Can someone help me understand the wiring and testing of the starter relay.
It clicks but does not transfer power to the starter side. I have a new charged battery.
Its only a few months old, I bought a cheap one from amazon. Are these cheep ones of lesser quality?
There are three wires in the harness that plugs into relay. Two blue, one red.
All test Hot(+) with a test light. This is where my confusion starts. Can someone explain their operation? I'm used to a cars relay so this seems illogical to me.

 

The relay is to act as a switch to feed voltage and a larger amount of amperage through the contacts than the switch that activates the coil and/or provide for less higher amperage throughout the system wiring.

If the electromagnetic contacts are not clean and seating properly then amperage to the starter can be reduced creating issues. About any starter relay can be sub-ed as long as the contacts are rated for handling the min/max amperage draw that the starter requires. If the relay is clicking then it should be good unless the contacts are bad or the supply votage/amperage to the relay is low. It can also be possible for the RELAY COIL to be weak and not closing the contacts with enough force.

The relay casing is usually grounded and a feed wire from the switch provides the POSTIVE side of the circuit to activate (close)the coil/contacts.

One side of the contacts is connected directly to the battery via fuse to the battery and the other feeds the starter/device when the contacts are closed... only one wire should ALWAYS be hot and that would be the feed wire from the battery. The wire from the relay to the starter when hot should activate the starter if feeding the proper voltage/amperage through the contacts.. IF in doubt about the contacts just perform a direct feed from the battery to the starter. If the starter does not spin properly then suspect the starter...Otherwise suspect wiring or relay.

 

I'm sorry I wasn't so clear in my description. The battery tests at 12.8 volts. My confusion was about the 3 wires the connect to the top of the relay. One is red. It is hot from fuse and goes out to some other electronic equipment.
The other 2 are blue-blk stripe/ and blue-white stripe. My research has revealed the 2 blue wires come from the start button on the handlebar. When the key is on and kill switch off I get 12v (+) on both. When I press the start button the relay clicks and the Blue/Black wire drops to 0.6 volts. There is 0.03 volts on the starter side of the relay.

"The relay casing is usually grounded and a feed wire from the switch provides the POSTIVE side of the circuit to activate (close)the coil/contacts."
The casing is set in a rubber sleeve that fits in its receiver. There is no ground.

I am unsure how the start button activates the relay. See if I knew for sure that the start button closed a circuit to ground then I could bypass that switch and just jump the blu/blk wire to a known good ground. If the starter initiates then I will have eliminated the relay as the problem. f not then I will know that the $10.00 dollar relay is in fact not as good as the 40$ oem one.

 

Check the voltage coming from the battery while trying to start. If it drops too low then the battery or starter is suspect. If the relay clicks and you have 12V from the battery but 0V to the starter then the relay is bad.

It's hard to say if the starter button is + or - without a diagram, they did them different, but most Yamahas that I have seen send - from the starter button to the relay. If the relay is clicking then it is activated with a + and -.

 

Well I bypassed the relay and it started just fine. Leads me to believe the relay is bad. I wont by a cheap one again. This one has had less than 20 starts on it and its already failed.

 

Sometimes you get what you pay for lol.

 

I too am having intermittent problems with my relay..I can use the old trick of using a crescent wrench or screwdriver and "jump start" the relay..right now i have to pull start my wolverine about 3 out of 10 times...I was gonna buy a cheap relay from amazon too...glad I read this thread..I'll just bite the bullet and shell out a little more for a good quality relay(I am not 100 percent sure it is the relay, as I haven't tested my battery voltage, I've been working on a few different problems at once)..I'm just assuming the relay is bad because I can arc it and it starts with the start button