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2003 VFR800 - no charge voltage


RossObey01

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Evening all,

 

I've just gone to start the VFR before work in the morning because it's been sitting for a week. New battery 3 months ago, never had a problem starting.

 

Hit the starter and nothing, just relays buzzing. Fuel pump primes.

 

Bump starts okay so went for a spin to charge the battery up but noticed the lights getting dimmer, not ideal on the motorway in the dark.

 

Get back home and check battery voltage, 10v with ignition and lights on. No change when running, or with revs.

 

Resistance between 3 stator wires good, no continuity to ground. However the bike died before I had the chance to check AC voltage.

 

Last week I had the forks off to replace steering head bearings, I'm aware they'e  close to the reg rec but cant imagine I'd have done any damage whilst changing those. Possibly related is the common headlight fault, remaining off after starting. Fiddling with the starter switch once running cures this, so can't seem them being related.

 

I'll whip the battery off and charge it at work tomorrow, then finish stator and reg rec tests.

 

Any input much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Ross

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Those are certainly the symptoms of a dying battery, either inherently a dud or it's not getting charged by the electrical system. Once you get some charge back into it and start the bike, check the voltage across the battery terminals; anything less than 13.5V and you have a charging issue e.g. regulator/rectifier is dead or the stator is kaputt.   

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1 hour ago, RossObey01 said:

Evening all,

 

I've just gone to start the VFR before work in the morning because it's been sitting for a week. New battery 3 months ago, never had a problem starting.

 

Hit the starter and nothing, just relays buzzing. Fuel pump primes.

 

Bump starts okay so went for a spin to charge the battery up but noticed the lights getting dimmer, not ideal on the motorway in the dark.

 

Get back home and check battery voltage, 10v with ignition and lights on. No change when running, or with revs.

 

Resistance between 3 stator wires good, no continuity to ground. However the bike died before I had the chance to check AC voltage.

 

Last week I had the forks off to replace steering head bearings, I'm aware they'e  close to the reg rec but cant imagine I'd have done any damage whilst changing those. Possibly related is the common headlight fault, remaining off after starting. Fiddling with the starter switch once running cures this, so can't seem them being related.

 

I'll whip the battery off and charge it at work tomorrow, then finish stator and reg rec tests.

 

Any input much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Ross

You're going about it in the right way -- priorty on charging check is -- Battery first.. Is the battery good? You need to get it on a charger and then load test. -- next check your stator/RR connector, is it ok or corroded? Then looks like you're already going to do the AC stator and R/R tests. Nail down all the numbers and let us know how they come out. That will help determine if the stator is borked or R/R. 
Just for grins.... 100s of guys have used this to figure it out.... 

 

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Cheers Mellow Dude, ive already got that bookmarked. Battery currently on a pulse charger, RR/Stator connector looked fine, no obvious corrosion but will clean it up with some contact cleaner later.

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Evening all,

 

I've just popped the new battery on and ran some more tests as follows.

 

Battery voltage 12.7

Engine running, no change.

 

Disconnect RR/stator connector, no cont. to ground on any of the pins.

 

Resistance across A/B: 0.4 ohms, A/C 0.4 ohms, B/C 0.5 ohms.

AC Voltage with engine running, approx 44v at idle, up to approx 90v at 5k. Although, after the idle dropped once warm, it was approx 35v.

 

I then wanted to check what was coming from the RR, however looking for the connector behind the fairing, I came across a disconnected connector (with 2 red, 2 green and 1 black?) just floating behind the fairing. I'd hoped that when doing the steering head bearings I'd disconnected it by accident. However, there is no other half of the connector, the RR has been replaced at some point with just 2 red and 2 black wires coming straight from the RR running under the tank.

 

I traced these back, leading straight to the battery with some ring terminals. I'd thought those wires were from an old accessory or heated grips, but turns out they're the direct charging feed.

 

One more try with the engine running and everything connected, batt. voltage still 12v. 

 

So my next move confirmed the RR is kaput, either because it already was, or because what I did killed it. I whipped the wires from RR off the battery and checked the voltage from those with the engine running. 14.5v... Connect the RR back up to the battery, start engine again, still 12v at the battery, however very slowly creeping up to around 12.9v with revs.

 

Finally whipped the RR off the battery again for a final test, still showing 14.5v with the engine running. This then crept up to around 15.3v with revs, then dropped off to 1v within about 30 secs. The RR then blew a puff of smoke and fizzed a bit.

 

So, have I killed the (possibly working) RR by running the engine with it disconnected, or have I found out it breaks down when hot and was no good anyway?

 

Apologies, I realise this has been a fairly wordy reply. Thanks for any input.

 

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I'm fairly sure that running the bike with the RR disconnected from the earth/battery load would overload the components fairly fast. AFAIK the SH series RR discharges excess energy through resistors as heat, and without any balancing load there would be a lot more of that.

 

In any case, you definitely need a new one, there not a factory specification for allowable quantities of smoke being discharged...your choice is now to replace like with like, or to move to a MOSFET-style RR which would be a better bet for long-term life as they don't generate anywhere near as much heat.

 

You might also consider fitting either a voltmeter or a battery monitor light, either of which would give you some forewarning of impending electrical doom. 

 

 

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I thought your AC volts on the stator were a little odd, and also you didnt  list all 3 legs.  It should be 20ish around idle and rise into 60ish into revs at 5K and more.  So you could have 2 good legs and 1 bad leg. --- Anyhoo, seems your R/R just went poof, and prolly you need both. .... 

 

www.roadstercycle.com

 

 

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Sorry, I did test all 3 legs but they had very similar values. The idle was a bit high when I got 40v but dropped off after the idle settled. Will fit the new reg and retest before assuming everything is okay.

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New regular should be with me today. The previous one was aftermarket and wasn't fitted using the OEM loom. The connector is there but unused. I plan to reinstall the replacement using the original loom, but I'd like to check first that that wasn't the reason it's no longer used. 

 

Are there any simple continuity tests I can run on the 5 pins before fitting? I'll chase the wiring diagrams down later on but thought I'd ask here first.

 

Thanks 

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New regulator fitted. Plugged straight into the OEM loom, forgot to bring my multi-meter home with me to run any further checks or test the exiting connectors though. Will ride into work tomorrow, will have a good idea by the time I get there if it's worked or not.

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