| Author | Message | ||
     Sifo |
Does nobody build a charging system with the plug between the stator and regulator that will not burn up far from home? I have seen this happen on all sorts of bikes. Happened on my Triumph Sprint GT about 40 miles from home this morning. The good news, I have come to the point with charging systems that I have put voltmeters on all of my bikes, so I noticed when the voltage started to drop. I turned around and started getting as close to home as possible, knowing I would never make it. I got to a cross roads with a 4 way stop and it failed to take off again. Only thing on the corner was a bar, so I pushed it across the intersection and into their lot. The owner drove in right behind me asking what's the trouble. After a short talk he tells me that as soon as his cook shows up he could run home and grab his charger and see if that will help. I figured a quick charge would at least get me much closer to home. I was still over 20 miles out. So I took a few minutes to look things over and what I could see look fine. I followed the wires from the stator into the tangle behind the engine feeling for the connector. All I found was the ends of three charred wires. Did the same from the regulator on the other side and pulled a very burnt up connector. The bar was open by this time, so I went in and ordered a soft drink and asked the owner if he might have electrical tape and something to strip back wires with. He set me up with what I needed. Soon after he went back home for the charger he had offered me. So I got my magic wires cut back, stripped, twisted together and taped up nice and pretty and got the thing charging behind the restaurant. Went back inside, ordered a lunch plate and enjoyed a good meal. After settling up the bill, and leaving a generous tip, I went out and the bike fired right up and showed it was charging. Returned the charger and set off on my way. The short of it is that the guy really helped to save my butt! Great guy. Not a bad bar & grill. If you find yourself on Rt. 47 just south of Elburn IL, consider stopping in. Blackberry Bar & Grill! | ||
| Chauly |
Nicely done, Tom. Some of us eliminate the connector and solder/butt-splice the wires together to eliminate the potential for failure (get it? "Potential"? Nudge,nudge:-). For The Next Time, and you are really far from home with a catastrophic charging system failure, go buy a cheap car battery and bungee it onto the seat/luggage rack. Barring a lot of starts & stops, it's amazing how long the initial charge lasts! | ||
| Pwnzor |
Good story, thanks for sharing. Blackberry Bar & Grill is a pretty easy name to remember. | ||
| Sifo |
So I was just working on a more permanent fix. The wiring from the regulator looks to be aluminum wiring???? Definitely not copper! Kind of eliminates soldering as far as I know. So I'm looking for something that can be used for crimp connector tubing that is close to about 1/5 of an inch. Wound up cutting the primer end off of some spent .22 casings.  Those wires still run HOT though. Is that normal? It crapped out the regulator two years ago, and the stator last year. I know these are weak links on many bikes, but is there something I'm missing? I'm wondering if I may need to trim the wire back a bit more to where the wire is cleaner. I'll have to insert some new wiring to do that, but that would be fine. Any thoughts? It is great when a stranger saves your butt that way. I was just hoping for him being OK with me having the bike there for a good part of the day. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I used these when I replaced my 77 connector on the Ulysses:   They're submersible splices for well pumps, from the plumbing section of Home Depot. Still a "connector"...but been rock solid for about 20k miles now  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Nice find RatBuell. I should get some and keep them on the bike. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Screwed them in, heat-shrinked them, good to go. When my VR died, I was "in there" again and found that they were rubbing on each other. So...re-tightened, re-heat-shrinked, and zip tied them together to keep them from rubbing on each other and wearing through the heat shrink. Beyond the connector...I *HIGHLY* recommend the Shindengen MOSFET regulator. Rock-solid outputs according to the Kuryakyn voltmeter - and this is an '06 Ulysses with a FACTORY BATTERY. | ||
| Fast1075 |
The mechanical connectors Ratbuell used would be the best answer if the wires are aluminum. I will add that it is very important to use an antioxidant on dissimilar metal connections. You can get a small tube at home depot or lowes or any electrical supply. Stops corrosion, which is the usual causative for burned connections. | ||
| Sifo |
I see I'm going to HD today. Thanks! | ||
| Etennuly |
The wires are silver coated copper, they hold solder very well. I soldered the wire connections in my '06 77 connector replacement program. 60,000+ still works well. | ||
| Damnut |
When I had a problem with my 77 connector all I did was bend the 2 spades/pins down a bit so it had a better connection with the socket. Been great for about 10K or so. | ||
| Sifo |
The wires are silver coated copper, they hold solder very well. This was on my Triumph Sprint which has an after market regulator that had the silver colored wires. The ends didn't look to be copper colored, so I'm kind of assuming aluminum. Slightly bigger gauge wire than the wires coming from the stator. Stopped at HD today and they didn't have the connectors Ratbuell showed in a size that remotely makes sense. I thought about an upgraded connector like the new ones for the Buells, but it really doesn't make it any easier for me in the future if the regulator or stator goes bad. I would still have to splice a new connector on the new part. Easy enough to just splice the wires. In an ideal world this will not be an issue for a long, long time again! Do any of you live in that world? | ||
| Ourdee |
Sifo, They're submersible splices for well pumps, from the plumbing section of Home Depot. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
We have those connectors that Ratbuell showed at our Home Depot, but at our store, they are located in our Electrical department with the other electrical connectors. | ||
| Sifo |
I found the connectors at HD. They just didn't have any that were that small. I might check another HD today. | ||
| Sifo |
So I went to the "other" HD, the one that wasn't built on another store's foot print requiring them to not carry certain items, and found the kit Ratbuell suggested. Nice kit for the purpose! I do wonder though, after you put their heavy duty sealant and heat shrink tubing on, is it really any less permanent than soldering the connections with normal sized heat shrink tubing? Hard to say for sure. It has a lot to do with what inconvenience you find yourself in, in the future. I was pretty surprised how that huge tubing kept on shrinking down. At first I didn't really think it would seal up against the rest of the wiring. Of course, heating with a torch right beneath the fuel tank... Well it was one of those times I got the fire extinguisher handy, just in case. It looks to be a repair that should easily last the life of the stator or VR. Thanks! | ||
| Ratbuell |
When I replaced my VR this winter, I simply cut off the heat shrink...installed the new (Shindengan) VR....applied new heat shrink...and rode. In the shop? You're right...6 of one, half dozen of another. But anywhere other than the shop? I'll take a screwdriver/electrical tape emergency fix ANY day over "twist-and-tape-instead-of-soldering" | ||
| Ronvc |
+1 on the MOSFET regulator. My Vulcan has one of the worst charging systems known to man.. If the bike wasn't running a peak voltage it wasn't running that good at all.. after I installed the MOSFET regulator (I think it was for a 08-10 CBR) or someting like that.. It's been working out well for the past 3 years or so.. About the connections: I spent 20 years making a living doing custom car audio and alarms and anytime I would work on a Boat, or Bike I automatically used solder and heat shrink with a little dielectric grease. It might sound like a little overkill but I never had anyone come back due to a bad connection.. However, all other connections like Scotch locks, T-taps, tubes..etc have all failed at one time or another. Even the connection type used here with the screws can have issues. Are they better then a crimp? absolutely. But with the screw type connection you can crank down to much and lose strands of wire or the screw can get loose and in turn give you a bad connection (over time) I find the screw type works best with a solid wire. On the other hand, If you never used a soldering gun or you don't know how or why you need to solder flow to the wire and not the heat source you're better off using a crimp or screw on tube. Or learn how to solder for a 100% worry free connection  | ||
| Ratbuell |
  I'm familiar with my Weller (and with component-level-repair)...but as I said, I wanted to have a "connector", in case of emergency repair without optimum tools. | ||
| Sifo |
I understand that in aviation solder connections are a no-no. They can leave the wire vulnerable to breakage from vibration right where the solder ends. I've never seen it happen on my solder connections personally, but I'm sure they know their stuff. Crimp connections for them, but they use very expensive "calibrated crimp tools". I did a "postmortem" on the makeshift crimps I did the other day. They did not want to come undone easily and looked like a very good connection. Poorly done crimps are a disaster though. It's also easier to deal with crimps in a foreign parking lot. I have bought a soldering iron while on the road though. The regulator on this bike was upgraded to a MOSFET unit about two years ago. The previous owner replace the regulator once too. I hope this one does the trick. I like the Sprint ST a lot, but the charging system has caused repeated grief. The purpose of this bike for me was touring. That demands reliability. I hope things are solved. One more charging system failure and I think my wife is going to force me to trade it. I hope it lasts until the 1190 AX is in the show room.  I still might go with the 800 CC Tiger though. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I dismissed crimp connections until I (finally) got a good ratcheting crimp tool. If your crimp tool weighs less than a pound and doesn't ratchet, it isn't a good one. I did solder, and solder works fine, but I have had it break if it tries to flex much. Heat shrink tubing is great for whatever. And if you didn't know, you can hit the crimp connectors with a heat gun after you crimp them, and that plastic will shrink also and remove the "crimper marks". Cool tool Rat, I'll have to make one of those. | ||
| Ratbuell |
2 gator clips and a piece of coat hanger. One of the best tools on my bench |
