Sporadic charging?

[cal_look_zero]

I replaced my R/R last night with a Shindengen 232 from a Honda. Wired it all in, everything test out like it should. 13.5 v at idle, so on so on.

I decide to ride to work since the girlfriend is on my case to let her ride it. Stopped for a coffee and when I went to leave, the starter couldn't fire the bike back up.

Got to work and grabbed an 88, my battery is down to 12.10 at idle, but was occasionally peaking up to 13ish and back down.

Could this be related to a poor ground choice? Or did I get a bum r/r?

[koolaid_kid]

Quite honestly, that sounds like a intermittent open in one of your lines. It could be any of them, unfortunately. Those are difficult to track down, but with patience it can be done.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

What is the AC output of the stator?

Are all connections clean? From fuse box to ground straps? Is the ground wire on the r/r unit connected directly to the negative battery terminal? Did you connect the sense wire correctly?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[cal_look_zero]

Sense wire is directly into switched 12v, stator is cranking out around 74VAC, grounded the R/R to the frame (Thinking that's part of it) and all new bullet/ring terminals throughout the whole bike.

[posplayr]

Sense wire is directly into switched 12v, stator is cranking out around 74VAC, grounded the R/R to the frame (Thinking that's part of it) and all new bullet/ring terminals throughout the whole bike.

Did you ever do the revised Phase A tests?

Finally STEP #3.) Perform Stator Paper Checks. The stator pages checks are not perfect, but they are designed to help you through a process of elimination in determining what is wrong with your charging system. The good news about doing steps #1 and #2 above first, is that when the stator pages say to check your connections you know you already have done it. Here is the update.

Make sure you do these two tests and report the results for diagnosis.
STEP #2 MEASURE POSITIVE LEAD VOLTAGE DROP
STEP #3 MEASURE NEGATIVE LEAD VOLTAGE DROP


http://www.thegsresources.com/statorpapers4.php

Link to Revised PHASE A of Stator Pages:

[spyug]

I put in a Shindengen SH583-12 (Honda GL1100) tonight as my stocker had been acting up and overcharging. This one is about twice the size of the stocker and needed a little modification to the mounting holes to fit on the frame plate. It also has two power leads and two grounds in addition to the sense wire.

I wired the two powers together into a spade and one ground to the harness ground and one directly to the battery negative. I wired the sense lead to the battery positive but just as a temporary measure as I'd rather see it fixed to a switched positive.

A quick test show it works properly but I didn't take any exact measurements. I ran out of time for a roadtest so I'll do that tomorrow.

I think the gounding is really important and it would likely help to run a lead directly from the R/R to the negative battery terminal as per standing recommendations. I did this to my stock R/R when I first got the bike (it wasn't charging) and it fixed it for the last 3 years.

Maybe try redoing your grounds and see how that works.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.
Cheers,
Spyug

[Steve]

Got to work and grabbed an 88, ...

I think I know what you mean by "88", but I'm sure there are a bunch of others that don't.

(I use a 77. )

.

[cal_look_zero]

I put in a Shindengen SH583-12 (Honda GL1100) tonight as my stocker had been acting up and overcharging. This one is about twice the size of the stocker and needed a little modification to the mounting holes to fit on the frame plate. It also has two power leads and two grounds in addition to the sense wire.

I wired the two powers together into a spade and one ground to the harness ground and one directly to the battery negative. I wired the sense lead to the battery positive but just as a temporary measure as I'd rather see it fixed to a switched positive.

A quick test show it works properly but I didn't take any exact measurements. I ran out of time for a roadtest so I'll do that tomorrow.

I think the gounding is really important and it would likely help to run a lead directly from the R/R to the negative battery terminal as per standing recommendations. I did this to my stock R/R when I first got the bike (it wasn't charging) and it fixed it for the last 3 years.

Maybe try redoing your grounds and see how that works.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.
Cheers,
Spyug

I'm going to redo all of my grounds tonight. Going to "freshen" up grounds to frame and get a little easier access to ground on the battery.

I think I know what you mean by "88", but I'm sure there are a bunch of others that don't.

(I use a 77. )

.

Doesn't everyone use fluke meters?

You get a gold star for the day!

Actually, it was an 87. I have the 88 in my toolkit at home.

[posplayr]

http://cgi.ebay.com/FLUKE-75-MULTIMETER-TEST-LEADS-/120756221386?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1da1b5ca

I got this one; had it for 20 years. cant beat it for the price

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I think I know what you mean by "88", but I'm sure there are a bunch of others that don't.

I knew what he meant.


Thank you for your indulgence,


BassCliff

[cal_look_zero]

I hate taking my tank off.

But it's time to do some relays.

I had 12.9 at the battery after I charged it, and 12.3, 11.8, 11.5, 10.3 at my fuses top to bottom. Not sure what I even have at the coils, but I'd bet a dollar that it's sub-par at best.

Also going to throw a new fusebox at it. Dielectric grease, add in a couple more grounds.

You guys weren't playing when you said the electrical is the Achilles heel of these bikes.

[cal_look_zero]

Well that helped. After I beat my head against a wall trying to figure out what that single fuse going to the solenoid was (aux). Added in a bridge to the battery negative from my loom ground. Can't see in the picture, but I also cut off the orange wires' connector and put all new bullets in.

End result? 15.05v at 3500+ rpms and a minimal voltage drop across the fuses. Plus now I have room in the fuse block for 2 aux ports.

Planning on hitting the coil relay tomorrow.

I can't wait to get all this kind of crap ironed out so I can actually tune this beast.

[Big T]

The design of the stock system is such that when it goes bad, excessive current and heat are generated at the connections.

Turn that old fuse box over and look inside. I'll bet it's melted