Replaced R/R Stator is bad also

[Kirk]

Well, I will affirm the multiple inportance of grounding to the negative terminal on the battery. It helped the shorts there on the r/r panel.
I followed Cliffbass's instruction (Thanks Cliff) for the R/R replacement with the honda one I happened to have on a old Eliete 250 scooter, six wire unit.
I finally went to the stator wires and tested the AC volts, they were: 60V 51v 44V at 5000 RPM. Unpluged from the R/R of course
Stator time?:?
Oh goodie! At least I will be able to see at night time rides rather than by candlelight.

Thanks for the input, it is appreciated much!
PS . Schematic in the factory manual was different for my bike and looked closer to the GS1000E schematic.

Kirk Persing

1979 GS1000L

[BassCliff]

Nice work Mr. Kirk. A stator is a bit less convenient to replace than a r/r unit. But it'll be worth it.

I hate riding my motorcycle by candlelight. It's hard to keep the candles lit. :-D


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Schweisshund]

cliff while we are talking electrical stuff ....

I keep blowing fuses for ignition and turn signals

I have non-stock LED turn signals.

[BassCliff]

Cooking with electrons

cliff while we are talking electrical stuff ....

I keep blowing fuses for ignition and turn signals

I have non-stock LED turn signals.

Hey Mr. Schweisshund,

My first thought is too much resistance through the ignition switch itself. Does the ignition switch get hot?

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[MikeG]

By happy chance I was sitting at my desk today trying to figure out how to replace my rr and stator with limited fnuds when I realized an had an entire Honda Elite 150 parts bike under the stairs. Ten minutes later I have in my hand a perfectly good 6 wire rr! One down, one to go.

I'm going to replace the whole system at once and do it right. I have the nice plastic connectors from the Honda wiring harness that I am going to solder and heatshrink in place.

[Schweisshund]

Hey Mr. Schweisshund,

My first thought is too much resistance through the ignition switch itself. Does the ignition switch get hot?

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

I am not sure how to tell if it gets hot

I have noticed that sometimes the starter works, sometimes I have to roll start and later it will start right up after running a while.

[SPARKSS]

Well, I will affirm the multiple inportance of grounding to the negative terminal on the battery. It helped the shorts there on the r/r panel.
I followed Cliffbass's instruction (Thanks Cliff) for the R/R replacement with the honda one I happened to have on a old Eliete 250 scooter, six wire unit.
I finally went to the stator wires and tested the AC volts, they were: 60V 51v 44V at 5000 RPM. Unpluged from the R/R of course
Stator time?:?
Oh goodie! At least I will be able to see at night time rides rather than by candlelight.

Thanks for the input, it is appreciated much!
PS . Schematic in the factory manual was different for my bike and looked closer to the GS1000E schematic.

Kirk Persing

1979 GS1000L

Hello Kirk. There's some incomplete and misinformation appearing in your post and the replies to it, and, in all fairness, in many of the electrical posts. First of all - although you may have had a grounding problem, this is less common than is repeated on this site. I suspect that many people here have added wiring without the benefit of testing to confirm any problems. Second.....adding a ground will not cure a short anywhere. This sort of statement is typical of the sort of electrical banter I see here and elsewhere and also indicates a lack of understanding and....testing. Third....although your open circuit stator voltages indicate an unbalanced condition, this is just a start to troubleshooting (many times I've seen unbalanced voltages on a simple stator like this and yet the power output is sufficient to accomplish the work). What sort of problem are you trying to solve? While measuring the stator, open circuited, did you also check to see if there was any AC voltage measured between each connection and chassis? This is just as important and will decide whether the stator is a useful source to the full wave bridge rectifier which follows. Note the terminology and research to see how this works and you'll understand how a grounded winding will effectively shut down much of what's available. Your post indicates that "another R/R" tests bad. How did you test and determine that the first one was bad (was this a replacement unit or the original set of a seperate rectifier bridge and a regulator?).

You asked about possible causes for fuses blowing. This will not be the result of extra resistance in the ignition switch (with the system voltage under control....). Extra resistance will lower the current in the circuit though the power dissipation AT something like a failing switch may go up (while power at the desired load goes down!) .....power = heat.....even a small amount of power, if dissipated within a small physical structure (small contacts) can get VERY hot....it's all about power dissipated per unit area. A fuse can fail for this reason if that resistance happens right at the fuse holder....even though current may be reduced.

Faced with a fuse blowing, and if the fuse itself isn't heating due to a local problem, you need to troubleshoot that particular circuit to find the culprit. Being able to reproduce the problem makes troubleshooting easier and may show up a short to ground for example, under certain conditions (wet.....vibration.....handlebars turned....in gear....in neutral etc etc). If multiple loads are fed by a failing fuse, disconnecting each load to note which one causes the problem as an aid to narrowing down the problem (divide 'n conquer!).

This is not meant to be other than a think-about-the-problem-before-throwing-repairs-at-it bit of friendly advice

Best of success with your troubleshooting sir.

[Kirk]

Charging system

Hello,
I drain my battery with the lights on, its slower with the light off. I tested the battery at 2500 rpm it was 13.12 volts 5000rpm it is 13.89 volts with the light switch off.
I had the original rectifier with regulator. and installed the honda one to try to remedy the problem. I see folks saying the stock r/r's are poor.
I am confused with the diode test on the r/r it seems to be opposite of what the manual says as well as the stator papers. I connect the red to the positive and the negative to the 3 inputs on the r/r and there is no reading.
Now if I switch the negative probe to the positive out and test all three inputs it test ok?
I dont want to throw money at it and go nowhere, by all means I would love to save a buck, I will test the stator wires to the ground and let you know what that is, and also do the ohm test.
I will do more tests, I get frustrated after hours replacing plugs(with spade type) and cleaning contact points in the harness.
Is it just me? or is this kind of work frustrating.

Thanks, Kirk

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. kirk,

If you are testing the diodes in the r/r, they are meant to pass current in only one direction. Hence you'll see an infinite ohm reading in one direction (like there's no connection), switch the leads and you'll get a moderate ohm reading in the other direction (passing current through a load). Are you measuring resistance or does your meter have a diode check setting?

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Kirk]

Diode check

Yes,
I get a reading one way only on all three with the diode check on my multimeter. It also did the same when I put the positive probe on the negative and the negative probe to the three stator wires in to the r/r I got readings there and none when I reversed it.
I just checked all three legs coming from the stator to the negative on the battery at 5000 rpm, it dosen't look good.
20 vac 45 vac 27 vac .
I don't see how this can keep up with the lights on unless I keep the rpms up. As I checked the charge to the battery at 5k it slowly would climb up to around 14 volts with the lights off. Turn the light on and it drains to 11.85 v.
I believe CA law requires all MC's to have lights on at all times but I have a switch to shut em down. Heh Heh.

Kirk

[doctorgonzo]

I'm in the bottom third of the class in electrical savvy, but man that seems like a heavy voltage drop for the headlight. To take you from charging decent to not charging at all.