• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Blowing headlights

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roostabunny
  • Start date Start date
Wow! Rick's is pretty awesome.

Bit the bullet. Bought an R/R, and since it's probably going to need replaced at some point anyway, sprung for the stator, too. I'm pleased to say that I must have anticipated this job, because now I remember why I have all these brand-spanking new connectors and wire and such sitting around the last year or so.

But regarding Rick's, I ordered the re-man stator, figuring to return mine eventually for the $50 core refund. I also paid $27 for two-day shipping to make sure I had it by the weekend, so when the customer service lady saw that, and noticed that they didn't have a re-man stator on the shelf (so it wouldn't ship till Friday) she called me. That was all within 30 minutes of my order processing online. She revised the order to a new stator and figured out an ever cheaper shipping method that arrived this afternoon. That's next DAY!

Three cheers for Rick's!

Now, we get to see if I can do my own electrical work. I got Basscliff's tut and the stator papers, so really it'll kinda be like you're all in the parking lot helping me. Like always. :)
 
I got my over-wound stator from ElectroSport This afternoon. Basscliff had me worried about the wire size on the stator as apposed to Ricks. He is right about the lousy sheathing and no grommet, but I was able to use the old stock sheathing and grommet, they were in excellent shape. As for the smaller wire size on the windings, Ricks may use larger winding wire, but the ElectroSport seems to have the same size as the stock stator winding wire or larger and the poles are obviously over-wound. You can see between the poles all the way to the hub on the stock stator, it looks like a radial aircraft engine. The ElectroSport is obviously wound fatter with barely any space between the poles, and most of that space is bridged by the final protective coating until near the top of the poles where there is a little space. I think this stator will do everything I hoped it would. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1mYtaV6UTr_-O_z0vylwZSeFtZ98t6czQsF9KRSUYEg?feat=directlink
 
OldVet66 said..."I think this stator will do everything I hoped it would. "

Let's hope that it will do what it was designed to do!
 
OK, armed with parts from Rick's, the stator papers, and Basscliff's R/R replacement tut, I've actually made fairly short work of the job. Just wanna run the results by you guys before I button it up and install a new $20 headlight bulb. :)

Had a brief moment of panic when I saw that my old R/R was attached with phillips-head screws, but fortunately (probably owing to the non-engine-heated location) they loosened right up. And since the thickness at the screw slots on the Rick's unit was at least twice that of the OEM unit, I grabbed the parts and headed to the local hardware store that supplies me with stainless hex cap-head pretties every time I tear into something new. M6 x 1.00 x 20mm replaced the OEM 10mm-long originals quite nicely. A little blue Locktite should keep them from shaking loose.

I also lucked out with my bike that spent its first 28 years in Arizona. The bullet connectors were in shockingly good shape with regard to corrosion. So good, that I doused 'em with DeOxit #5 a couple of times, dried 'em with some canned air, and used 'em as-is

Rick's wins a serious prize for their product. Three things made life easy.
1.) The wire colors were an exact match to the original
2.) Bullet connectors properly pre-installed
3.) The ground wire was extra long - enough to reach the Neg terminal on the battery right out of the box.

Wahoo! :)

I left the original stator in place so far. See the data below and let me know if you agree.

The final scores...

Stator:

VAC at 4500RPM = about 80 on all three legs
Resistance = about 1.2 Ohms on all three legs

R/R:
New R/R Charging Voltage
14.3V at Idle
13.9V at 4k RPM

So I figure I can leave the stator be for now? I have the new one that I'm willing to keep as a spare on the assumption that I'll eventually need it.

The one test I didn't understand from the stator papers was the Stator lead to engine case. I couldn't get a reading on that, but it didn't really make sense to me to be trying to connect the stator lead to the aluminum engine.

Thanks again for all the help, and please let me know how those numbers sit with ya!
 
Steve said:
Numbers look good.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Steve, awesome! OK, she's button'd up, test rode, feels good. Best of all, my new $20 Silverstar survived the whole ride. Woot! :) Even better, it's no longer getting brighter at higher RPM's.

Side note - I don't recall disconnecting the R/R ground wire when I removed it, but it came right out with the unit. Is it possible that the wire was simply clamped into one of the mounting bolts between the R/R and the battery box? Or could it have been disconnected and hanging loose?

Only asking on the off chance that the R/R ground wire coming loose could have caused the whole problem?
 
Roostabunny said:
I don't recall disconnecting the R/R ground wire when I removed it, but it came right out with the unit. Is it possible that the wire was simply clamped into one of the mounting bolts between the R/R and the battery box? ...

Only asking on the off chance that the R/R ground wire coming loose could have caused the whole problem?
Click to expand...
Both of those are good possibilities, but I guess we'll never know.
shrug2.gif


.
 
I got the same types of readings when I installed my Compu-Fire sometime last winter. I just had to replace the stator. I'm betting with the voltages you have been running that you also have heat damaged insulation varnish on the stator that will eventually cascade into failure sometime in the near future. It's worth a gasket and a little time to look at the old stator. If it's more black than brown in color, it's just a matter of time. I was just bragging on mine the other day when someone else posted up a picture of a black looking stator, and I said to use it because it looked just like mine did. Mine failed the next day. My new stator reads 14.25v exactly at 4,000-7,000rpm. Didn't feel comfortable taking it up that far without a load.
 
Yeah, and I might be able to make that inspection happen without a new gasket, what with the current one only being a couple of months old. Next oil change. And I'm due for one.

Almost dropped the cover today before I remembered that it's wet in there. Had all the screws loosened.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top