice… green wire(s). Whole bunch of em tied together. Solder that sucker too.

Here you have a choice, simply connect this new +12v wire directly to your headlight switch and call it good, or put a fuse on it.

I like fuses, cheap protection. I used a 5a mini fuse pigtail.

Now your headlights are DC powered, and switched to only be on with the key, and only if you turn them on.

Next, stab in ur replacement RR.

Finally, replace your headlights and tail light with the aforementioned led’s.

The headlights WILL require you to cut off and retain your OLD headlights pigtail. The new ones come with a different connector.

Tail is pretty simple. If u got this far, you’ll be fine. But, just in case, green/yellow is the BRAKE +12.

Now, fire that dirty bastard up and watch it sit at 1500-1600rpm, with all ur lights on, and still charge at 13.2-13.4v and never go above 14.6.

Finito.

Having not fully been enough for my modification taste, I added a reverse light, as well as Volt meter, and a 12v outlet to the little guys ride. Outlet and volt meter are on the same feed directly off the battery with a 10a fuse. The volt meter has its own switch tho.

I use the “outlets” as charging ports on all my quads/UTV’s with modified trickle chargers that have the male end on them. That way I also have a 12v outlet on the trails or whatever to use for usb power to charge a phone, whatever, and don’t have to deal with extra wiring under the seat, or otherwise dangling about.

How I did reverse.

Here’s the little white led bar I used for reverse it isn’t terribly bright, but plenty for what a kid would need, and if it’s needed as a work light while the bike is running, it won’t drain the battery. It’s only on momentarily, so u can use whatever u like (provided it’s not some super high draw thing). I have brighter versions on other quads that aren’t so weak on the charging systems.

For reverse, find the three wires exiting your case on the left side that are for the indicators. I THINK mine was PURPLE (in the loom). This wire should show continuity to ground when in REVERSE ONLY (use ur resistance scale on your dvm to confirm) I simply Spliced into this wire and ran it back to the tail light area. This wire will be for the GROUND of whatever reverse light you choose. Simply use the +12v RUNNING light wire of your tail light as the positive for the reverse light . OR, run your own key’d 12v+ as the positive.

Simple.