Stator has given up the ghost

[grcamna2]

So if this was the case, were they both lit all the time? I just checked my dimmer switch and I still have both low and high beams separately.

Correct,both my beams were lit at the same time:which was twice the normal draw.I'm glad to know yours are separately lit and the dimmer switch is functioning normally.

Larry,have you cleaned up the connections on your wiring harness,switches,fuse,etc. including the ground connections to the frame,etc. ? They can sometimes get corrosion or paint which will keep the system weak.The electrical systems on vintage vehicles seem to be the weakest thing and don't seem to get much preventative maintenance.

[alke46]

Correct,both my beams were lit at the same time:which was twice the normal draw.I'm glad to know yours are separately lit and the dimmer switch is functioning normally.

Larry,have you cleaned up the connections on your wiring harness,switches,fuse,etc. including the ground connections to the frame,etc. ? They can sometimes get corrosion or paint which will keep the system weak.The electrical systems on vintage vehicles seem to be the weakest thing and don't seem to get much preventative maintenance.

Pretty much everything has been cleaned and coated with dielectric grease.

Related to the headlight, the 3 prong connector was in bad shape so I replaced it with a new one from Autozone. It seemed pretty straight forward to me though.

[alke46]

My thoughts tonight are leading me to replace the battery as it is losing .7v with step #2 of the quick test for charging system.
Key off = 12.8v
Key on with lights on but not cranking for 10 sec. = 12.1v

[grcamna2]

My thoughts tonight are leading me to replace the battery as it is losing .7v with step #2 of the quick test for charging system.
Key off = 12.8v
Key on with lights on but not cranking for 10 sec. = 12.1v

You might consider bringing the battery to an AutoZone,etc. to have it load tested,then you'll know.

[alke46]

My thoughts tonight are leading me to replace the battery as it is losing .7v with step #2 of the quick test for charging system.
Key off = 12.8v
Key on with lights on but not cranking for 10 sec. = 12.1v

Just got home from taking the battery in for testing. It tested good so no need to replace.

I'm thinking the problem has to be in the headlight circuit since the charging system shows good with the headlight off but bad when it is switched on.

Also the 2nd step of the quick test shows the voltage dropping .7v

Time to open the headlight bucket again and look for corrosion somewhere in the light wiring.

Hope I'm taking this in the right direction.

Will keep results posted.

[Gorminrider]

Sounds like you found the problem but I wrote all this so it stands

When I get ready to test with a car battery, should I just jumper it or would it be better to remove the bike battery to isolate it from the car battery?

And don't worry, I do know not to have the car running when jumping ��.

I just have an old car battery on the floor beside the bike. You can take your motorcycle battery out and use jumpers to connect to a non-running car battery, but it's inconvenenient... with those heavy cables and all.

But basically Any 12v acid battery that shows more than ~12.25 after sitting around overnight is fine to try and this includes your motorcycle battery. If there's water in it (given it's a wet cell) and it can start your bike, that's all you need to test the charging system. Naturally, your stator can't do an awful lot forthe battery from a tugboat, but most car batterries of 100 amps or so will show pretty close to 14+.... Ignore the "Quick test" requiring a battery to do such and such key off key on. Those values are not required to test the charging system. For instance, the voltage of a battery just taken off a charger does NOT indicate how good the battery is. It must "rest" at least overnite. and a battery that tests 12.6 or above after a rest is a brand new battery. Older batteries that will run your bike quite well always fail this "quick test" procedure.
That aside,

Today I have found a connection problem and corrected it--I think.
Now I just checked it again and with the headlight "OFF", I get better numbers. I'm seeing 13.1 at 1500rpm. 14.4 at 2500 and 14.4 at 5000 rpms.

Turn the headlight back on and those numbers drop to 12.5---13.1---and 13.4 respectively.

is an improvement. Your headlight is loading the system. If it's an LED one, that seems strange. Try a normal headlamp. An old headlamp will drop the voltage too but anything below 13.8 or so would be questionable assuming the stator and R/R are good.

LED headlamps can have all sorts of circuitry...I don't have one, but I can identify them on my dash cam because they blink. Without bothering to look them up, I'm guessing because the circuitry is pulsing the leds as a way to keep them bright while convert the car's voltage to suit. All to say, it would not suprise me if your headlamp is defective
A bad contact in the switch will not cause a voltage drop for a headlight that is bright unless it's a short circuit or a partial one and I'd expect heat in a partial short.

[grcamna2]

Just got home from taking the battery in for testing. It tested good so no need to replace.

I'm thinking the problem has to be in the headlight circuit since the charging system shows good with the headlight off but bad when it is switched on.

Also the 2nd step of the quick test shows the voltage dropping .7v

Time to open the headlight bucket again and look for corrosion somewhere in the light wiring.

Hope I'm taking this in the right direction.

Will keep results posted.

Good approach,the headlight circuit also carries the taillight and instrument bulbs.

[alke46]

Sounds like you found the problem but I wrote all this so it stands


I just have an old car battery on the floor beside the bike. You can take your motorcycle battery out and use jumpers to connect to a non-running car battery, but it's inconvenenient... with those heavy cables and all.

But basically Any 12v acid battery that shows more than ~12.25 after sitting around overnight is fine to try and this includes your motorcycle battery. If there's water in it (given it's a wet cell) and it can start your bike, that's all you need to test the charging system. Naturally, your stator can't do an awful lot forthe battery from a tugboat, but most car batterries of 100 amps or so will show pretty close to 14+.... Ignore the "Quick test" requiring a battery to do such and such key off key on. Those values are not required to test the charging system. For instance, the voltage of a battery just taken off a charger does NOT indicate how good the battery is. It must "rest" at least overnite. and a battery that tests 12.6 or above after a rest is a brand new battery. Older batteries that will run your bike quite well always fail this "quick test" procedure.
That aside,
is an improvement. Your headlight is loading the system. If it's an LED one, that seems strange. Try a normal headlamp. An old headlamp will drop the voltage too but anything below 13.8 or so would be questionable assuming the stator and R/R are good.

LED headlamps can have all sorts of circuitry...I don't have one, but I can identify them on my dash cam because they blink. Without bothering to look them up, I'm guessing because the circuitry is pulsing the leds as a way to keep them bright while convert the car's voltage to suit. All to say, it would not suprise me if your headlamp is defective
A bad contact in the switch will not cause a voltage drop for a headlight that is bright unless it's a short circuit or a partial one and I'd expect heat in a partial short.

Thanks, I will check it out.

[2BRacing]

Just got home from taking the battery in for testing. It tested good so no need to replace.

I'm thinking the problem has to be in the headlight circuit since the charging system shows good with the headlight off but bad when it is switched on.

Also the 2nd step of the quick test shows the voltage dropping .7v

Time to open the headlight bucket again and look for corrosion somewhere in the light wiring.

Hope I'm taking this in the right direction.

Will keep results posted.

According to the information originally provided by the author of "Quick Test" (Posplayr) the voltage drop between steps 1 and 2 could be approximately 0.5V so you are not too far off that.

For the sake of helping others who may have a similar problem, I would be interested to know what you found in your post #23 ("Today I have found a connection problem and corrected it--I think.").

[alke46]

For the sake of helping others who may have a similar problem, I would be interested to know what you found in your post #23 ("Today I have found a connection problem and corrected it--I think.").

What I found was just a bad connector at the solenoid that I apparently overlooked earlier. Just changed it and stuck it back on the solenoid.

[chris]

Hi, just for reference the headlight on my bike (H4) drops the voltage down to 14.4 from 14.6. I have a digital volt meter with my instrument gauges so I see this differential all the time.

[alke46]

Just returned home from a 90 mile ride and the charging system is putting out 14.4 volts at almost any engine speed above 2500-3000 rpms ---- as long as I DO NOT use the headlight. Turn the headlight on and the voltage drops to 13.1. On high beam it slips below 13.0v

So I can either use the bike as a daytime only bike OR, I can start tearing apart the wiring from the headlight rearward. Oh I love electricity-------NOT!!!!!!




[QUOTE=Gorminrider;2654095 Your headlight is loading the system. If it's an LED one, that seems strange. Try a normal headlamp. An old headlamp will drop the voltage too but anything below 13.8 or so would be questionable assuming the stator and R/R are good.

LED headlamps can have all sorts of circuitry...I don't have one, but I can identify them on my dash cam because they blink. Without bothering to look them up, I'm guessing because the circuitry is pulsing the leds as a way to keep them bright while convert the car's voltage to suit. All to say, it would not suprise me if your headlamp is defective
A bad contact in the switch will not cause a voltage drop for a headlight that is bright unless it's a short circuit or a partial one and I'd expect heat in a partial short.[/QUOTE]

I purchased a new light element for the H4 headlight but I don't think it improved much of anything except for getting a brighter white light.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Larry, curious, does NE have a law requiring motorcycle headlights on all the time. I was under the impression that all states do, but have no facts to back up that impression.

[alke46]

Not 100 percent sure but I don't think it is required here.
The law I just looked up states a light must be on between the hours of sunset and sunrise. Duh!!!!!

[salty_monk]

Dirty contacts somewhere in that circuit = extra resistance would be my guess. Either that or a cooked wire doing the same thing. Fuse, Switch, the connector in the headlight bucket.... ? Good luck!