| Author | Message | ||
     Froggy |
Add my hypermiling ass to the list. Posting from tow truck Just over 8k miles, had the stator harness installed around 7200 miles. Fun  | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
Damn Froggy join the club man ErikBuellRacing was right on with the response about insulation damage before harness install. New stator should do the trick for ya. I got 5000 miles now after install and going strong. I tend to keep my rpms higher in stop n go here in Cali 1st and second gear above 5,000. | ||
| Christiankid3 |
I hate to hear that for you, Froggy. You got a lot more miles post harness upgrade than most. Plus, you got another bike to get around on while you wait for a stator from backorder  | ||
| Attweco |
Sorry to hear about your misfortune, Froggy. Does anybody know what is it about the OEM harness which causes the electrical damage to the stator?  | ||
| Froggy |
Finally home. I was riding back to NY from Boston, and was hypermiling with my now Race ECM equipped CR doing some experimenting trying to figure out the sweet spot, so of course I had it on instant gauge instead of the gear/volt screen. Chugging along at 50mph on I-84, the bike misfires once, pops up with a voltage system error and check engine light. Fracking pissed at that point, I go into panic mode and switch to the voltmeter screen showing 12.1 volts. For my first time in about 2000 miles (sure as hell first time since the ECM swap), I clicked down a few gears and brought it over 5k RPM hoping to maintain as much of a charge possible. I watched the volts keep slowly dropping, and being 150 miles from home, I knew this wasn't going to end well. Wicked her up, now doing triple digit speeds to beat the clock as much as possible (fueling is perfect! No clue on the MPG). At one point I passed a higher end Porsche and he started playing with me, I was like "WTF, I am not in the mood" and maintained my speed ignoring him. I thought to myself, I need to conserve power so I carefully disconnected my GPS and phone charger while at not so safe speeds and stuffed them in my tank bag. If it was daytime I might of disconnected the headlight too. I kept racing on, got about 20 miles before it dropped below the 10.9v mark, I knew I was on borrowed time so I got off the next exit that looked like it was a main road, pulled into the Shell station and called the AMA Roadside to arrange for a tow. A few minutes later the flatbed was here, he never towed a bike before so I assisted him with securing everything. The bike is at Danbury HD right now, I will give them a buzz in the morning. | ||
| Cataract2 |
Now mind you, I have an 08, but still. I bought this little device and installed it the first day I got my bike. Piece of mind so I get early warning that somethings wrong with charging before the dummy light goes off.  American Sport Bike carries them. | ||
| Vinb |
I had the new harness done and everything else replaced and I wasn't charging yesterday at all made it home with 11.4v but all it was was the relay $5 fix now I keep a spare on the bike. | ||
| Coastie71 |
Sorry to hear about that. I just bought a 09 CR a couple months ago. Is the stator or charging harness something I need to look into getting replaced ASAP? Is it covered under warranty? | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
Coastie I would get the harness ASAP. The Stator will fail eventually the harness helps with the insulation of the Stator. You want to get the harness before there is damage to the insulation of the Stator. I'm seeing more CR models fail with Stators than R models but it has to do with the VIN #'s. Check your VIN# with the dealer to see for sure. | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
This is the link of a quick explanation from Erik Buell Racing. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/290 431/564590.html | ||
| Oldog |
please elaborate on the stator issues? the repair on the harness does not fix the problems as there is a regulator control issue??? | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
Well Oldog apparently you have more info than I. Regulator control issue is news to me. | ||
| Froggy |
They made more CR's than R's during 09 model year.
Nothing. The damage to the stator was done during my first 7k miles. It was on borrowed time and going to fail regardless of the harness. Oh well, new stator under warranty, can't complain.
Click on Freezerburn's link for more details. Think of it like a car with a rotting frame. You paint it with Rustolium to prevent the rust from spreading, but it was 98% eaten through so all you did was make it look pretty for when it disintegrates over that next speedbump | ||
| Avc8130 |
Wow Froggy, all that pontificating about how perfect your CR has been and how amazing your stator was finally caught up with you! Thank goodness it didn't sound like you waited around too long for AMA roadside. I have heard some horror stories. Good thing you didn't get pulled over: "I'm sorry officer, my stator is failing so I HAVE to do 100mph to maintain charging." ac | ||
| Coastie71 |
So from what I read on the attached link, if I bought the bike new in March with the update already completed then I should be good to go. Is that correct or am I missing something? | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
If they did that for you. You are good to go. That's a good dealer by the way.  | ||
| Kirb |
Updates sooner, rather than later, is the way to go. Does that mean you are out of the woods? No. A new bike with the harness is going to be better off than a bike with 3k miles on it before the harness install. The harness is a ~PATCH~ for a mfg or design problem with the stator. It is a cheaper solution than recalling all stators for an upgrade. This would have been a full-on recall if they ignored a solution. The stators are varnished copper wire wrapped around a iron core. Either they used the wrong varnish, didn't put enough (or high enough quality) iron in the stator, or they used too small of wire. Either way, the stator heats up enough AT LOW RPMs to break down the varnish which will cause it to stop charging once it shorts out. The shorting out of the windings isn't a problem other than not charging. Low RPM generating causing too much heat sounds like the iron is saturating and heating up the copper that is wrapped around it. More laminations or better quality magnetic steel would be better, but that is just a guess... | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
Right on the money with that explanation Kirb. | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
So does anyone know if the replacement stators are still 2009 versions, or if they've actually updated them so that the root problem was fixed? KeS | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
Unfortunately for us there is no R&D staff anymore for Buell. We might not ever see a revamped stator. | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
I was under the impression that the stator damage occurred before the harness upgrade, and if you get a new stator after the harness upgrade everything should be ok? | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
Exactly DK. The stator will get damaged riding the bike right off the lot for the 09's unless the dealer fitted it with the new harness prior to the sale. The stator by looking at the issue when it typically fails is anywhere between 4,000 to 10,000 miles. Maybe sooner, maybe later if your Vin # calls for the upgrade chances are your stator will fail at some point. Luckily in my case mine failed at the end of January with 4,000 miles. 1 week later the bulletin came out for the harness upgrade I probably put 50 miles on my bike between the new stator and new harness. What's been happening to a lot of people is they are getting the upgrade but the damage to the stator is already in process. Then there has been some cases where the dealers are installing the harness incorrectly thus creating issues that way. (Message edited by freezerburn840 on May 24, 2010) | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
i have 1600 miles on mine and I dropped it off to get the harness recall done. Do you guys think my stator has been damaged yet? also, what if the stator goes out outside of the warranty? | ||
| Avc8130 |
If the stator goes out of warranty, you're gonna buy a stator. | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
My concern is that I don't know that anyone has grounds for confidence that *having* the harness fix will even avoid problems with a replaced stator. I mean, realistically if the original wasn't damaged badly enough to fail before the harness fix, and the fix did prevent it from overheating further, there's no real reason they should be failing afterward, at least not in these numbers. They fail by the insulation overheating and shorting out, right? KeS | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
Yep. Ac is right. Dk just wait and see is all you can do. Its hard to tell maybe in the clear maybe not if you see your engine light and battery light come on you got about 5 miles before you are pushing. HD just needs to do a recall. They are not doing any R&D or have anyone in R&D for Buell. A dealer told me this a month back. Maybe they are going to sell it off when Erik Buell comes back in 2011. Then we will have real support. Until then we just have to make due with the band aid. | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
Insulation going bad Kes yes. The harness will not prevent existing damage. It was allegedly designed to prevent the damage before it occurs. | ||
| Jdugger |
> Does anybody know what is it about the OEM harness which causes the electrical damage to the stator? Kirb's explanation was spot on. Basically, the 09 electrical system is capable of drawing a load large enough to significantly heat the stator. You don't see it on 08 models so much because the bike's electrical system draws less power. And, you don't see it on race bikes because the high RPMs mean it's "easier" for the stator to produce the needed current. Stator problems were common among Aprilia RSVRs, so it may be common among Rotax motors. It will be interesting to see if the Can Am Spyder develops stator problems, too. The harness upgrade simply cuts the load on the stator when it's being used in a situation potentially damaging. The drawback to that approach is now your electrical system's capacity is cut by one-third. A simple solution to all of this is one that also makes the bike run a lot better: keep the revs up. Between 5-7k RPM is the motor's sweet spot. Keep it there. | ||
| Freezerburn840 |
A lot of people getting the upgraded harness damage might already be present in the Stator. That will explain why the failures are accuring afterward. (Message edited by freezerburn840 on May 24, 2010) | ||
| Froggy |
I need to check my GPS tracks, but it sure as hell was a lot more than 5 miles
That isn't entirely true. |
