| Author | Message | ||
     Ft_bstrd |
Both mine took a dump at 15,000 miles. 06 model, September build. So if yours has failed what was the mileage, model year, and build date. Have there been any repeaters? | ||
| Chadhargis |
Since we just talked on the phone about this for an hour last night...add me to the list. I have no "confirmed" diagnosis yet, but my symptoms are the same as yours. Uly left me on the side of the road Sunday. Dead battery. I charged the battery, and it showed 12.6 volts. When I fired up the bike and revved it....voltage DROPPED to around 9 volts....DOH!!! Bad charging system. '06 with 13,500 miles | ||
| Xbimmer |
10/05 build '06, began failing just before 30k couple months ago. Limped it to a HD (not Buell) dealer while a couple hundred miles away from home, they diagnosed it as sub-charging but not why. Got it home with a Wal Mart battery charger's help and kept tabs on it until my dealer could look at it. They diagnosed it as a failing stator and stuck with that story even though I asked them to check the infamous 77-connector and VR. I had installed a Kuryakyn battery meter which showed wildly charging rates throughout the rpm range but it was at least charging. Come fixing day (of course they don't stock Buell parts) and they only replaced the charbroiled stator (they really stink at that point) and guess what now it wouldn't charge at all. I asked them again to check the 77-connector and they couldn't even get it apart! Fed up I rode it home barely made it, three days later with no call back from the s/mgr as to when they would handle it I went and bought all the parts over the counter from Glendale Buell/HD and fixed it myself. Every thing is still great 7k+ later even though I had to finish the job the tech who "fixed" my stator started, he left my neutral switch off and two bolts disappeared from the primary cover. Sorry this turned into a dealer rant... | ||
| Ftd |
'06 ULY stator and battery @3600 miles no problems since (currently 12000 miles) | ||
| Teeps |
I saw photo of Xbimmer's "77" connector (in another thread) and it looked, to me, like localized resistance, I.E. a poor, loose, incomplete(softset) or otherwise dirty connection could be the cause... I checked the "77" connection on my bike just in case. I found the connector was not fully seated. The terminals were clean and tight but the coupler lacked about 1/16" or so of full set. I will continue to check this "77" connector at oil change intervals and wait to see what happens. | ||
| Aeholton |
'06 Uly. Stator quit @ 20,280 miles. Replaced under warranty. Build July '05. (Message edited by aeholton on October 23, 2007) (Message edited by aeholton on October 23, 2007) | ||
| Dfishman |
'06 Uly.Stator quit,7000 miles.replaced under warranty July '05 build. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Slightly OT- could someone post a photo of the 77 connector so the rest of us will know exactly what to check? | ||
| Ejc |
Voltage regulator crapped out during break in period, ~500mi. Fortunately, I was only a half mile from home on a hill. So, I coasted most of the way home. Kutter H-D picked the bike up and took care of it. I've had no problems since at 11,000mi. | ||
| Ejc |
Sorry, I left out the manufacture date, 9/05. | ||
| Rotorhead |
Build date SEP 05 voltage Reg. #1 12350 miles quit charging. warranty fix by MACON HD/BUELL great service!! Voltage Reg #2 23675 miles (melted connector) warranty fix by APPLETON'S (TN) HD/BUELL awsome service!!!! I have an extra Reg. in the trunk bag for next time. I figure it will be around 32,250 miles. Right about middle of next spring half way across CO on my way to WA. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Something like this: http://sampson-sporttouring.com/voltmeter.html would give us an indication there was a problem before we were stranded on the side of the road with a dead battery. I'm gonna be ordering some kind of voltmeter for my Uly really soon. | ||
| Pso |
I have been watching my votage closely since this thread has started. I have a Escort Radar detector that has numeric voltage on it, plus my Garmin also gives me a constant volt reading. each are from a different source. I now watch them closely, they right now both have readingings within spec. | ||
| Flynuly |
Datel volt meter works good also, but not cheap. Made a bracket out of angle stock and mounted with velcro to the brake reservoir. Used some zip ties to back up the velcro but it is probably over kill IMO.   http://www.metercenter.com/cgi-bin/webshop.cgi?config=datel&uid=milaxvmy119341949433&command=link--da147.htm | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Well I got it back from the dealer today. It runs like a raped ape. They wouldn't let me keep the stator or regulator for inspection. They needed it for warranty submission. I looked at each. I couldn't see much inside the VR. It looked fine from the exterior, but who knows what the inside looked like. I looked at the 77 plug. It looked fine. There was no melting or pitting due to arcing. The stator on the other hand was a different story. It looked fine except for the two winding "lobes" that were black and crusty. It was definitely toast. I asked if there was anything that could be done to prevent it. The tech said, "Nope. It's an electronic component and it just goes when it wants to." | ||
| Treadmarks |
"Nope. It's an electronic component and it just goes when it wants to." I had a girlfriend like that once. I asked if there was anything that could be done to prevent it. Seems like someone here on the board indicated that a "shunt" system cooks off the electrical power that you don't use in the electrical components, or something to that effect. You need more lights fatty. Lotsa lights. The kinda lights that suck your components dry. Wait a minute...I had a girlfriend like that too. I bet is was the same beeyatch. That Ho.  | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I run both my low beams and my high beams during the daytime. I don't know where the excess energy gets "shunted" to, but I'd be some of it gets bled off through the vr itself given the cooling fins. As far as the girlfriend thing, well, I try to stay out of any relationship where I'm likely to get "shunted".  | ||
| Reepicheep |
The "extra energy" gets shunted by the VR, meaning both the stator windings and VR and the wiring in between all take the heat. I retrofitted a $15 wal mart sourced boat battery checker and tucked it under my flyscreen. The LED's stick up the top for a quick visual check while riding, and the LCD number for the actual voltage can be read through the translucid fly screen. Very borg  I have pictures somewhere in the knowledge vault... the install was a 45 minute bored one saturday hack, but has worked well enough that I have not been compelled to go back and do it better. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
can be read through the translucid fly screen Thanks for rubbing it in.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
On the other hand, you should see what I had to do to wedge HID stuff in there... I was wishing for the extra space the Uly had. | ||
| Jmhinkle |
Here is possibly a dumb question. Are the symptoms different when only the stator or VR is failing? My current problems obviously started during my track day and I'm wondering if one of these might be at fault. This strange pulsing headlight issue is very weird, but I have now realized it only does it when the motor is revving or running. It does not pulse at idle. The lights actually get dim as I rev the engine to pull away from a stop and then pulse while riding. I think the speedo issue is actually a byproduct of the electrical issue because the pulsing happens whether the speedo is reading or not. I've been all through wire harnesses and can't find anything that looks like a problem. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yes, the symptoms would be different. Your description sounds more VR'ish then Statorish, but after typing up a couple paragraphs of ways to test, I deleted them. They were quick and easy, but could not be 100% accurate. The service manual procedure is probably best process. The checks are not that hard. | ||
| Bugnut |
Well, now I can say I'm part of this crowd too. On my second regulator, which died this Monday at 15k miles. First one puked out at 5k. As of today (Friday) Brandon HD, Fl has replaced it again, along with a rotor, and now trying to get a replacement for #77 plug which was called "bad" by the service tech. Stator supposedly o.k. A full week down by the time it gets fixed, I'm investing in spares for next time. Mike | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I'm thinking of adding a toaster oven so that the extra power gets shunted there instead. I may see about having a stator rewound so that it provides just enough power at 1050 RPM idle to charge the system but less peak wattage than stock. I wonder if the 08 will retrofit. | ||
| Chadhargis |
Just got mine back from the shop today. In less than a month, the repair bills are my responsibility. I'm hoping this sucker holds up. | ||
| Xbimmer |
+1 Chadhargis. I'm thinking of moving the VR myself, or an aftermarket replacement capable of shedding the heat better. Mounted as stock it gets pretty hot just from the front cylinder, can't be good for it... In 7 months I'll be out of warranty with 50k+ miles on it, won't be able to sell or trade it for squat. | ||
| Jlnance |
I don't know where the excess energy gets "shunted" to, but I'd be some of it gets bled off through the vr itself given the cooling fins. Exactly. The VR is basically a resistor that turns the extra power into heat. There is probably a relay that closes at a predefined voltage to start dumping power, and when the voltage falls to a certain level it opens again. It's a fairly prehistoric system, but it would allow for an easily manufactured stator and would have been ideal in the days when semiconductors were expensive. The 08 Uly's electrical system have a lower output than the 06 and 07 Ulys. I wonder if that was to increase regulator reliability? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
So let's assume the VR is the initial weak link in the system. The stator generates power based upon RPM. The higher the RPM the greater the power generated. In order to prevent over charging the VR caps the power output by providing line resistance and converting the excess power heat. So when the power exceeds the ability to of the VR to bleed off the excess power, it gets sent back to the stator? If this is true, would it be beneficial then to invest in a higher capacity after-market voltage regulator? Buell's solution was to reduce the peak output at the generation level. Maybe a better VR would be the size of a Buick? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I never understood why cycle charging systems are so crude compared to my 1975 olds! My old 1979 sportster has field windings. How hard would it be to have a modern wound field alternator in a bike? If it was taken out of the oily primary, it wouldn't be that hard. (brushes and oil = bad combo) | ||
| Reepicheep |
As observed, a variable field alternator only generates as much power as necessary, but you then need brushes. The stator generates constant power all the time. So the shunt VR simply uses an SCR to short out the stator to ground after it passes 14.2 volts. An SCR (silicone controlled rectifier) is like a diode that is controlled by another line... it is an open switch until you feed a bit of voltage through that third lead, then it becomes a diode (.6 volts forward voltage) for as long as current flows. When the current stops, the SCR resets and it starts over. Because the voltage coming out of the stator is AC, it stops pretty quickly. So it makes for a nice simple system. The only down side is that it is always making power. The good news is that even at peak output, it's not even consuming 1 horsepower... so the wasted power is not a big deal at all. When the VR SCR gets shorted to ground, the whole system becomes one big resistor dissipating heat. So the stator windings, the VR, and the wiring in between, all dump heat. Thermal cycles kill electronics... so if you want to see if your VR is over stressed, measure it's temperature when running hard. It will be easy to look up what the SCR's are rated for (temperature) and figure out if it's over stressed. If anything, it should be able to add more heatsink or air flow. My KLR-250 has a virtually identical system. When I first found out how it worked, I thought it was nuts, but after noodling it for a few years, I think its great. Wonder what kind of system the 1125r has...? |
