Charging system is dead again.

[Guest]

I have a 82 550m. I bought it back in October last year knowing that the charging system was shot. I ordered a new regulator/rectifier and stator from ElectroSport (has anyone else had troubles with their charging systems?). I put them both on and everything worked fine. I even got a new battery for it about the same time. Just in the past few weeks my bike has been running weak at low idle (adjusted valves when I bought it). Its not a sudden loss of power, but more of a trailing off of power. I come to a stop and it starts to cut out and the rpm's start to drop down until it quits completely, almost like its running out of gas. I'm not sure if the carbs need cleaned again, or that the charging system has been giving me problems, or maybe the ignition system is getting weak. I got home today from work and the bike quit when I came to a stop. This time it wouldn't start up again due to a weak battery.

I put a charger on it with 10 amp charge and started it up again, but now it really doesn't want to stay running. I just went and bought a digital multimeter (my analog meter drives me nuts) and checked the stator which seems to be putting out low voltage. I didn't have much time before the sun went down. I hate working with a flashlight. From what little checking I did it seems like the stator is once again ruined. I still need to check the R/R and all the other wire connections as well. The fuse box on this bike has seen better days. The metal tabs that hold the top fuse in place have been hot enough to melt the plastic and now the fuse can be pushed in and out a bit. The wires got hot when the guy I bought it from tried over and over to get it started. He was using a larger amp fuse to get it to do anything at all. I guess there is supposed to be a cover protecting all the fuses as well, but that is gone too.


So if I keep the throttle going it will continue to run, and it seems to run just fine all the way to red line. When I let it idle the rpm's will start to drop, but not every time. For the most part it continued to run until now. I figured that an electrical issue would be more sudden and more frequent, either it works or it doesn't. I guess a dead battery is a gradual process.

My plans from this point are to check the R/R and stator one more time as well as any possible bad connections. I hope they are still covered under warranty, if not I will be trying another brand. (any suggestions?) While I'm waiting for a warranty stator and or R/R to show up I will clean the carbs and check the valves again.

[tom203]

You been around here long enough to know the importance of clean connections,wiring the stator direct to R/R, etc.- maybe you missed something when you put new parts on. Reviews of Electrosport stuff haven't made me an admirer, but do the charging system tests before you assign blame.
Low system voltage while running would surely mess up ignition, so you need to fix that . High system voltage (> 16 volts) would likely fry stuff, so make sure you test any new stuff you put on

[Nessism]

Did you fix the charging system wiring when you installed the new parts? Wired stator directly into R/R? Improved R/R grounding? Checked for resistance in the positive side charge path?

[cableguy]

I would replace the fuse box first, then start at the beginning, as mentioned ^

I'm not bustin balls but wasn't it a red flag that the PO was using an over-amped jumpstarter, then cranked and cranked until it got hot? I would check and double everything electrical because that probably wasn't the first time your poor bike has been through that.

[B-rent]

I didn't check anything when I installed the new stuff. I saw that it wasn't blowing fuses and that it was charging the battery so I left it alone without checking anything.

I wired two of three yellow wires directly to the R/R while the third wire went to a white/green wire. I wired it up the same way it was wired before, maybe thats part of the problem.

[B-rent]

I would replace the fuse box first, then start at the beginning, as mentioned ^

I'm not bustin balls but wasn't it a red flag that the PO was using an over-amped jumpstarter, then cranked and cranked until it got hot? I would check and double everything electrical because that probably wasn't the first time your poor bike has been through that.

Yeah, I bet there could be bad connections, or exposed wire somewhere if its been getting really hot.

[Nessism]

I would replace the fuse box first, then start at the beginning, as mentioned ^

I'm not bustin balls but wasn't it a red flag that the PO was using an over-amped jumpstarter, then cranked and cranked until it got hot? I would check and double everything electrical because that probably wasn't the first time your poor bike has been through that.

I'd MEASURE the resistance, then take appropriate action. There is no reason to change the fuse box blindly, as most of the time you can improve the resistance by simply cleaning the terminals.

[Nessism]

I didn't check anything when I installed the new stuff. I saw that it wasn't blowing fuses and that it was charging the battery so I left it alone without checking anything.

I wired two of three yellow wires directly to the R/R while the third wire went to a white/green wire. I wired it up the same way it was wired before, maybe thats part of the problem.

There you have it.

[B-rent]

There you have it.

Should all three yellow wires go directly into the R/R? That would leave a white/green and white/red wire unused.

[spyug]

I have a 82 550m. I bought it back in October last year knowing that the charging system was shot. I ordered a new regulator/rectifier and stator from ElectroSport (has anyone else had troubles with their charging systems?). I put them both on and everything worked fine. I even got a new battery for it about the same time. Just in the past few weeks my bike has been running weak at low idle (adjusted valves when I bought it). Its not a sudden loss of power, but more of a trailing off of power. I come to a stop and it starts to cut out and the rpm's start to drop down until it quits completely, almost like its running out of gas. I'm not sure if the carbs need cleaned again, or that the charging system has been giving me problems, or maybe the ignition system is getting weak. I got home today from work and the bike quit when I came to a stop. This time it wouldn't start up again due to a weak battery.

This sounds very much like my own present situation. I am chasing the same problem but I am fairly sure its not a charging/electrical situation but rather carb related. Here is my thread: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...d.php?t=197799

I'm not sure about the wires you refer to but the 3 stator yellows should go to the three corresponding wires on the r/r.

Id be interested in hearing what you find out.

Good luck with it.
Spyug.

[B-rent]

The ohm resistance looks fine between wires on the stator, but when I check between the output wires and the engine case I'm getting around 3 ohm. From what i understand there should be a lot of resistance here, so a wire is grounding out somewhere in the stator. The voltage on all three wires is around 5v when revved up. Just a bit off from the 60+ volts it should be.

I checked the R/R and I am getting no reading with the red probe on red output and black probe on yellow wires. When I reverse this I am getting around .480 volts on all three. Again with the black probe on negative and red probe on the yellow wires I am getting no reading. When I reverse the wires I am getting around .480 volts.

[Nessism]

The ohm resistance looks fine between wires on the stator, but when I check between the output wires and the engine case I'm getting around 3 ohm. From what i understand there should be a lot of resistance here, so a wire is grounding out somewhere in the stator. The voltage on all three wires is around 5v when revved up. Just a bit off from the 60+ volts it should be.

I checked the R/R and I am getting no reading with the red probe on red output and black probe on yellow wires. When I reverse this I am getting around .480 volts on all three. Again with the black probe on negative and red probe on the yellow wires I am getting no reading. When I reverse the wires I am getting around .480 volts.

Did you follow the Stator Papers tests when performing the charging system tests? http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...dd-n-ends.html

If so, then your stator is bad. I have no idea what the R/R tests you performed indicates so can't help you there.

In general: stator wiring straight into R/R bypassing stock wiring, reinforce the R/R ground, check for voltage loss on R/R + wiring back to battery. On most bikes it helps to clean the fuse box, and fuse box terminals where it plugs into the harness.

good luck

[B-rent]

I followed the instructions as shown here http://www.thegsresources.com/garage/gs_statorfault.htm

The stator is toast and if I followed the steps right than the regulator is bad too.
I'm going to call ElectroSport and have them talk me through exactly how to test this regulator to make sure what's wrong.

[Nessism]

Use the updated Stator Papers instructions as linked though Basscliff's website. Jim Posplyer improved the checks, particularly the part about checking resistance in the wiring.

[B-rent]

The diode testing procedure from the manufactures website shows that my R/R is working as it should. The fault finding chart in the stator papers made me think it was bad. It was a little confusing to follow.

http://www.electrosport.com/technical-resources/library/diagnosis/pdf/diode-testing-guide.pdf