Charging System Blues

[dwvoss]

In July, my Suzuki R/R failed, and I put on a new Electrosport ESR 100 and replaced the battery. All seemed good with the world.

Last week, I began to get suspicious that the battery may not be charging. This was confirmed yesterday when I went to start the bike, and the battery was essentially dead.

So far, I have determined that most of the fluid was cooked out of the battery. I've topped the battery off with distilled water, and recharged the battery. The battery seems to be ok.

The stator is putting out 90+ volts at 5000 rpms. So, I think I'm ok there.

The R/R doesn't have any output. Looks like a dead R/R.

I could chalk this failure up to infant mortality of electronics, but am a bit bothered by a similarity in the failures of the two R/R's.

Both occurred after having ridden the bike for a period of time (30+ minutes) at 80 mph.

Should I be looking for something that could be causing this failure, or chalk it up to a bad R/R from the manufacturer?

Thanks!

[Nessism]

Did you go through the Stator Papers on the GSR homepage? http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_garage.htm

I'm not sure about your particular bike but from what I've learned the number one problem is the poor ground from the R/R to the battery box. It's recommended to extend the ground and take it directly to the battery.

Good luck.

[argonsagas]

Did you go through the Stator Papers on the GSR homepage? http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_garage.htm

I'm not sure about your particular bike but from what I've learned the number one problem is the poor ground from the R/R to the battery box. It's recommended to extend the ground and take it directly to the battery.

Good luck.

This is strongly recommended. You might also add an extra cable for battery to frame grounding.

There is no question that the R/R has failed, and needs to be replaced, along with the battery.

[dwvoss]

This is strongly recommended. You might also add an extra cable for battery to frame grounding.

There is no question that the R/R has failed, and needs to be replaced, along with the battery.

When I installed this R/R, I put a new ground wire from the battery to the same point that the R/R ground attaches to, so with both grounded to the same point, grounding should not have been a problem.

[earlfor]

It appears you have the ground situation covered. If the battery was boiled, even one cell, then it is ready for the trash pile. It will only cause the demise of any replacement charging system components. You need a new battery.

Now,......... the battery boiled. Fact.........you had an overcharging problem.
Assuming you have the R/R red+ and black - , 12v DC output wires connected directly to the battery + and - terminals with new wire thus eliminating any possibility of old wiring harness resistance/poor connection, I see only two possibilities. 1. The new R/R you installed was faulty or 2. you have been running the bike with the headlight turned off. After initial install of the now fried R/R, did you do a DC voltage output check at 5k rpm? You must always do this check. Just because something is new, there is no guarantee it will work within specifications. If you did do the 5k rpm R/R voltage check, what was the voltage? It should not have exceeded 14,8 regardless of engine rpm and normally should be somewhere around 14 volts at that rpm.

Just a couple of comments about GS charging systems. The stator output is unregulated. Stator output is proportional to engine rpm and does not change relative to whatever lights, accessories, etc, you turn on. Output spec is 80 volts AC per stator leg at 5k rpm. At 2500 rpm, output will be 40 volts. At 7500 rpm, output will be 120 volts. Most GS models have aproximately a 330 watt stator. (there is some variance with later models)
Anyway with a nominal system/battery voltage of 12.5 volts you have about 26 amps of power available at 5k rpm. That is about 8.6 amps output per stator leg. Without the headlight turned on, two stator legs of the charging system will almost maintain battery voltage. Meaning, you can ride close to indefinitely on two legs working if not using the headlight. Any amperage not consumed is shunted to ground by the R/R. With three stator legs operating and the headlight on (consumes 5 amps), you will have about 3.6 amps on average that are always being shunted to ground. The R/R gets hot because of this. If the headlight is off and the three stator legs are active, then you will have about 8.6 amps that need to be shunted to ground. 8.6 amps being shunted will cook an R/R in very short order. The ideal is a system that is in near equilibrium. The closer you can get to using everything that is produced, the longer the system will last.

A final solution I found after installing a new battery and new wires with the R/R DC output wired directly to the battery terminals was to always run with the headlight on and ....................... I bought two R/R's, made a "Y" harness and installed dual R/R's on the bike. each stator phase was split to go through both R/R's. This doubled my rectifying capacity and doubled my cooling capacity. Or, to put it another way, each R/R ran at half of its capable load and at half the temperature. Never had to replace anything in the systems again.

Earl

[dwvoss]

I see only two possibilities. 1. The new R/R you installed was faulty or 2. you have been running the bike with the headlight turned off. After initial install of the now fried R/R, did you do a DC voltage output check at 5k rpm?

Earl

No headlight switch, and the lamp isn't burned out - so that eliminates possiblity #2.

After the initial install, the DC voltage at 5K was 13.6. While it's not 14 volts, it did not really seem out of line at the time since 13.6 volts is the output on auto electrical systems for charging the battery.

I'll recheck the positive lead from the R/R to the battery when the replacement R/R arrives.

Running dual R/R in parallel is a creative solution will have to keep that one in mind.

Really hate to have to put in a new battery after only 2 months.

Is there any reliable way to test to confirm that the battery is damaged beyond usability?

[earlfor]

13.6 would be within normal range, so the RR was working correctly at install. With a low battery, my dual RR system would charge at 14.2 and with a fully charged battery, the rate would decrease to 13.2 to maintain.

To check the battery for usability. my method is to remove it from the bike, connect a 2 amp auto cutoff battery charger to it and leave it charging until the charger shuts off. Remove charger and check voltage. If the battery is good, initial charge should be about 13 volts. Let the battery sit for 24 hours. If voltage has dropped below 12.8, I consider it dumpster material.

Earl

After the initial install, the DC voltage at 5K was 13.6. While it's not 14 volts, it did not really seem out of line at the time since 13.6 volts is the output on auto electrical systems for charging the battery.

I'll recheck the positive lead from the R/R to the battery when the replacement R/R arrives.

Running dual R/R in parallel is a creative solution will have to keep that one in mind.

Really hate to have to put in a new battery after only 2 months.

Is there any reliable way to test to confirm that the battery is damaged beyond usability?

[jbs80106]

take ur battery to Autozone..

they can test it there under load and tell you if the voltage drop is out of wack. No way that I know of to test this at home. While the battery may be charging to full, and holding its charge overnight, etc...something inside the battery could be wonky and when you go to start the bike your battery may drain immediately from 12.5v to some 11V or lower (in effect it will be 'dead' and will take a lot of charge time on the bike to juice back up).

Just my opinion....also suffering from charging system woes. 1 failed R/R from Electrosport, new warrantee replacement is on the bike but my Stator isn't putting out any voltage so now need to replace that (again!).

[duaneage]

Here is a shameless plug for the Honda RR conversion I offer, a better Regulator with larger heatsink and a sense wire to accurately charge the battery. The OEM and Aftermarket replacements are just that, replacements but not improvements.

I offer a kit for 40 dollars to replace the RR with a Honda RR. PM me if interested. Several dozen GSR members have made the switch already.

[chef1366]

It's not shameless. It's a great idea!!!:-D