main fuse short? bad RR?

[Mad Mark]

so my bike has a charging problem, the bike will only run for a hour on a fully charged battery and then die. battery is brand new and the wiring was never messed with(i know the bikes history)

after recharging the battery and starting the bike and reving it for a few minutes and turning the bike off, turning the key back on everything was black. no gauge lights nothing. completely dead.

and my RR got really hot after just warming up. you could only touch it for a few seconds, normal?

so just now i decided to look at my fuses and my 15 amp main fuse was blown. i went to put the replacement in and it arced out and blew the fuse. ignition off no key even in.

i was researching and the main fuse is connected to the RR so i have a short somewhere in my RR? can anyone help me narrow this down a little.

thanks for any input. im dying not being able to ride

[Redman]

....
so just now i decided to look at my fuses and my 15 amp main fuse was blown. i went to put the replacement in and it arced out and blew the fuse. ignition off no key even in.

i was researching and the main fuse is connected to the RR so i have a short somewhere in my RR? can anyone help me narrow this down a little.

.....

yep. That is symptom of shorted to ground R/R. Will blow main fuse immeadity without even turning on the key.


You said r/r was hot, so then you know where it is. Follow wire harness and disconnect it.
Then replace main fuse. If it doesnt blow like before then you have proved the r/r is what was blowing the fuse.
If fuse still blows then problem is the red wire is shorted to ground somewhere, probably in wiring harness. Look to see if you see anywhere where looks like wires have melted thru the wiring harness covering.

If fuse holds with with r/r disconnected: Bike should run without the R/R connected. And it sounds like had not been charging anyway.
So charge battery with a small charger, and should be okay for maybe even a little longer than before.

If R/R is bad, need to also check the stator which can be damaged when R/R shorts to ground.

Tell us more what you find.

Dave



... typing

[tom203]

The lesson here is not to run the bike with charging issues- test and fix the problems or risk further damage. Your stator very likely failed first and tortured the R/R. When you correct things ( i.e. do the tests ), be especially wary of stator- sometimes they test OK, but fail in actual riding conditions.

[Redman]

The lesson here is not to run the bike with charging issues- test and fix the problems or risk further damage. ................

Yah, if having charging problems, is best to at least disconnect the R/R. A failed R/R can possibly (depending on type of failure) dump a lot of current down its ground wire and if battery box not well grounded, then the ground wire in the wiring harness turns into a toaster heating element and melts the insulation off itself and maybe other nearby wires in wiring harness YIKES.
This is one reason why many folks suggest adding your own ground wire from batt- to the battery box (solenoid mounting bolt) so are not relying on the ground wire in the wiring harness.


.

[Mad Mark]

thanks guys. so i unplugged the RR and the connector was melted a little, it was melted around the brown with black stripe wire. anymore input?

[Mad Mark]

so i just started the bike with the RR disconnected all was good lights main fuse was good.

so should i check the stator now? how do i do that? do the wires for it come out of the countershaft cover?

[tom203]

so i just started the bike with the RR disconnected all was good lights main fuse was good.

so should i check the stator now? how do i do that? do the wires for it come out of the countershaft cover?

Basscliff's site is a good start- follow this link, but since your R/R is disconnected (and likely damaged) skip the first page

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/storagecliff/images/stator_check.pdf

Your connectors must be clean or you will get false readings. You need a multimeter that will read low ohms. It's likely that you need to clean up your bike's wiring to avoid future fun and expense.

[mvalenti]

It's likely that you need to clean up your bike's wiring to avoid future fun and expense.

LOL @ fun and expense, funny how those two go hand in hand...

[Redman]

thanks guys. so i unplugged the RR and the connector was melted a little, it was melted around the brown with black stripe wire. anymore input?

Do not recall any wire in charging system that is brown/black. Nor am I finding one on the 1100E schamatic.

R/R wires are
wht/blu, yel, and wht/red for the stator connections.
red for the positive output
black for the ground on a seperate wire.

Stock stator wires wht/blu, grn/wht, yel.
Aftermarket stator wires are all yellow or maybe all three some other color.

Maybe the wire you are looking at is discolored. Follow it along for a while, or peel back the covering on the wire harness, maybe it looks different somewhere else.


A connector slightly melted is a minor problem, but should b e taken care of before it becomes a bigger problem. Slightly melted connector does not mean there is a problem with the device on that wire pulling too much current. It means the connection there at the connector is not making a good connection (is some resistance when should be no resistance) and needs to be cleaned up.

Find stator papers.
One test of stor is to measure ohms between each 2 or the 3 wires, and between each of the 3 and ground. And to measure voltage between each two of the 3 with engine running at about 4000 rpm. See stator papers for further details.

Tell us more what you find.

.

[Mad Mark]

yeah it was the blue/white one like you said dave.

did some tests today and my stator checks as good, just need to do the engine running ones now(not getting my hopes up). and im pretty sure my RR is dead.

[Mad Mark]

did the 5k volt test for the stator and it read 85-90V for all the wires so pretty sure my stator is OK.

[koolaid_kid]

AC voltage is good. Time to go shopping for another R/R. At least they are a lot cheaper than a stator.

[Mad Mark]

AC voltage is good. Time to go shopping for another R/R. At least they are a lot cheaper than a stator.

and im sure a lot easier to install aswell, now i just got to go through everything and check connections for corrosion. and figure out which RR i should get.