Stator/RR passed test. But it still not charging!

[Guest russell62]

Symptom 1: I've noticed lately that my battery always seems to be low when I plug into the tender at night.

Symptom 2: The other morning I was on my way to work and lost all lighting (dash too). It ended up being the 10A fuse. Replaced and it works again.

Symptom 3: The wires connecting the stator to the RR (three yellow wires) are overheating. That 3pin connector melted a long time ago and I simply cut it out and bridged it with 10 gage wire and butt connectors. The connectors on the RR end of the bridge are the ones overheating. All three.

My charging system isn't working. Battery tests good but I only get 12V at 5k rpm. I tested the stator and it's good to go per the manual. I also tested it by reving to 5k and got good AC out of each wire.

RR tests fine per the manual with the exception of the part which instructs you to test the "charging coil line" which mine doesn't seem to have. Two yellow wires on the 6 pin? My 6 pin only has 5 connectors consisting of two red/white, two green and one skinny black wire.

Even though the stator and RR passed their tests, I know something is wrong. Any ideas or should I just replace the RR and see if that solves the problem?

[Serenity_VFR]

Symptom 1: I've noticed lately that my battery always seems to be low when I plug into the tender at night.

Symptom 2: The other morning I was on my way to work and lost all lighting (dash too). It ended up being the 10A fuse. Replaced and it works again.

Symptom 3: The wires connecting the stator to the RR (three yellow wires) are overheating. That 3pin connector melted a long time ago and I simply cut it out and bridged it with 10 gage wire and butt connectors. The connectors on the RR end of the bridge are the ones overheating. All three.

My charging system isn't working. Battery tests good but I only get 12V at 5k rpm. I tested the stator and it's good to go per the manual. I also tested it by reving to 5k and got good AC out of each wire.

RR tests fine per the manual with the exception of the part which instructs you to test the "charging coil line" which mine doesn't seem to have. Two yellow wires on the 6 pin? My 6 pin only has 5 connectors consisting of two red/white, two green and one skinny black wire.

Even though the stator and RR passed their tests, I know something is wrong. Any ideas or should I just replace the RR and see if that solves the problem?

Check the ground -clean, sand, slather with anti-oxidant grease. Check every connector on the primary and secondary side of the R/R system and all the way to the battery. Make sure your battery is holding a charge too. Harbor Freight had their 100A battery tester on sale for $9.99 the other day. It's a really nice tool to have -but if you don't have it just charge the battery fully and check and see if it holds that charge overnight or if it starts to fall.

If the battery isn't good then it's impossible to troubleshoot the R/R system.

[Guest]

It's a new battery but I'll leave it unplugged tonight and check the charge in the morning to be safe.

[turtlecreek]

can't see how the RR tested good, when you only get 12V out at 5k. if the AC tests and ohm checks were fine, the RR's job is to convert that to 13-15VDC depending on output....this isn't happening per your statement....bad RR. I guess it COULD be that your wires are losing all the voltage due to bad connections, but that would mean a resistance issue which would mean HEAT and burnt wires and connectors. check the voltage right at the RR and see if it is reading different than across the battery terminals, but otherwise, i would think bad RR

[Guest]

Symptom 3: The wires connecting the stator to the RR (three yellow wires) are overheating. That 3pin connector melted a long time ago and I simply cut it out and bridged it with 10 gage wire and butt connectors. The connectors on the RR end of the bridge are the ones overheating. All three.

I would start with this. The connections there need to be very good. Regular butt (or bullet) type connectors would not be my first choice. Did you solder or crimp them on?

[Guest]

can't see how the RR tested good, when you only get 12V out at 5k. if the AC tests and ohm checks were fine, the RR's job is to convert that to 13-15VDC depending on output....this isn't happening per your statement....bad RR. I guess it COULD be that your wires are losing all the voltage due to bad connections, but that would mean a resistance issue which would mean HEAT and burnt wires and connectors. check the voltage right at the RR and see if it is reading different than across the battery terminals, but otherwise, i would think bad RR

I can't believe the RR tests good either if the Stator tests good yet I'm not getting 13-15V back to the battery at 5K. I found it strange that the manual has you check the battery side of the harness for a RR inspection. Is that correct?

You suggest that I check the voltage right at the RR. How would I accomplish that?

[Guest]

Battery is good.

I just ordered a RR from ebay. I'll put it on this weekend and see if things improve.

[kaldek]

Battery is good.

I just ordered a RR from ebay. I'll put it on this weekend and see if things improve.

Hey mate, I have also been having charging issues lately. Based on my experiences, your R/R is definitely the problem here. If your stator is pumping out the required ~64 volts AC at 5,000rpm, then it is the job of the R/R to take that AC feed and - using diodes - rectify (chop)chop the AC waveform into direct current. In addition, it also has to ensure that the voltage is regulated.

If your regulator passes the diode tests, then the voltage regulator inside it has likely failed. Often they fail and overcharge, but in your case it has failed and is not charging at all. It can happen both ways apparently.

FYI, in my case my stator is what was faulty, but I think I might have subsequently blown my R/R by starting the bike with the stator connected to it but not the rest of the electrical system. I am unsure if this is a possible outcome, but regardless I strongly recommend that you do not start the engine unless both the Stator wires and harness connector are hooked up to your new regulator.

[Guest]

russell62,

I'll be interested to see what you find out. Last year the connector between the stator and the R/R melted in my 5th gen. After a few bad experiences with after-market parts, I eventually replaced both the stator and the R/R with OEM parts. All appeared to be OK, but because of all of the trouble with the charging system, I have been checking it often---I do not trust it. I recently noticed that the wires that run from the stator to the R/R get too hot to touch. I'm not talking about the wires between the stator and the connector (those were a problem before; now they are OK), the heating issue is with the wires between the connector and the R/R. I have talked to a dozen different mechanics, and nobody seems to be able to suggest something that I haven't already checked out and fixed.

Good luck, and keep us posted,

Jon

[Earthshake]

I had similar problems and my electrical system would NEVER give me more than 13V under any circumstances, even when the R/R was replaced. Stator and R/R passed the tests in the service manual. A few weeeks ago my panel mounted voltage meter showed I was discharging and I was a long way from anywhere. I pulled fuses to cut off all lighting and limped toward home. Just for reference, I lost the gauges when the voltmeter dropped below 8V and the bike shut down at about 7.7V. I did not quite make it home. I suspect that my stator has been unhealthy for a long time, although it was not bad enough to show a fault during testing. I was tired of screwing around with it so I bought a new stator, R/R and VFRness from member Tightwad. I am happy to say that on my initial ride Sunday, the bike showed 14.5 to 14.8V cruising. It's the first time my electrical system has been healthy in years. :cheerleader:

[kaldek]

I had similar problems and my electrical system would NEVER give me more than 13V under any circumstances, even when the R/R was replaced. Stator and R/R passed the tests in the service manual. A few weeeks ago my panel mounted voltage meter showed I was discharging and I was a long way from anywhere. I pulled fuses to cut off all lighting and limped toward home. Just for reference, I lost the gauges when the voltmeter dropped below 8V and the bike shut down at about 7.7V. I did not quite make it home. I suspect that my stator has been unhealthy for a long time, although it was not bad enough to show a fault during testing. I was tired of screwing around with it so I bought a new stator, R/R and VFRness from member Tightwad. I am happy to say that on my initial ride Sunday, the bike showed 14.5 to 14.8V cruising. It's the first time my electrical system has been healthy in years. :cheerleader:

Sir, I hope my experiences will match yours! I have a new stator ready to go, a new R/R arriving today, and I have beefed up my wiring system. I'm not a religious man but the commonality of these problems on the VFR just makes me want to pray to god that when I plug everything back in it actually works and doesn't fry itself again. I feel like I need to ride around with a combination of voltmeter, ammeter, and a temperature probe (hooked up to all my connectors) just so I can spot stuff before it decides to go bang. :dry:

[Guest]

Symptom 3: The wires connecting the stator to the RR (three yellow wires) are overheating. That 3pin connector melted a long time ago and I simply cut it out and bridged it with 10 gage wire and butt connectors. The connectors on the RR end of the bridge are the ones overheating. All three.

I would start with this. The connections there need to be very good. Regular butt (or bullet) type connectors would not be my first choice. Did you solder or crimp them on?

Well I crimped the butt connectors. And like another member mentioned, I only have the overheating on the RR side of the Stator/RR bridge.

When my new RR arives, I'll have to make my own connections again since I'm not replacing the stator yet. So what type of connectors would you recomend?

If the new RR doesn't fix the problem, I'm just going to order a new stator as well.

[Guest]

Well I crimped the butt connectors. And like another member mentioned, I only have the overheating on the RR side of the Stator/RR bridge.

When my new RR arives, I'll have to make my own connections again since I'm not replacing the stator yet. So what type of connectors would you recomend?

If the new RR doesn't fix the problem, I'm just going to order a new stator as well.

You can either order a new OEM connector from Josh(Tightwad) and solder it on, or do away with the connector altogether and just solder the wires together. I've also seen some use a barrier strip with soldered-on lugs, and I would think that should be fine too.

[Guest]

I don't pretend to know much about electrical systems, but if the problem was with the connector, wouldn't the overheating problem be within the connector or on the stator side of the connector? The fact that the wires on the R/R side of the connector are the only ones that are overheating suggests to me that something else is going on....but what the hell do I know ?

I sure wish someone would explain this.

[Guest]

I don't pretend to know much about electrical systems, but if the problem was with the connector, wouldn't the overheating problem be within the connector or on the stator side of the connector? The fact that the wires on the R/R side of the connector are the only ones that are overheating suggests to me that something else is going on....but what the hell do I know ?

I sure wish someone would explain this.

That's a good question, and I'd like to know for sure too. Making that connection as robust as possible can't hurt. In your case, the connectors are already new, so perhaps they're just hit or miss from the factory...

[kaldek]

I don't pretend to know much about electrical systems, but if the problem was with the connector, wouldn't the overheating problem be within the connector or on the stator side of the connector? The fact that the wires on the R/R side of the connector are the only ones that are overheating suggests to me that something else is going on....but what the hell do I know ?

I sure wish someone would explain this.

Maybe what's happening here is that the internal heat from your R/R is spreading down the wires, and it's not actual electrical resistance causing your heat?

[Guest]

I am having the exact,same problem. New Rick's stator putting out 39v consistantly at all leads at idle and way over 100v at 4k RPM. Still only 12.4V at the battery terminals at 5K RPM with the high beams on. New Rick's R/R put on yesterday, same damn thing. The wiring harness was replaced in the recall.

I rode the bike 30 miles today with the high beams on and my new parts installed. 11.6 volts at the battery when finished, of course the bike would not start. Any ideas?

[Headhunter]

I dropped a pile of cash for a new stator and rr last year at 50K miles. Not the most fun I have had my my VFR.

[Serenity_VFR]

I would start with this. The connections there need to be very good. Regular butt (or bullet) type connectors would not be my first choice. Did you solder or crimp them on?

Well I crimped the butt connectors. And like another member mentioned, I only have the overheating on the RR side of the Stator/RR bridge.

When my new RR arives, I'll have to make my own connections again since I'm not replacing the stator yet. So what type of connectors would you recomend?

If the new RR doesn't fix the problem, I'm just going to order a new stator as well.

Regular butt connectors are just fine if they are installed correctly -and much better than the OEM plug.

I like to put a little bit of anti-ox grease on the conductor before inserting into the butt connector and crimping which ensures that the metal-on-metal contact is maintained and oxidation will not degrade it. I also like to paint "liquid electrical tape" around the entire splice and sealing the area from any moisture infiltrating both the conductor and the compression splice. A butt splice done like this will be electrically identical to a continuous wire. It might not be as strong if it is jerked really hard, but a solder joint is even weaker mechanically than a crimp connection -due to the heat which damages both the conductor and the insulation, making it brittle and more susceptible to damage.

Professional electricians just laugh when people say things like "butt splices are bad." The entire electrical harness is put together with crimp connections. The ones you buy are no different and are just as good as the ones put on by Honda at the assembly line.

[Serenity_VFR]

I am having the exact,same problem. New Rick's stator putting out 39v consistantly at all leads at idle and way over 100v at 4k RPM. Still only 12.4V at the battery terminals at 5K RPM with the high beams on. New Rick's R/R put on yesterday, same damn thing. The wiring harness was replaced in the recall.

I rode the bike 30 miles today with the high beams on and my new parts installed. 11.6 volts at the battery when finished, of course the bike would not start. Any ideas?

Are you sure your battery is OK? Can you take it to an auto store or battery store and have them load-test it?

If your battery isn't good the numbers you get on the meter will be meaningless.

[Guest]

I replaced the RR. I decided to test the new one in accordance with the manual and I am confused by the step that instructs you to test for OHM's between the yellow "charging coil" wires.

I can't figure out if they want me to test the RR side, which doesn't give an OHM reading of any sort on the old or new RR, or if they want me to test the Stator side with gives me an OHM reading within spec.

I did go ahead and hook everything up to do a test of the charging voltage at 5k rpm. The battery was low to begin with since I've had the tender hooked up to my track bike all week but I did still get just under 13V going back to the battery. I hooked up the tender after the test and it didn't give that much so I assume the bikes charging system is up to snuff at this point.

I will test again once the tender is done doing it's thing.

Any input?

[spud786]

Typically the coil wires short out to ground, use the highest ohm scale to detect the slightest bit of continuity on 3 yellow wires to ground.

Most cases you have to go no further than that

the other ohms test is between the 3 wires, around 1.5 k ohm

[Auspanglish]

Mine were also heating up on the R/R side of the soldered/spliced wires on bypassing the OEM connector (well, bypassing, mmm, I removed it after it melted)... I also found this strange... I figure the R/R is also bust (just char-grilled my second stator at 80,000 km on a 2003 VTEC) and I doubt the (new) battery survived the ordeal... I was getting a flat battery a few months ago and after doing all the readings (stator and R/R appeared to check out), i just bought a new battery (which I hadn't replaced from the last stator melt down)... I guess I just didn't catch the stator playing up (like when you take the bike to a mechanic cause it's making some noise and while there, it doesn't make the noise).

I am now of the opinion that all 3 components should probably be replaced when a stator fries. Stator, R/R and battery. That way if you don't detect one as having failed, but its half-life has been seriously shortened, there'll be no weak links in the chain (except the crappy wiring on the VFR :fing02: )

[spud786]

Mine were also heating up on the R/R side of the soldered/spliced wires on bypassing the OEM connector (well, bypassing, mmm, I removed it after it melted)... I also found this strange... I figure the R/R is also bust (just char-grilled my second stator at 80,000 km on a 2003 VTEC) and I doubt the (new) battery survived the ordeal... I was getting a flat battery a few months ago and after doing all the readings (stator and R/R appeared to check out), i just bought a new battery (which I hadn't replaced from the last stator melt down)... I guess I just didn't catch the stator playing up (like when you take the bike to a mechanic cause it's making some noise and while there, it doesn't make the noise).

I am now of the opinion that all 3 components should probably be replaced when a stator fries. Stator, R/R and battery. That way if you don't detect one as having failed, but its half-life has been seriously shortened, there'll be no weak links in the chain (except the crappy wiring on the VFR )

Atleast its important to test and monitor each component to ensure. My last two stator failures(different bikes), completely drain the batteries, but I recovered them via battery tender plus. Which the latest was a st1300 yuasa only a year old and I rode the bike into the ground till it died from depleted battery because stator died.

but until you have a working stator hard to test anything else

but both cases the stator was the only issue.

[RobertoRC46]

Well, same problems to me. Fried coil on my 05 model with only 32.000Km on the counter. I was lucky enough to get on the ship and bring it to Greece with the help of another VFR rider of course, because it broke down while I was on a trip to Italy.

With no options available for an OEM relacement part, I decided to get fixed the faulty coil by an electrician. The guy put new thicker wire, than the OEM, and did a "star connection" type on the wires, comparing to the OEM "triangle connection" type. Of course the OEM connector on the stator was cut off and the wires were soldered using proper high temperature proof insulation.

The result is 14,85volts measured on the battery at idle. On 4.000rpm I get 14,9volts.

My first impression is that the bike is more "alive" in low revs and eager to rev up. Also the temperature measures I am getting on the panel are lower than before in general, even lower that any other VFR I' m riding with.

Do you think that I can continue riding with this hand-made coil or put an OEM and get on with it?