Charging problem licked?

[superfuzz]

While on a week-long trip, my '99 decided it was only going to make 13.3V at idle and 12.8V at 5000 rpm. I was having problems with having enough juice to start it back up and spent the whole trip wondering if the charging systen was going to crap out completely and leave me stranded.

I got home and did the tests - stator good, battery apparently good, R/R bad.

I ordered a new R/R and VFRness from Tightwad and got them installed today. I now have 14.4V at idle and 14.8ish at 5000+rpm. Yes!!!

Now let's cross our fingers and hope all the various components live a long, productive life.

[jaimev34]

So, if you didn't check your voltage you'd have never known? Does this mean I should be checking the voltage on my '01? Still have the original R/R and a year-old battery. What were the symptoms that made you check?

[kaldek]

So, if you didn't check your voltage you'd have never known? Does this mean I should be checking the voltage on my '01? Still have the original R/R and a year-old battery. What were the symptoms that made you check?

Voltmeters are almost the must-have accessory on a VFR.

This one requires the least amount of drilling: Signal Dynamics Heads-Up Voltage Monitor

[jaimev34]

So, if you didn't check your voltage you'd have never known? Does this mean I should be checking the voltage on my '01? Still have the original R/R and a year-old battery. What were the symptoms that made you check?

Voltmeters are almost the must-have accessory on a VFR.

This one requires the least amount of drilling: Signal Dynamics Heads-Up Voltage Monitor

So if you have a steady green, all is good? Is it really that simple. Sorry for the dumb questions, but when it comes to all this voltage talk, I'm a newb.

[Monk]

So, if you didn't check your voltage you'd have never known? Does this mean I should be checking the voltage on my '01? Still have the original R/R and a year-old battery. What were the symptoms that made you check?

Voltmeters are almost the must-have accessory on a VFR.

This one requires the least amount of drilling: Signal Dynamics Heads-Up Voltage Monitor

So if you have a steady green, all is good? Is it really that simple. Sorry for the dumb questions, but when it comes to all this voltage talk, I'm a newb.

The heart of The Heads-Up Voltage Monitor is a micro-processor that monitors the output of the charging system and is accurate to within 200 milli-volts. The Heads-Up Voltage Monitor's onboard microprocessor performs a self-test each time voltage is applied. The single, multi-color LED (red-amber-green) visually indicates the state of your motorcycle's battery / charging system. At a glance, you will instantly know whether the voltage is normal or abnormal. Additionally, you will be notified of serious fault conditions by an attention-getting flash of the LED.

[jaimev34]

So, if you didn't check your voltage you'd have never known? Does this mean I should be checking the voltage on my '01? Still have the original R/R and a year-old battery. What were the symptoms that made you check?

Voltmeters are almost the must-have accessory on a VFR.

This one requires the least amount of drilling: Signal Dynamics Heads-Up Voltage Monitor

So if you have a steady green, all is good? Is it really that simple. Sorry for the dumb questions, but when it comes to all this voltage talk, I'm a newb.

The heart of The Heads-Up Voltage Monitor™ is a micro-processor that monitors the output of the charging system and is accurate to within 200 milli-volts. The Heads-Up Voltage Monitor's™ onboard microprocessor performs a self-test each time voltage is applied. The single, multi-color LED (red-amber-green) visually indicates the state of your motorcycle's battery / charging system. At a glance, you will instantly know whether the voltage is normal or abnormal. Additionally, you will be notified of serious fault conditions by an attention-getting flash of the LED.

Yeah, Monk, I read that on the website. But is green good, and red and amber bad?

[mello dude]

Is mounting just a single LED - drill hole some place and screw together? - Got a pic of one installed?

btw - my voltage is 12.75 idle, 13.69 at 5000 rpm - any comments? (new big finned OEM R/R installed last year, and VFRness this season.)

[jaimev34]

Is mounting just a single LED - drill hole some place and screw together? - Got a pic of one installed?

btw - my voltage is 12.75 idle, 13.69 at 5000 rpm - any comments? (new big finned OEM R/R installed last year, and VFRness this season.)

And what wire do you tap it into?

[superfuzz]

So, if you didn't check your voltage you'd have never known? Does this mean I should be checking the voltage on my '01? Still have the original R/R and a year-old battery. What were the symptoms that made you check?

The only reason I knew is because after riding all day from Pasco to Missoula, I stopped for gas, restarted, drove 1/2 mile to check into hotel then tried to restart again after checking in only to find that my battery didn't have enough juice to start the bike. I bought a multimeter and checked the battery; and it only had 12 volts. I bumped started the bike (not easy to do with no seat on it and no extra key) and checked the regulated voltage; at that time it was making only 13 ish volts and it dropped as rpm's rose

[superfuzz]

Is mounting just a single LED - drill hole some place and screw together? - Got a pic of one installed?

btw - my voltage is 12.75 idle, 13.69 at 5000 rpm - any comments? (new big finned OEM R/R installed last year, and VFRness this season.)

I'm far from an expert in these matters but if you already have a new R/R and VFRness then I guess that leaves the output of the stator and maybe resistance from the plug/harness as culprits bringing your voltage down?

[Knife]

My voltmeter has proven to be invaluable. For instance, I was 480 miles from home and noticed the voltage had dropped. That was good to know so I could park on a slope when I got gas or stopped for some other reason, and bump start the bike by myself. Another time I was riding home and noticed the voltage wasn't what it should be. Got home, pulled off the left faring, and this is what I found.

The bike still started and ran, but it was trying to set itself on fire.

Without a voltmeter, I could have been stuck out in the middle of nowhere in the first incident, or watched my bike at the side of the road emulating a bon fire in the second incident.

[jaimev34]

So how does one install one of these? I checked the Signal Dynamics site but couldn't find any instructions. What wire do you tap into?

Thanks!!

[jaimev34]

So how does one install one of these? I checked the Signal Dynamics site but couldn't find any instructions. What wire do you tap into?

Thanks!!

I bought one today. Now I'll have three of those Signal Dynamics little black boxes spread around my bike (with my headlight modulator, brake modulator, and soon-to-be-installed volt checker).

From some research on the net, it appears most tap it into the ignition fuse block.

[Guest]

While on a week-long trip, my '99 decided it was only going to make 13.3V at idle and 12.8V at 5000 rpm. I was having problems with having enough juice to start it back up and spent the whole trip wondering if the charging systen was going to crap out completely and leave me stranded.

I got home and did the tests - stator good, battery apparently good, R/R bad.

I ordered a new R/R and VFRness from Tightwad and got them installed today. I now have 14.4V at idle and 14.8ish at 5000+rpm. Yes!!!

Now let's cross our fingers and hope all the various components live a long, productive life.

Ok, I have the same issue with my 98 VFR. I get about 13.3V at idle, goes up to about 13.8V at 1500 - 2000RPM, then drops to 13.3V at 5000RPM or above. I bought a brand new battery, brand new R/R and brand new connectors and still have the same issue. Stator ohmed out fine and all other voltage readings across R/R wires measure as they should. Just not reaching regulated voltage required. I just find it hard to believe that I could have an old and a new R/R that are bad and have the exact same symptoms. Do you have any suggestions? I'm stumped.

[Jmmymc750]

When it starts dropping like that, you have a problem. When my 5th gen 98 started doing it (after the VFRness install, with new r/r from Ricks), careful inspection of the connectors revealed blistering of the insulation...not burning yet, but blistering. So I cut out the connectors and soldered everything together. 14.4V at idle, and about 14.8 at 5k rpm. Something about the connections. And the 98 is not the first VFR I have had issues with. You just start paying closer attention, I guess. I had to turn around once when I left on 500+ mile mission at 5 am, and wait at the shop for a rewire of the r/r on my 90. I was a little late getting to Ohio, from North Carolina.

Check your connections!

Cheers!

[MBrane]

The Hitachi connectors are notorious for failing. My GF's 99 burned the stator connector after a few K miles so I cut it off, crimped/soldered on some 10G spade lugs, bolted them together, and covered 'em with shrink tube. I've been searching for a better connector, but everything I can find is either just as wimpy or way overkill. I'll probably end up hard-wiring mine too since if it's working right there's no reason to disconnect it, and the connectors seem to be the main source of failure.

[Guest]

Having your voltage go down at higher rpm may be caused by electrical "noise" from the ignition system. Voltage spikes from the ignition system can be on top of the 12v line making the voltage go low as the regulator thinks that the average voltage to low. This in turn makes the regulator dump more amperage, heating the regulator up and into a negative feedback loop. You can see what is happening if you have an oscilloscope.

I fixed a 250 honda that had this problem by adding an electrolytic capacitor across the output. The capacitor helps smooth out the spikes and lets the voltage go up. At about 5000 rpm the voltage output would sag. Now all is well.

High output voltage means that your regulator is already cooked. Low voltage output is a sign of the regulator cooking.

Putting on a new unit can fix things but old stuff can be improved with careful testing.

While on a week-long trip, my '99 decided it was only going to make 13.3V at idle and 12.8V at 5000 rpm. I was having problems with having enough juice to start it back up and spent the whole trip wondering if the charging systen was going to crap out completely and leave me stranded.

I got home and did the tests - stator good, battery apparently good, R/R bad.

I ordered a new R/R and VFRness from Tightwad and got them installed today. I now have 14.4V at idle and 14.8ish at 5000+rpm. Yes!!!

Now let's cross our fingers and hope all the various components live a long, productive life.

Ok, I have the same issue with my 98 VFR. I get about 13.3V at idle, goes up to about 13.8V at 1500 - 2000RPM, then drops to 13.3V at 5000RPM or above. I bought a brand new battery, brand new R/R and brand new connectors and still have the same issue. Stator ohmed out fine and all other voltage readings across R/R wires measure as they should. Just not reaching regulated voltage required. I just find it hard to believe that I could have an old and a new R/R that are bad and have the exact same symptoms. Do you have any suggestions? I'm stumped.

[Tightwad]

Having your voltage go down at higher rpm may be caused by electrical "noise" from the ignition system. Voltage spikes from the ignition system can be on top of the 12v line making the voltage go low as the regulator thinks that the average voltage to low. This in turn makes the regulator dump more amperage, heating the regulator up and into a negative feedback loop. You can see what is happening if you have an oscilloscope.

I fixed a 250 honda that had this problem by adding an electrolytic capacitor across the output. The capacitor helps smooth out the spikes and lets the voltage go up. At about 5000 rpm the voltage output would sag. Now all is well.

High output voltage means that your regulator is already cooked. Low voltage output is a sign of the regulator cooking.

Putting on a new unit can fix things but old stuff can be improved with careful testing.

While on a week-long trip, my '99 decided it was only going to make 13.3V at idle and 12.8V at 5000 rpm. I was having problems with having enough juice to start it back up and spent the whole trip wondering if the charging systen was going to crap out completely and leave me stranded.

I got home and did the tests - stator good, battery apparently good, R/R bad.

I ordered a new R/R and VFRness from Tightwad and got them installed today. I now have 14.4V at idle and 14.8ish at 5000+rpm. Yes!!!

Now let's cross our fingers and hope all the various components live a long, productive life.

Ok, I have the same issue with my 98 VFR. I get about 13.3V at idle, goes up to about 13.8V at 1500 - 2000RPM, then drops to 13.3V at 5000RPM or above. I bought a brand new battery, brand new R/R and brand new connectors and still have the same issue. Stator ohmed out fine and all other voltage readings across R/R wires measure as they should. Just not reaching regulated voltage required. I just find it hard to believe that I could have an old and a new R/R that are bad and have the exact same symptoms. Do you have any suggestions? I'm stumped.

This is a very interesting post. I often wondered why the 5th gen OEM R/R sagged at high RPM (nearly all I tested did this).

[KevCarver]

This is a very interesting post. I often wondered why the 5th gen OEM R/R sagged at high RPM (nearly all I tested did this).

Mine was the same. FIrst with the original stator and R/R, then with an updated (but not the one with the ground wire?) R/R and a better condition (used) stator. Finally after replacing my bulbs with LED's and getting higher voltage, but still not 14 and still dropping at speed, I replaced the entire charging system. New Ricks stator, R1 R/R, new tighter water resistant connectors, and the DC direct to the battery positive (via 30a fuse) and ground direct to the frame, bypassing the main harness. 14 at idle, 14.25 at speed. Also, MOTY battery holds above 13.5v when not running. (Standard battery showed same voltage numbers when running)

[MBrane]

Having your voltage go down at higher rpm may be caused by electrical "noise" from the ignition system. Voltage spikes from the ignition system can be on top of the 12v line making the voltage go low as the regulator thinks that the average voltage to low. This in turn makes the regulator dump more amperage, heating the regulator up and into a negative feedback loop. You can see what is happening if you have an oscilloscope.

Very interesting. We have been using some GMRS radios on our bikes, and the GF was having problems with static. I finally tracked it down to the sidestand switch on her bike. Wonder if that was causing the R/R to malfunction, and burned the connector? Hmmmmm.......