| Author | Message | ||
     Craigsmoney |
A little about my problem: Late in the season last year I noticed that my bikes charging system started to fail(surprise). It would hold mid to high 13s with the high beams off, and on the high way. If I turned on the high beams while still on the high way, the voltage would slowly creep down to the high 11s. not good. To further frustrate me, when in the city it would get low as well, and by the time I could turn off my bike, the voltage would be in 11.7...dangerously close to the no start voltage. So I sent the bike to the shop, the replaced the stator, and front coil (for another unrelated problem) and told me the bike was fixed...Nope as soon as the bike hit 82 degrees C it would shit the bed. Sent it back to the dealer, the replaced the charging harness and relay...said it was fixed...Nope, try again...well It was kind of fixed. riding with the high beams on only droped the voltage to 13, but city driving was the same. Fast forward until I get time to check it over my self, What do I find? Two wires going into the voltage regulator are melted together (PS I found that in 30 secs).   The bike ran great after I separated those wires. In the picture you can see that there appears to be a "hot spot" on one of the wires, which I believe is the culprit. After I rode around for over an hr, the bike started to exhibit it's old habits. So I started to do some testing on the stator, just to make sure it was still okay. The results, the stator is showing an open circuit on all legs Resistance between the poles of the stators are with in spec. 0.1Ohms with my ohms scale set at 200 For the ac voltage test @ 3000 RPM I got 39 - 40 Volts AC, with my meter set @ 200V. That part is a little below spec, spec is supposed to be 45-55 volts. What should I do. I'm going to go test the VR to make sure that is doing good. Does anyone know how to take apart the connector to repair the wires? | ||
| Hildstrom |
I'd cut the melted wires off and redo the connections. A broken or damaged wire in there could cause it to heat up or have intermittent connectivity, which could account for your problem. Your AC voltage test numbers look fine to me, assuming you got approximately the same reading from all three phases. I'd repeat that test with the engine hot after a long ride (45-60min). I'd also check to make sure none of the disconnected stator leads are shorted to ground. | ||
| Craigsmoney |
Thanks Hildstorm, I did check the voltage output when it was hot, and it was the same. I think I will repair the connections, however I do not have the tools to take apart that connector. | ||
| Kruizen |
All you need is a pair of needle nose pliers and a small regular screw driver. | ||
| Dannybuell |
Look in the back of the service manual, there is an entire section on connectors. | ||
| Timebandit |
Greg has given you some good advice. Melted stator connectors are a common problem on bikes. You often see that when corrosion forms on the connectors, when dirt gets in the connector, or when mechanical trauma to the wires disrupts the connection. The result is increased impedance across the connector. Even a low resistance will cause a lot of power to be dissipated across the connector under conditions of high current flow. The resulting power dissipation across the "resistor" is what melts wires and connectors. The first thing to do is to fix the connector so that it no longer presents a resistive path to the next wire. After fixing the connectors you might want to consider putting some dielectric grease on the connectors to seal the connector to protect it from dirt or corrosion. Also be careful that the connector doesn't suffer mechanical trauma when you tuck the wires. You don't want to see bending in the leads like you've got now. The good news is that you really don't need special tools to work on those connectors. The specialized crimping tools are used to optimize speed of assembly, not to optimize the quality of the connection. Forget about buying the expensive criming tool, a good solder connection works fine. Once you have the wiring fixed, let us know how things work out. | ||
| Craigsmoney |
Thanks for your help guys. I went for a 250km journey yesterday, and had awesome charging. It dropped to 12.9 Volts briefly then corrected it self and was back up to the high 13s. One thing that sucks was the bike never got much above 80C. I'll have to try it again when it's a little warm out. I do agree that I should at the least repair the wires, however I'm trying to get the whole regulator under warranty. Since my bike was in the shop several times before warranty was up and nothing was fixed, I believe this repair should be covered. Thanks again for your help. Cheers Craig | ||
| Timebandit |
If you're going to push for a warranty claim then I would make them repair/replace the wires/connector. Fixing it yourself will only destroy the evidence of how the problem occurred. The way that wire is bent, it's obvious to me that somebody caused the wire damage. Either during assembly or during service those wires were manhandled and the connection was compromised. This wiring snafu is the typical sort of "intermittent" problem where customers come in voicing a complaint that the techs can't duplicate. It may only rear it's head under operating conditions. If you came in for this problem during the warranty period and they sent you home empty handed then they should fix this. Chances are that you just need the wires fixed and nothing more. I'd just fix it myself and not worry about the regulator. From what you're describing the regulator is acting fine when it has juice, and it's intermittent wiring that's causing the problem. Good luck. | ||
| Craigsmoney |
as of today, I'm still waiting to hear back about warranty. I do agree that I have to repair those wires, and so long as that incident didn't fry my stator. thanks for your help. Cheers Craig |
