r/r gone again why?

[shepgs850]

hi all replaced the r/r on my gs850 trike as battery was not charging fixed the problem,have done 500 ish miles not a problem starts first time etc,have just got in from a 50 mile trip and the battery is as good as dead
have done the stator check and thats fine r/r has no responce,do you think i should just replace the r/r(may have been a dodgy one) and see what happens or is it something else causing the r/r to die cheers all

[Jethro]

hi all replaced the r/r on my gs850 trike as battery was not charging fixed the problem,have done 500 ish miles not a problem starts first time etc,have just got in from a 50 mile trip and the battery is as good as dead
have done the stator check and thats fine r/r has no responce,do you think i should just replace the r/r(may have been a dodgy one) and see what happens or is it something else causing the r/r to die cheers all

9 times out of 9.5 times the r/r fails becasue the wiring loom needs looking at get yourself a multimeter and a schematic and a 12 pack good luck make sure you check everything there can be bad grounds or shorts it's not the r/r or the stator that creates the poor reputation that these GS bikes have regarding electrical its becasue of the crazy LSD pothead that they must have hired as thier electrical engineer

[Redman]

Shep,

A couple comments:

- Let me know what year / model of 850, and I can send you a scan of a color shchematic, if you dont have one. PM me your email addr. That is probably the best thing I have to offer. BUt I do a a couple other comments (but not a good complte answer for you).

- I dont know from personall experience, but have heard it said that a bad or poor ground on the R/R can cause the R/R to fail. Although others have said that a bad ground will just make it such that the R/R cant controll the voltage and voltage will be to too high, which isnt much of a problem other than burning out lights quickly and drying out the battery. (I tend to aggree with this statment.)

-R/R is mounted on battery box, and is grounded to battery box. And there is another ground wire from the wire harness (loom) that is grounding the battery box, but sometimes that is not enough. So you will hear recommendations to make your oun ground wire from the R/R ground (or frame itself) to the battery negitive. I say this is so the R/R can regulate at the proper voltage, and so if bad connection on the graound wire in the harness you dont burn/melt the ground wire inthe harness along with adjacent wires.

- I understand most common cause of R/R failure is the stator shorting to ground. But you say the stator checks are all good. MAybe it is an intermittent short that happens after the engine/stator warms up. Or short to ground between R/R and the Stator. OR between R/R and battery but that would likley blow fuse.

.

[Steve]

As stated above, the most common cause is a bad ground. Run a dedicated wire from where the regulator grounds to the battery box to the battery, or cut the connector off the regulator ground wire and extend the wire so it will reach the battery directly. Do not rely on crimp-on connectors, much better to use solder and shrink-wrap.

Oh, that bit about the 12-pack? Go ahead and get it, but leave it in the fridge as a reward until you get the bike running.
If you start indulging in the 12-pack before the bike is done, no telling what you might end up with. 8-[


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[Dave8338]

R/R thread hijack...

Hate to hijack a thread but a quick question on the same line....cleaned everything yesterday, all connections and reinstalled. At 5000 RPM on a fully charged battery, I'm pushing 15.96 volts at the battery posts. High...but too high?

[nabrams]

Hate to hijack a thread but a quick question on the same line....cleaned everything yesterday, all connections and reinstalled. At 5000 RPM on a fully charged battery, I'm pushing 15.96 volts at the battery posts. High...but too high?

Yeah it's over the 15 volt max, but I doubt you'll see any problems until it reaches 17V or more.

[Dave8338]

Yeah it's over the 15 volt max, but I doubt you'll see any problems until it reaches 17V or more.

Thanks bud...think I'll run it and keep an eye on the battery acid level. It shown 12.23 at an 1100RPM idle.

[bonanzadave]

Hate to hijack a thread but a quick question on the same line....cleaned everything yesterday, all connections and reinstalled. At 5000 RPM on a fully charged battery, I'm pushing 15.96 volts at the battery posts. High...but too high?

Same here...........?????

[Dave8338]

Same here...........?????

At least I'm in good company! :-D

[relic-rider]

No! Check your RR now. Maybe only one diode is bad, but that makes your RR toast. You will be boiling the battery. Use this handy fault finding chart from Elecrosport:

http://www.electrosport.com/electrosport_fault_finding.html

[Dave8338]

Alright Dan...guess I've got another date with the multi tester...Great link by the way, it is printed and sitting on my desk as we speak. (I HATE ELECTRICAL) 8-[

[shepgs850]

hi there thanks for the quick replies,will try the ideas tomorrow,got to go work now
ps already have a direct earth to the battery cheers all

[burp reynolds]

[QUOTE=relic-rider;629254]No! Check your RR now. Maybe only one diode is bad, but that makes your RR toast. You will be boiling the battery.
] Is this something I ought to consider? My battery has been running dry about every three months since I moved to the desert. I have been assuming that it was because I was in the desert, though.

[bonanzadave]

Check your RR now. Maybe only one diode is bad, but that makes your RR toast. You will be boiling the battery.
Is this something I ought to consider? My battery has been running dry about every three months since I moved to the desert. I have been assuming that it was because I was in the desert, though.

I dont know if a bad diode or a dry climate is the culprit but for $40 you can solve your problems with a new RR from Duanage.

Put a meter on your battery. If its over 15vdc it could be a bad RR ground wire or the sense wire from the RR is connected to a wire on the bike with low voltage. Thats what was wrong with mine. I ended up doing a relay mod to supply battery voltage to the sense wire and a direct ground to the battery - post. Now Im charging at a solid 14.5

[Billy Ricks]

It's more than likely just the desert air. For the same $40 you can pick up an R/R that's only a year or two old from a CBR1000RR.