| Author | Message | ||
     1_mike |
Not quite 15,000 miles and one stator segment has died. It will still charge fine, only above about 3500rpm now. Anything below that the gage shows in the 12.0 to 12.3 range. Luckily (?) I bought a stator a while back...just in case. Yea, I'd rather do it myself...even including the ridiculous cost of the stator. Everything's apart but I think I'm also gonna check the valves also while it's apart. Question - anyone doing their own work...have you talked to or used a company called, "Custom Rewind" to rewind your original/old stator? I called them yesterday. While I almost hung up when the guy answered the phone, he turned out to sound very knowledgeable. He also understood the heat problem as he noted there is a hand full of other bikes that have regularly cooked their stators. He has a different epoxy coating he uses that seems to help. Since this seems to be a regular thing, I'm going to put a plug down by the side of the engine case if I can do it cleanly enough so I don't have to rip the harness thru the sharp bend in the harness protector cover (tube). Yep...another down and out..crap. Only one of my past bikes (since 1986) have lost a stator...and at this moronic cost...this sucks. Mike | ||
| Ratsmc |
If I were you, I'd replace the stator with the one you have and send the old one to Custom Rewind. Someone here had them rewind their stator and is doing well so far. The problem seems to be heat so if the stator is wound to withstand the heat, it should be fine. | ||
| Nillaice |
im on my 3rd stator at 7k.your luky it lasted til 15k. keep the IC on volts. you really don't need to know what gear your in. if the revs feel wrong, shift. if the wind feels cold, it is. | ||
| Ratsmc |
Actually, I didn't read carefully, I'm not sure that getting down to 12 below 3.5k really does mean the thing is bad. My brand new stator does the same thing. I think until you start to get down to 11 and dropping is there really an issue. | ||
| Bueller4ever |
How do you know one leg is bad? Did you unplug it and check the output with the motor running? | ||
| Lucky_jim |
That's how the harness is designed.. if you're idling and it goes down to 12V you should be fine, get back on it and you should get up to 13.5-14 or so. If it only very slowly charges up , and drops back down to 12 really fast.. then yeah you may have a problem. That's what happened to mine. | ||
| Daniii |
Mine never drops below 13.5 unless I have the high beam on and its real hot. | ||
| 1_mike |
Lucky_jim - No...wrong on that thought...! That's NOT how it's designed..! Funny...after almost 15,000 miles...I think I know the strange workings of the output of the stator/regulator. Plus...once apart...one segment is pretty crispy...! For clarification, the "system" ISN'T an alternator or a generator. By design, it's a "magneto" Mike | ||
| Fast1075 |
You are technically correct that the device is a magneto since "magneto" predates "alternator". However,the device is most commonly referred to as a "fixed field alternator". Shorted windings result from either heat in excess of the insulation's tolerance, mechanical damage, either during the winding process, or from vibration either externally induced (such as sympathetic or direct vibration from the engine itself) or from a phenomenon known as stator hum. In the case of heat damage, there is wire available that will withstand any temperature the engine can throw at it...it is however...expensive compared to standard enameled wire....I worked in a specialty electrical shop where we built alternators for emergency vehicles...part of the spec was that the stators had to resist temperatures of 450 degrees...it has been so long ago, I have forgotten the wire grade, but it was referred to as "refrigeration grade" by the rep. And don't let a little "down south" drawl fool yah...we think a lot faster than we sound...some of us ham it up deliberately just for fun  | ||
| Zac4mac |
Alternator and generator refer to HOW the device outputs power. A generator puts out a (basically) stable current, D.C. voltage varies with rpm. An alternator puts out a steady A.C. voltage and current that varies with rpm(duty cycle or "area under the curve") Either can use permanent magnets or electro-magnetic lobes. Magneto is an archaic term for generator, while Dynamo is the archaic term for alternators. They're better because we call them something else. Z |
