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Charging system quick test and odd reading

  • Thread starter Thread starter Boriqua
  • Start date Start date
B

Boriqua

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I dont know if I have a charging issue. I have been riding the bike at least 10 miles since about Tuesday and then yesterday the wife went out for a 20 mile jaunt and the bike behaved fine but when I went to start it this morning it wouldn't roll over. It has been Blasting right up every day this week. After trying three four times to start it I took a reading at the battery and it read 11.43V. Low but should have been enough to roll it over.

I discovered that the wire that leads to my relay for the ignition was held on by two or three strands and the wired was nearly broken off. When I put the wire back on correctly to the ground the bike fired up but I was concerned about the low voltage reading on what is a 2 week old battery so I figured I would do the quick charging test. Unfortunately the numbers never settled down. I took the reading at the battery terminals and this is what happened. The first half of the video is when I just started the bike up and it sounds pretty bad and after you hear me say "ok" about half way through it is at about 1800 2000 rpm but the meter is still all over the place. So now .. I have something else to look into.

https://youtu.be/UkSZ7D-1s7c

AZ does strange things to vehicles. Today it was near 100 degrees .. I wonder if the weird reading is the fault of the RR ... but honestly .. I dont have a clue. But I do have about 2 gallons of gas in the shed and I think a motorcycle BBQ is next.

Just in case its not clear in the video this is the meter I am using
https://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-digital-multimeter-90899.html
Alex
 
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11.43v is a dead battery....during cranking it would drop more giving your ignitor fits- I doubt my 650 would fire under this condition. Borrow another meter, yours seems perplexed.
 
When I installed the battery I kinked the breather hose like an idiot. When I went to pull the battery today it made a big Swoosh sound like it was letting air out fairly forcefully. One of the cells was down in acid by 50% and The sides of the battery are somewhat swollen. I wonder if I ruined it. Bought the battery new about 2 weeks ago.

I just pulled out the RR and it passed all the diode tests I could find. I did the first 2 tests of the stater continuity or not on the stater pages and it passed. I have the battery on a battery tender and I am waiting for the magic green light. Tomorrow I will try the voltage test from the stator.

Question .. the wiring in my bike is a mess with cut wires going no where, brittle bad bullet connections and so on. I am buying a package of bullets tomorrow and cleaning everything I can see up and have started stripping wires for new connections. Where does the Red from the RR go to. My understanding was it was the feed from the RR DC to the battery. Should it eventually go straight to the battery?

I am having trouble with a bad stator in my head since the bike shows little under 27,000 miles. That seems an awful short lifespan since my old Suzuki bought used and which I rode in the 70's and 80's had some 80,000 and except for a broken wire in my kill switch gave me near trouble free service.
 
Boriqua said:
Where does the Red from the RR go to. My understanding was it was the feed from the RR DC to the battery. Should it eventually go straight to the battery?
Click to expand...
No, it does not go straight to the battery. In the stock wiring harness, there is a junction betweeen the fuse box and the ignition switch where the R/R joins. In the stock configuration, power goes from the battery, through the MAIN fuse, through the ignition switch, back to the other three fuses to power the various circuits on the bike. When the engine starts and the stator starts making some power, it sends its power to that junction. Most of the power will go to the ignition switch and the rest of the bike, whatever the bike does not need will go back, through the MAIN fuse to recharge the battery. Simply redirecting the R/R output straight to the battery changes the load on the wiring harness, especially at and around the fusebox.


Boriqua said:
I am having trouble with a bad stator in my head since the bike shows little under 27,000 miles. That seems an awful short lifespan since my old Suzuki bought used and which I rode in the 70's and 80's had some 80,000 and except for a broken wire in my kill switch gave me near trouble free service.
Click to expand...
What R/R are you using?

Is it wired DIRECTLY to the stator?

Are you using a "single point ground"?

.
 
yea the meter is the one they give away free at Harbor freight. Time to get a better one. I did the step three on the stator test but my wife was operating the throttle and while I love her for many things.. mechanical stuff even as simple as holding the RPM solid was beyond her skill set. I managed to get a reading across the various stator legs at between 53 and 55 volts at about 3800 RPM with the headlight fuse pulled so I dont think the RR or stator is the problem. The old connections were burnt and hard so I cut them all out and am making new connections and cleaning up any other atrocities under the seat. I read the article Posplayr posted and am trying to absorb it. Looks like I am taking my ground from the RR to the frame and adding a battery ground and frame ground to it.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/cbsaunders/gs/gs_charging_system_health.pdf

I will give it all a whirl.
 
Boriqua said:
yea the meter is the one they give away free at Harbor freight. Time to get a better one. I did the step three on the stator test but my wife was operating the throttle and while I love her for many things.. mechanical stuff even as simple as holding the RPM solid was beyond her skill set. I managed to get a reading across the various stator legs at between 53 and 55 volts at about 3800 RPM with the headlight fuse pulled so I dont think the RR or stator is the problem. The old connections were burnt and hard so I cut them all out and am making new connections and cleaning up any other atrocities under the seat. I read the article Posplayr posted and am trying to absorb it. Looks like I am taking my ground from the RR to the frame and adding a battery ground and frame ground to it.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/cbsaunders/gs/gs_charging_system_health.pdf

I will give it all a whirl.
Click to expand...

53-55 ACvolts? I would do it again at 4,000 you need no less then 70 at the stator legs. Mine have always tested at 80 new.
 
"managed to get a reading across the various stator legs at between 53 and 55 volts at about 3800 RPM "

Please go back and check voltage from at least one stator lead to good bike ground during this testing phase.
 
I want to make sure I got the ground for the RR correct as per posplayr. I am sorry if I am dumbing it down. I am taking the B/w wire from the RR and going to the RR mounting bolt. In addition under that mounting bolt I have a wire going to the negative on the relay which I pictured below, a wire from the mounting screw to the frame and a wire going directly to the battery and all these wires should be as short as I can make them ... I have read it 100 times but still aint sure I got it right.

sol%20sm.JPG
 
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Well I bought a better meter .. Not a super duper $100 one but better and same results. even at 5000 I wasnt getting more than 58AC and it was different for all three connections. So it seems the stator is working but not providing all the juice I need. It would explain why I was able to drive short distances for over a week and not recognize a problem. The one long trip after a week of riding had dropped my battery to 11.43 volts and its new. So .. new electrosport stator on the way and while the RR tested out OK I purchased a new one to match the stator.

Good thing is it made me rework my grounding and clean up a bunch of crusty old connections.

I need to make this thing as reliable as my old one was. The wife and I have found ourselves on 20 mile unpaved roads in the middle of nowhere. In our climate a break down out there could be a dangerous thing to your health. I figure if my little Triumph Bonneville was able to do it in summer heat so will the Suzuki once I get it squared away.
 
Boriqua said:
I want to make sure I got the ground for the RR correct as per posplayr. I am sorry if I am dumbing it down. I am taking the B/w wire from the RR and going to the RR mounting bolt. In addition under that mounting bolt I have a wire going to the negative on the relay which I pictured below, a wire from the mounting screw to the frame and a wire going directly to the battery and all these wires should be as short as I can make them ... I have read it 100 times but still aint sure I got it right.

sol%20sm.JPG
Click to expand...
The post your are pointing to in the pic is not for ground. It is positive voltage if it comes from the battery via heavy gauge wire and the other large post goes to the starter, but only carries it when the starter button is pushed. That blue wire in the back ground could be a ground wire as the housing and mount is the ground for the starter solenoid through the frame. You should get 75+vac when revving the engine to 5k and above. The VAC should increase as the rpms increase. Is 58vac as high as it climbs?
 
Boriqua said:
Well I bought a better meter .. Not a super duper $100 one but better and same results. even at 5000 I wasnt getting more than 58AC and it was different for all three connections. So it seems the stator is working but not providing all the juice I need. It would explain why I was able to drive short distances for over a week and not recognize a problem. The one long trip after a week of riding had dropped my battery to 11.43 volts and its new. So .. new electrosport stator on the way and while the RR tested out OK I purchased a new one to match the stator.

Good thing is it made me rework my grounding and clean up a bunch of crusty old connections.

I need to make this thing as reliable as my old one was. The wife and I have found ourselves on 20 mile unpaved roads in the middle of nowhere. In our climate a break down out there could be a dangerous thing to your health. I figure if my little Triumph Bonneville was able to do it in summer heat so will the Suzuki once I get it squared away.
Click to expand...

Did you not buy a Series R/R? If not you will burn up another stator ( like the last). See GS Stator in my signature.
 
I bought the three phase electrosport RR. From memory I think it is the esr 100 and is supossed to be the match to the stator.
 
everything installed and single point ground done and charging wonderfully! :)
 
Glad to hear it. But your shunt r/r is making your new stator work full tilt all the time,and dumping the excess power to ground. Why make it you don't need it? It's plenty hot down in the crankcase without the stator throwing out an extra 100 watts to no avail!
 
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