Jump to content

Tips & Tricks To Help Your Charging System


Guest zam70

Recommended Posts

Guest zam70

THANKS - for putting that up...helps clarify things...

I personally didin't do the ground jump to the main ground but, it sure can't hurt (never to much!)

Good point on the fuses as well.

SO, what were your end results?

EVERYONE ELSE- post up your before after results so we can verify this is a solution for a long running problem.

Edited by zam70
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest zam70

GREAT - I find that the stability is the best part of this.

I always read about the voltage varying so much from one extreme to another...it just didn't make sense. A few tenths, ok but over a volt? No good.

Thanks for your assistance with the diagrams.

it'll be intersting to see a large # of results.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Got my bike ripped apart rewiring everything I can think of and decided to add the RR>Battery rewire to the list. Did mini writeup. Most of the stuff should have been covered through the rest of this post, but heres a couple pics of what I did. Haven't got the bike back together to test it but I'll let you know what my results are when I finished, hopefully by Sunday.

rrpost1.jpg

rrpost2.jpg

rrpost3.jpg

rrpost4.jpg

rrpost5.jpg

rrpost6.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like your on your way to where I want to be. I'm doing this this weekend. I'm hoping to lower my voltage as it sits around 15.1 most of the time. I think that's high.

Might want to check your battery voltage feed to to the R/R resistance, which tells the regulator how much voltage the battery has, essentially the regulator thinks the batteries running at 11 vdc ( example ), so it steps up charging output to make up for the low voltage. ( I'm thinking you shouldn't have more than 0.6 ohms when connecting between the Red/White to Battery + ) I was talking to Jeremy556 about this yesturday and apparently several people have had problem with this, which I was unaware of, but it can cause charging to peak at 16+ vdc sometimes. I don't know a whole lot about what was causing the problem, all I know is Jeremy said when he ran new wires it fixed the problem allowing correct monitoring of battery voltage. Might be worth a farther search on this before getting into it for I just did this to pick up a little voltage and lessen resistance across length & connectors. I think total if you include fuses as connectors, the voltage runs through 4 connectors w/ a 0.2vdc voltage drop off each connector, which off the top is loosing 0.8vdc. Will post final results later.

Edited: forgot to add this: was getting 0.6ohms of resistance off the factory feet from r/r to battery, getting 0.15 ohms of resistance off the new wiring. Big improvement of resistance off the top.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
Edited: forgot to add this: was getting 0.6ohms of resistance off the factory feet from r/r to battery, getting 0.15 ohms of resistance off the new wiring. Big improvement of resistance off the top.

I still have to sort out how I will rewire this, but I am getting 35 ohms between my R/R and my battery. I think I'm in for a new riding experience soon.

35 ohms!?!?!? you either forgot a decimal point or you have a really bad contact somewhere in your system. At 35 ohms your bike would just stop running in 30 min... Still, if that was .35 than its still high, i like to see roughly .01 cold, and as high as .05 when the wires are hot and the bike has been running for 30 min at speed. when the wires are hot they incrrease their resistance, sometimes it goes up drastically, if the wires are big enough, they dont change much at all.

Always solder. Always.

Dont argue about it, just do it.

Could you post a link to a decent tutorial on how to do this properly? I'm interested in doing this for the connections on my 4th Gen, but the only thing I've ever soldered before was copper pipe.

Um, not much different really. Make sure your wires are clean with no trace of corrosion, strip them back 3/8 to 1/2", twist together with fingers or pliers firmly (making good contact already), give a light brush of flux or use rosin core solder, and just warm them with a soldering iron untill the solder melts in thoroughly. You can also use one of theose little cigarette lighhters that are 'windproof' and make a flame like a small jet. just keep the flame from touching the wire so they get the heat blast, but no uncombusted fuel. Then when it cools wrap multiple times with electrical tape.

thats for an end to end connection, for a button hole (doubling up factory wires WITHOUT cutting them) you strip off an inch of insulation very carefully, then poke a hole through dividing them into two at the section. stick new wire through, part in halves and wrap in opposite directions tying the whole t-joint together very tightly (no looseness or air gaps). solder as above and wrap as above.

Personally i like silver solder as it is a bit harder than normal electronics solder and has even better electrical/thermal properties. Its available most anywhere that sells electronics even radio shack.

Edited by captainchris13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

I just did a 90 mile loop after adding the (2) new positive leads with 30 A fuses and the additional negative lead , commoned the negatives and added an additional frame ground wire (8 ga.)

zam70....you have enabled me to now ride again without watching that freaking volt meter. Thank you and I will buy you a drink should our paths cross.

This is the Holy Grail for the VFR.

Oh yea 14.2 and steady.

(Also in the past when I excelerated (you know to blow the carbon out like in dads car) the clock and trip meter would reset. Not so today.

Did I say thank you? :rolleyes: +1.gif :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
35 ohms!?!?!? you either forgot a decimal point or you have a really bad contact somewhere in your system. At 35 ohms your bike would just stop running in 30 min... Still, if that was .35 than its still high, i like to see roughly .01 cold, and as high as .05 when the wires are hot and the bike has been running for 30 min at speed. when the wires are hot they incrrease their resistance, sometimes it goes up drastically, if the wires are big enough, they dont change much at all.

Well, actually it was a piece-of-crap voltmeter issue. I connected the leads together and registered 30 ohms. I just finished and started the bike, but I did not ride it. It sits at 15.0 at just above idle (~1300 rpm), but if I rev it, it does not fluctuate much. The real test will be the riding test. I hit 16V between Rolla and KC yesterday, and that scared me.

I also had some heat damage to the 30 amp fuse holder. It does not seem fatal at this point, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Summary::::::::::::

It sits at 15.0 at just above idle (~1300 rpm), but if I rev it, it does not fluctuate much. The real test will be the riding test. I hit 16V between Rolla and KC yesterday, and that scared me.

So relating to what you posted about running high voltage, I finally got my bike back together after doing the wiring mods, then hooked up multimeter, started her up, woooooooo 16.0vdc. Not cool. Well that wasn't right thats for sure. So, I got a different Multimeter because I have blown several Amp fuses in that meter and was thinking maybe somehow I damaged the meter, since I pretty much just use that meter for amperage testing. So, new meter, boom..... 16.0vdc. Well, I wasn't happy. So, I remember Jeremy mentioning to me that he had this problem and it was an issue with the R/R's Monitor Feed ( Black Wire > Ignition ). So pull that fairing off again, backprob the 'black wire from R/R with one multimeter, while leaving the other multimeter hooked directly up to the battery, ( Battery showing: 16.0vdc, Black wire showing: 12.3vdc ). Cha..ching! So, pulled the black wire out of the stator connector harness, hooked it separately ( out of the connector ) up to the battery direct to she if this helps the problem, plugging the harness back up which connects all the wires but the ' black > white / black '. So hooked this wire up, boom, voltage charge dropped instantly from 16.0vdc to 14.7vdc. So hook up a perminant wire from stator voltage monitor wire ' black wire ' to battery, still solid 14.7vdc. Slapped fairing back on, good as gold.

Edit:

if you run a new wire from black monitor wire to the battery, you have to, have to, have to disconnect the black wire to white/black wire from eachother in the harness. If you don't when you turn the key off, the bike will keep running because it wills end a reverse 12v feed to the ignition switch, tricking it to thinking the key is still on.

Edit End:

Come to find out, this high voltage problem has been going on for a while I suppose ( haven't checked voltage in about a month, was good then though ), but didn't test voltage before I started this project, so... lesson learned, but problem solved. So, back to what this thread is about. I ran the two new 12guage stator wires ( red/white ) from regulator to battery to lower resistance while keeping an additional 30amp fuse in each wire. So, pulled the fuses out of the new wires, tested voltage, 14.5 vdc, put fuses back in and tested voltage, 14.7vdc. Not a huge improvement in my case, but dropped resistance on the feeds for sure. Have been pretty constant on doing a lot of preventative stuff without any problems, excluding the new R/R monitor wire I stated above, which has been my first electric issue thus far. Some people get better results than others, but its a peace of mind and worth the time to prevent issues before they occur for me, instead of waiting for things to blow then figure out what happened. :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if you run a new wire from black monitor wire to the battery, you have to, have to, have to disconnect the black wire to white/black wire from eachother in the harness. If you don't when you turn the key off, the bike will keep running because it wills end a reverse 12v feed to the ignition switch, tricking it to thinking the key is still on.

So, does this wire need to be switched? My black lead into the R/R is not hot when the bike is turned off. I don't have me service manual on me, so I can't double check what wire is what, and verify that this is the voltage regulator monitor wire.

You can run it constant w/ no problems, but you have to disconnect it from the 'White/Black' wire on the female side of the R/R Connector and cut it off or tape that wire off or it will send a 12 volt feed backwards to the ignition, causing the bike to keep running even when you turn the key off. You don't have power to that black wire when the key is off because its reading voltage from the ignition, but its just monitoring the voltage, not actually putting it to use. Running it constant instead or switching it the way it is factory, makes no difference, all the R/R cares about is how much power is at the battery, when the bike is off, voltage is still feeding to the monitor wire, but its just sitting there, no current draw from it at all. Next week I'm going to look at trying to track down exactly where and what is causing the resistance problem in that 'white/black' wire that seems to be a known issue. Not sure if its a short somewhere in the wire or a connector problem along the way. Its a tiny wire, so short could easily be a problem, but it appears to be a progressive problem, slowly getting worse and worse, which makes me think its heat related. Will keep you informed. If that doesn't make sense let me know, I'll draw up a diagram.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

I just did mine. I followed most of the how to except for the "button" hook. I did the button hook(open the wire, pull the new 12 gauge in, and curl it around). Then I added a dab of solder: Here what I did not to burn the isolation.

gallery_4229_2149_694006.jpg

I used a small torch (they have lighters that do the same kind of job) and heat only the coper part. Worked like a charm. Make sure the foil doesn't touch the isolation.

End result: 14.3 without the fuse. 14.4 with the fuse on. I will redo the test once everything is connected again(no lights were connected when I did it).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To clarify for me, you left the OEM arrangement for the R/R to the stock harness and just added wires to it? You didn't cut the R/R/harness connector out and direct-wire the R/R charge wires into the main battery lead?

I took a different tack and may need to change it. I bypassed the stock charge wire and cut it out. I direct-wired the R/R charge wires together, then tied them to a single 12 ga wire that I ran to the postive battery post as an add-on. I figured the 12 ga wire would be sufficient, given the skinny R/R charge output wires, and didn't want more wire than I needed.

Then I bypassed the stock harness and direct-wired the R/R ground wire to the brake valve ground, where the main battery ground attaches, again using 12 ga wire.

I picked up a little (1/4 volt) with this direct wire arrangement, but, after hitting 14.6 or so at 1,500-2,500 rpm, then decreasing as rpm increases, still ends up at 13.94 v warm @5 k rpm, clean connections, brand new battery, brand new upgraded R/R and brand new Honda stator.

Hence my interest in your technique. Thanks again.

_________________________________________________

Correction to above - I had run a single 10 ga commoned GROUND from the R/R ground wires to the brake valve, and had run to the battery positive post a SINGLE 10 ga (not 12) wire commoned between the two R/R charge wires. That arrangement got me 13.94 v at 5k when warm (13.89 v when cold). This is WITHOUT the stock charge line.

To implement the suggestions in this thread, I:

1. Left the added ground line to the brake valve.

2. Undid the commoned 10 ga wire to the postive terminal.

3. Ran TWO 12 ga wires, one from each R/R charging wire, to the same buttonhook hole in in the positive battery cable (soldered the connections w/butane torch).

Result: 14.10 v at 3,500, 14.04-07 v at 5k. (Stock spec lower end is 14.0 v).

Then:

1. Added EXTRA 10 ga ground from negative battery post to frame ground. Result: No change.

2. Added back in the STOCK charge line (16 ga?) to the positive battery post. Result: No change.

I had previously cleaned both grounds (frame/brake valve), and the connectors for both battery terminals. The two wires off the R/R charging wires aren't affected by any uncleaned connections.

Conclusion: It looks like I've added enough wire to allow the (upgraded Honda, w/1000 miles on it) R/R to deliver its max charge to the battery, and I've added enough grounds. It looks like the extra ground, and the stock charging wire, are unnecessary in that their presence doesn't allow any more juice to hit the battery. It looks like the max charge this particular R/R is putting out at 5k is 14.07 v., thought it easily hits 14.30 v in the lower rpm regions (declines as rpm rises until it stabilizes at the 14.04-07 v.).

The stock setup with new battery, new stator, and new R/R never made more than 13.60 v at 5k. Doing these changes (or substantially similar changes) in this thread brought the charging output into the specified range, albeit at the low end, at 14.04-07).

Edited by Misspent Youth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I added fuse holders to the direct-charge wires that go to the positive cable. What is a "safe" fuse size for the output going through each wire?

I just put 30amp fuses in them since thats what the factory harness has in it. The biggest change in voltage from what I've seen on my bike and others is when replacing that 'black' voltage monitor wire from the R/R. Theres a major major progressive resistance problem in that wire somewhere. Someday I want to take the front end off and track that wire down to see exactly whats the problem in the wire from the ignition to the R/R. Mine has a major issue with about 9.3 ohms of resistance from the monitor wire to ignition, which was upping voltage output to 16V +. Since replacing that wire, I can remove the fuses from positive side running to the regulator to the battery to test it and it only causes a 0.6v voltage drop. So basically by rerunning that black wire to my battery allowing correct voltage monitoring, solve a lot of overcharging issues in that alone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
I added fuse holders to the direct-charge wires that go to the positive cable. What is a "safe" fuse size for the output going through each wire?

I just put 30amp fuses in them since thats what the factory harness has in it.

Depending on how I am reading this, this could be bad. You should only have 1 30a fuse, or if you have multiple fuse holders, you should have fuses that add up to 30a or close. If you have 2 fuse holders, and 2 30a fuses, on the down stream side of the fuses you have 60a of potential. A dead short with 60a is enough to do alot of damage. If you have 2 fuse locations, I'd use 2 20a fuses as the smaller fuses will blow quicker than the larger one, and in a dead short as the amperage spikes, one of the fuses will let go then immediately the other because all the amperage is concentrated to one instead of both. Kinda confusing, but the end goal is to minimize the potential with out shorting yourself power on the bike side of the battery. Why have 60a of potential when you only need 5a.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
I added fuse holders to the direct-charge wires that go to the positive cable. What is a "safe" fuse size for the output going through each wire?

I just put 30amp fuses in them since thats what the factory harness has in it. The biggest change in voltage from what I've seen on my bike and others is when replacing that 'black' voltage monitor wire from the R/R. Theres a major major progressive resistance problem in that wire somewhere. Someday I want to take the front end off and track that wire down to see exactly whats the problem in the wire from the ignition to the R/R. Mine has a major issue with about 9.3 ohms of resistance from the monitor wire to ignition, which was upping voltage output to 16V +. Since replacing that wire, I can remove the fuses from positive side running to the regulator to the battery to test it and it only causes a 0.6v voltage drop. So basically by rerunning that black wire to my battery allowing correct voltage monitoring, solve a lot of overcharging issues in that alone.

This is interesting...

Honda Went and added that black wire to the 6th gen fron the 5th which used the pos output leads as the sensing circuit since that cisruit could become hot and give a false reading. Problem solved right?

Wrong.

Then they went and made that sensing wire have a lousy connection to the battery since they moved it to the front of the bike and ran through the harness. Why?

I upgraded my 5th gen bike with a 6th gen R&R and i put that black wire to the fuel pump lead with a wraparound and solder joint inches away from the battery. Its a good solid attachment ppoint without adding another ring terminal to my battery (which has too many and is a pain to take the screws on and off now).

14.3 volts all over the place. rev it, 14.3. low rpms 14.3 everything turned on, 14.3.

I would bet just the simple act of taking that black wire straight back to the battery and not run it throught the harness, would be the most uselful electrical upgrade you could do. everything else helps, but it is more like a safety of making everything overkill.

Also, i notice no battery drain with it set up that way. i also went with a AGM battery when i did mine as they tend to like a hair more volts that a lead acid and should live longer anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Guys, is this still a problem with the 6th gens? Is it something that I should still "bother" doing? My bike is pretty much nekked at the moment, and I could just get it over with now if that's the case. From the sounds of it, it does seem like something that I should do. :unsure:

Also, does anyone plan on doing a "Boost your electrical system for dummies"? I can strip, crimp, run and heat shrink wires... and recently learned how to solder. I also know where the R/R, battery, and main 30amp fuse are located. Just a little unsure on where to find the rest. There's a lot of info in this thread; just trying to piece it all together since it's something I'm not completely sure on it's a bit of a challenge.

I could just beg, whine and possibly bribe hubby to do it for me, but I really want to learn this. I'm not the kind of girl that can take to sitting by and watching somebody do it for me. C'mon guys, how about one nice little write up, complete with pics and a VFRD's not liable disclaimer? I love the tutorial's that HS does! :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The biggest change in voltage from what I've seen on my bike and others is when replacing that 'black' voltage monitor wire from the R/R.

Jason, can you clarify this for me. That black wire does not need to be switched? Just run a replacement straight to the battery? I'm really dense when it comes to electrical thingamajigs.

The black wire does not have to be switched, but you do have to remove it from the harness and break the connection from the factory harness. If you don't pull the somehow break the connection from the factory harness ( either cut the wire or pull it out of the white r/r connector ) it will send 12v backwards into your ignition allowing the bike to stay running even if you turn the key off.

Guys, is this still a problem with the 6th gens? Is it something that I should still "bother" doing? My bike is pretty much nekked at the moment, and I could just get it over with now if that's the case. From the sounds of it, it does seem like something that I should do. :unsure:

'02-'05 use the same harnesses, which means these problems couple be a potential problem for your '05. I know the wiring harness changed for '06-'07, but I'm not sure and haven't heard of what changes were made to know if they are still a potential problem or not for newer models. So far it seems no one has had an issue on the '06-07's to date, but only time will tell for they are the newest & least milaged VFR's out there so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

I have a 3rd Gen with only 50k km travelled and whilst reading this post right through last week and smugly thinking all this garbage doesn't happen on older well settled bikes (I have a working life of electrical/electronic experience, hence my interest in this droll subject) BINGO on my way home from a funeral I runs out of electric power, 80 km from home just 2 days later. Would you believe 2 km before reaching the 50k km milestone!

No need to describe what happens next, the pushing the clutch starting attempts, the "how do I get out of this mess" thoughts, the dredge through the mobile phone numbers (for once I had it with me!) in the end I got home with the help of a friend who lives nearby having a power pack which is small enough to jam between my chest and the tank and left the seat with him. It had enough charge to get me home.

After checking that the local stator repairer is still in business and anticipating the worst, then preparing to remove stator I checked the stator lead socket/plug, damn another fairing to get off, and there it was similar to all the pics on VFRD of toasted plugs and sockets. Stator checks out at 0.3 ohm phase to phase. WHEW! Solder job on wires and all is well, original R/R I think, but a PC fan attached. Battery survives experience.

My son owned this bike before me for 7 years and only did short trips of 200km or so, whereas I have done a couple of 500km days in hot weather before Xmas and believe these have worked away at the poor contact in the plug/socket joint. It was only a matter of time.

MORAL of the story is no matter how old your bike is keep an eye on, or get rid of, the plug and sockets on the heavy current lines. Check them every time you do some maintenance, sooner or later they will get you. I have over the years managed to get better connections in the sockets (bikes, cars, washing machines, whatever!) by squeezing the curled over tab of the lug inside the plastic shell down a bit with long nosed pliers, not too far or you will never get the plug into it again. But only if everything is clean and bright metallic looking, once it discolours it is too late. This makes the plug and socket a lot firmer to reseat or pull apart but cuts down possibility of a high resistance joint developing.

Plenty of good advice I am reading for the later models too, I can't disagree with any the principles put forward in this post for getting in front of the inevitable troubles which seem to haunt Hondas. I can remember some from my maggot (CX500) days.

gallery_7554_2878_75993.jpg

3rd gen stator lead plug

UGLY SIGHT but now behind me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Member Contributer

Here's the quick summary on my '99: did only step #3 and charging voltage at the battery went from shaky 13.1V (2500rpm) to solid 14.1V. I commoned the red-white wires coming out of the new style Honda rr using zam's recommended button hook method and also soldered it, then ran direct to the battery positive with a 30a fuse in the line.

The background is my batteries have started dying sooner and sooner over the last few years. I was always able to charge them back up and they'd run for awhile but the top off charge would need to be more and more frequent. This was regardless of new/old battery. My current battery is 8 weeks old and was just about dead Sunday morning, for the second time. The Electrex/ElectroSport flow chart showed everything within specs other than the voltage at the battery, which would not go over 13.1V and was about 12.8V at idle.

New values are 14.1V at 2500rpm, 13.8V at 5K rpm, a full 1V higher at all rpm's. I've never seen 14V at the battery before, ever. Running around yesterday with a lot of short trips, frequent starts and the battery seemed solid, no weakness. Battery is sitting at 12.8V volts now with the bike shut off. I'm cautiously optimistic this problem may be fixed! :thumbsup: (Although I'm going to hunt down a Yamaha rr just in case...)

The rr connectors were getting very hot when I was letting it idle Sunday, now the power/ground plug shows no sign of heat build at all. The stator plug is still getting very hot but it seems to be isolated to the connector itself, the wires a couple inches away on either side were not particularly hot. It would seem the connector has some major resistance? I'm thinking it needs to be rewired and the stator wires upgraded? I've cleaned the connectors and they seem about as good as they're going to get.

edit: I think swas answered my queston in the previous post. Time for new stator plug...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
New values are 14.1V at 2500rpm, 13.8V at 5K rpm, a full 1V higher at all rpm's. I've never seen 14V at the battery before, ever. Running around yesterday with a lot of short trips, frequent starts and the battery seemed solid, no weakness. Battery is sitting at 12.8V volts now with the bike shut off. I'm cautiously optimistic this problem may be fixed! :thumbsup: (Although I'm going to hunt down a Yamaha rr just in case...)

Update: one week later and values are still the same. Battery still is at 12.8V while the bike is off. I haven't had to charge it and no problems the past week starting it up. Was really getting sick of "selfislhy wasting bandwidth" starting!

:thumbsup: to this wiring mod, thanks zam! :beer:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

So, after catching a taxi home last night after my bike suddenly died [twice] this thread reads like the symptoms I experienced. Thankfully, it failed about a block from a highly regarded local bike modding shop, so I plan within the next couple of hours to printout key diagrams and quotes from this thread, then go back to the scene of the failure and push my little darling down the street to the repair shop for an assist.

Before I do that, can someone tell me where the headlight fuse is located? I have a non-ABS, if that matters.

Here's a fast recap of the events for you all. It's 7PM Sunday evening, I've just sprinted away from a light along the Honolulu waterfront fast approaching a great left hand sweeper, doing about 45mph when I notice a jaywalker in the center of three lanes. Fearing we're on a collision course, I give him a two beep heads up of my horn.

And no sooner have I done that then the engine flat out dies. No lurches, no sputters, just engine kills switch style OFF. So there we are, him paused mid lane whilst I'm now gliding past on inertia. [karmic smackdown? you be the judge :unsure: ] Next, I roll it nto a parking lot thinking WTF is this about? At that moment, I'm thinking either it's something in the fuel line, or perhaps the kickstand relay has gone bad. Fuel guage shows two bars and I assume that's the problem.

I've got gauges, every thing appears normal, the engine is turning over, but it seems as though there is little fuel getting to the engine [or is it another reason?] because it's barely firing. And then whoomp! on the *#th try it fires up and sounds fine. Still thinking the gas is bad, I head off to the nearest Shell station [less than 2 miles], fill it up, get back under way, get less than a 1/4 mile down the road and she dies again.

Only this time I realize the headlights are out- both high and low. Dash lights are fine. I check the turn signals and while all are working the fronts are flashing far dimmer than the rear on either side. But, as before, the engine was firing.

If anyone has some advice I'd love to take some down to the shop with me and point out to them where that fuse is that needs replacing and where the best points for the extra ground wire [or do you suggest several] would go.

Edited by Molten
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who am I to question Mother Honda but I am going too.

Trying to fix some electrical problems with my handy service manual for 2003 to 2004 vfr's.

I am looking at the wiring diagram from the 02 to 03 abs and taking voltage reading and things are not right. Here is the thing. the white/ black wire that comes from the R/R has a different voltage on it then the red/white wires even though the wiring diagram show the they are at the same point or potential as far as voltage goes. When the key is turned off there is no voltage on the white/black but there is still full voltage on the red/white. These 3 wires can not be tied together as show in the diagram.

After more readings I have come to the ideal that the wiring diagram IS wrong. :o When I look at the diagram for after 03 models it shows the white/ black wire from the R/R the right way.

Now if someone can prove me wrong on this I would be happy to listen. I am looking forward to my talk with Honda Canada.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest snowparang

Hi guys,

I've read all the post on this thread but couldn't find what I need regarding the charging problem on my bike.

Firstly, I'm riding a 5th gen Y2K VFR. A couple of days the batt went dead and a quick voltage check at the batt terminal with the bike running only registered 12.4V. And revving the engine does not bring about any increase, which means 12.4V is the actual voltage of the battery ALONE, without any charging system.

So I bought a new battery and a new R/R and swap both parts. Problem is, there is still no charging!

It's possible the new R/R that I bought is faulty, hence will like to ask:

a. How to check the R/R? If I connect the 3P natural connectors with the yellow wires to the bike and start the bike, should I get 13V and higher between the red/white and green cable? Or does the R/R function only when a +12V is applied onto the white/black wire? Picture attached to show what I'm talking about.

Measured the voltage produced at the red/white and green cable, about 7V on my old (asume dead) R/R and only 4V on my new R/R! Am I doing something wrong here?

gallery_11419_2992_36241.jpg

b. Assuming it's my stator that's roasted, how do I confirm that? I've done the continuity checks and earth leakage checks as suggested by the manual and all turn out pretty fine. With the bike running, the AC voltage as measured from the yellow cables on the wire harness side reads between 2.8-3.2 vac.

c. Is there any way to damage a R/R by simple connecting it?

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
b. Assuming it's my stator that's roasted, how do I confirm that? I've done the continuity checks and earth leakage checks as suggested by the manual and all turn out pretty fine. With the bike running, the AC voltage as measured from the yellow cables on the wire harness side reads between 2.8-3.2 vac.

c. Is there any way to damage a R/R by simple connecting it?

First off, fill in this chart. In brackets are typical good results.

Battery voltage with bike off = [12.5v]

Voltage with bike at idle = [13.2v]

Voltage with bike at 5k RPM = [14.0]

AC voltage from stator at idle (all 3 legs checked across themselves) = [20 vac]

AC voltage from stator at 5k RPM (all 3 legs checked across themselves) = [60 vac]

Those 5 checks really help diagnosis.

B. Sounds like your stator is tost, but the AC voltage checks will confirm that.

C. No, so long as you didn't run it for a really long time (long heat cycle).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.