phoenixfire Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Hi all, Could you offer your sagely advice? About 2 months ago I went down to my bike with all my gear and an appetite to ride, only to come to it whining a tiny bit when I tried to start it and then eventually after the 3rd try - nothing. The battery was several years old so I figured - okay needs a battery. Went through the hassle of ensuring I got a quality Yuasa battery - installed it and boom - she roared back to life. She was running perfectly for about a month and a half until a few days ago when I went to start the bike and again (after successfully running it about 3 hours before) - same problem. I gave it a running start down a hill and she fired up (in retrospect if it really was the battery I don't think giving it a run start would have done anything). I let it run for a bit and then got out the volt meter - sure enough it was at 10 volts. I re-tightened the battery connectors thinking I did a poor job of installing it as the connections were a bit loose. Started it again and she ran fine - even did a 1,000km trip over the weekend. Today I went out for a midnight run, she started fine like normal, I rode hard for about 45 mins and then went for some gas, when I tried to start the bike back up after filling up the tank - again a small whine and a dim dash and then nothing. Luckily I was close to home so I duck walked it all the way back to my garage from the gas station. I'm not sure why the battery is not being charged and why it worked for me for several days and then all of a sudden decided to die. Any advice (good) :) would be appreciated. Eric, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer huntinggunns Posted September 28, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted September 28, 2011 Sounds like the R/R. They can do funny things when they start to go bad. A new battery will hold enough juice to run for a while even without getting a charge from the system. When the bike is running the volt meter should be reading at least 12.5 or better. If you are only showing 10 volts, it is not being charged. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Knute Posted September 28, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted September 28, 2011 Try this... http://www.electrosp...ing-diagram.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer 2thdr Posted September 28, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted September 28, 2011 Eric, I see you are new here. For many of us, we have become reluctant motorcycle amature electricians. There is a HUGE amount of information about the VFR's iffy charging issues. Everything from simply replacing a battery to replacing every component in the charging system can be solutions. It seems dealerships are frequently lacking in the diagnostic skill or don't care to diagnose these problems. Most success stories are those of us that roll up our sleeves after doing a healthy amount of research here on VFRD, and ask for help along the way. If you aren't good with a multi meter and have a friend that is, get him some beer and pizza and a little time with the troublshooting guide that was refernced above. Good luck! My story included replacing my entire charging circuit (stator, R/R, and battery) before finding that my painter had left off one of the sidestand bolts and the sidestand had rotated enough to cause strain on the connector for the side stand kill switch...a maddening time trying to run that one to ground...no pun intended. Many times it's just a corroded connector (read bad ground) that is the culprit, and although difficult to find sometimes, cheap to fix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Knute Posted September 28, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted September 28, 2011 Eric, I see you are new here. For many of us, we have become reluctant motorcycle amature electricians. There is a HUGE amount of information about the VFR's iffy charging issues. Everything from simply replacing a battery to replacing every component in the charging system can be solutions. It seems dealerships are frequently lacking in the diagnostic skill or don't care to diagnose these problems. Most success stories are those of us that roll up our sleeves after doing a healthy amount of research here on VFRD, and ask for help along the way. If you aren't good with a multi meter and have a friend that is, get him some beer and pizza and a little time with the troublshooting guide that was refernced above. Good luck! My story included replacing my entire charging circuit (stator, R/R, and battery) before finding that my painter had left off one of the sidestand bolts and the sidestand had rotated enough to cause strain on the connector for the side stand kill switch...a maddening time trying to run that one to ground...no pun intended. Many times it's just a corroded connector (read bad ground) that is the culprit, and although difficult to find sometimes, cheap to fix! ^^^ what he said Eric ^^^ I pretty much know squat about electrical crap, but I did some research on VFRD which lead me to that flow chart and with a cheap multi meter I was able to trouble shoot an electrical problem I recently had. My on-board volt meter started giving me flaky reading, so I figured something was a miss. That flow chart lead me to the stator, (if I would have stated to guess, I would've bet on the r/r) anyway, so I ordered a stator from Tightwad, installed it, problem resolved. VFRD to the rescue... again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer mello dude Posted September 28, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted September 28, 2011 Hi Phoenixfire, Dont what it is for this month, the planets are mis-aligned or the moon is outta whack, but this month must be VFR dead electronix month. Seem like there has been 8 or 12 bikes here go dead for this month. --- There is a ton of info on the electrics like the fellow VFRD friends are saying. --- The first thing to do is go buy a voltmeter. Harbor Freigt sells one for $7 and if you can find it, there is a coupon, that makes it free, if you spend $10. You will need to do R/R and Stator checks. The first R/R checks are simple - check the voltage across the battery at idle and 5000 rpm for a start. (The battery must be fully charged up first.) For more info, pull up a beer and read links ------ http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/68736-wierd-problem-with-5th-gen-vfr/page__fromsearch__1 http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/68627-vfr-800-98-charging-issues/page__fromsearch__1 http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/68595-new-owner-help-troubleshooting-charging-system-issue/page__fromsearch__1 http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/68638-5th-gen-starting-woes/page__fromsearch__1 http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/68144-whats-the-best-rr/page__fromsearch__1 Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixfire Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 Thanks all for your posts so far. I charged the battery on a tender. I then re-installed it, and the bike fired back up. I put the high beams on and left the engine off, let the battery drain down to 12volts, started the engine and watched as the battery's voltage rose back up to 13V - which leaves me to believe it's NOT the alternator. I also tested the battery with the engine off with a volt meter to see if there was any leakage - none. I followed the "Fault Finding Flow Chart" and it passed both initial tests (<13.5V at 2500RPM and >14.8V at 5000 RPM) This leads me to believe it's an intermittent problem with the R/R. Is it possible for the R/R to work some of the times and not others? Like I mentioned, the bike worked fine for over a month with no problems except a few times it showed a bit of trouble starting but would eventually kick in after a second or two on the starter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VFR4Lee Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 This leads me to believe it's an intermittent problem with the R/R. Is it possible for the R/R to work some of the times and not others? I believe the rectumfryer can do this. My experience was it died, but I was still able to make it home from San Luis Obispo by bump starting. Maybe it was a near death experience for it. Then the dealer replaced the fryer, I've been good to go for years. Probably a new battery in there since then. Maybe I'm lucky with it. Knocks wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tightwad Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I would guess your R/R is on it's way out...but just a guess. What voltages do you get with high beams on at 5K rpm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer TomP Posted October 1, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted October 1, 2011 You might also find it valuable to take some readings when the bike is hot. My voltage always drops once things have had a chance to really heat up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixfire Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 The voltage went up to 13.8 when I did the 5,000rpm test. I called a few bike shops, explained the scenario and all of them said "probably the Regulator /Rectifier" - looks like all roads are pointing to that. Does anyone have any recommendations for R/R models and brands for the VFR800, '99? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tightwad Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 I would suggest the one I sell of course (mosfet version). I get them from Ricks but at a discount. Check out my website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixfire Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 Solved. It was - you guessed it - the R/R. I took it to my shop - they did a bunch of tests. Apparently the R/R would work some of the time and then not others - which would make sense as to when I tested it of course everything was fine. To anyone with a similar / same problem - I would suggest going through the same process I did, which was learn how to check your battery voltage, check for leakage, test your R/R and alternator. It was a lot of sweat and swearing, but afterwards I'm glad I went through the process and learned a few things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer kaldek Posted November 3, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted November 3, 2011 My voltage always drops once things have had a chance to really heat up. That generally means you have a weak stator which is dropping a phase when it's hot. It's caused by breakdown of the insulation in the stator windings. It gets hot and then short circuits the phase to itself and either stops generating power or generates less than the other phases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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