How's My Stator Look? (5Th Gen)

[Guest Edwii]

My charge system seems weak on my 2000 VFR 48k kms. Latest sign of this is i was on the road for atleast an hour on the freeway, then was stuck in a long line to get parked for about 20mins. After about 10mins at idle in line, I shut the bike off and was gonna push it till things picked up, when i refired it but it was weak to turn over. After I parked for a few hours and came back to the bike, even weaker. Went for a 25min ride, parked for 10mins, tried to start it, and it was too weak, had to push start. Got home after a soild hour on the free way, parked, and shut it off, turned it back on but wouldnt fire up, too weak.

I run some electronics, GPS/stereo amp and some LEDs, the extra led lights i have drop the battery down by .2v and the stereo amp/gps drops it by around .3v, with the bike off. I dont know if that changes things much.

Did some tests,

Temp for all tests 100c

Stator ACvolts
Idle 1500rpm
AB 10.8 BC 10.8 CA 10.8
5000rpm
AB 11.7 BC 11.5 CA 11.6
Battery:
DC at idle 13
DC at 5000rpm 13.8

note: i did the same tests a few mins before when it was cold, and all the values seemed higher, dont know if that means anything.

Thoughts?

[timmythecop]

usually when it is dying, the hotter it gets, the worse it gets. You pretty much cant tell from looking, because that one doesn't look so bad, but is giving you bad numbers.

You will get alot of opinions, but from my experience, one stop shopping at wiremybike.com fixed ALL of my problems with impunity.

Not to mention it is already out. (the hard part is over) no reason to not put in a fresh one.

[Bad Boy]

The first thing to check is the health of the battery. It must be fully charged and maintaining a charge of about 12.7v when the bike is off.

A bad battery will throw the battery voltage numbers off.

Did you test the stator AC voltage disconnected from the regulator/rectifier?

Did you check the 3 stator wires continuity to ground. Should be no continuity.

With stator voltage that low you should not be getting battery voltages that high.

[BusyLittleShop]

Your stator shows a little oil darkening at the bottom but other than that normal for about 50K miles...

[RolandHTG]

The first thing to check is the health of the battery. It must be fully charged and maintaining a charge of about 12.7v when the bike is off.

A bad battery will throw the battery voltage numbers off.

Did you test the stator AC voltage disconnected from the regulator/rectifier?

Did you check the 3 stator wires continuity to ground. Should be no continuity.

With stator voltage that low you should not be getting battery voltages that high.

He is right, there must be some error in your testing. I don't think you can have higher DC than AC.

AC at 1500 should be around 18V, 60V at 5000.

[Guest]

That's what confuses me too. Let me try and show you how I'm testing it to make sure I'm doing it right.

here is a picture of the connector i'm testing off of

When I test it with my multimeter I set it too the v~ 200 symbol, then go postive A to negitive B , postive B to negitive C, postivie C to negitive A

Is that the right way of doing it?

All my ACvolt test I've listed were when it was connected to the R/R ,

I redid them just now, disconected the stator, and this is what I found:

Idle 1500rpm
AC 21.5, BC 21.3, CA 21.4
5000rpm
AC 62.2, BC 63.8, CA 64

MUCH HIGHER! As soon as I reconnect it to the stator the values plummet.

So then Redid the R/R
Some one suggested to heat it up with a hair dryer first, so did that.
and this is what my meter read

pos A 560 B 544 C 560
neg A 527 B 569 C 558
and all go to 1 when reversed.

If those values are acceptable then I'm confused. Why are the AC volts so much lower when connected to the R/R compared to when its disconnected? Even if a drop is expected when connected it's still on the low side isnt it?

[sudo]

The stator is supposed to be tested while disconnected from the R/R. In your case, your stator looks good BUT you should retest it after a long ride to get it hot. I don't know what the R/R values should be.

I think your battery is dead. If you're seeing 13V at the battery, I'd be inclined to think that your charging system is ok.

[Bad Boy]

When experiencing low voltage one should always start testing the battery first. Otherwise you are going to waste effort. Charge the battery overnight on a trickle charger. After starting the bike a couple of times it should hold about 12.7v with key off.

• Batteries fail much more often. Even a new battery can fail. Not keeping the battery charged will shorten life. They rarely last over 4 years.
• A bad battery will throw off testing of the charging system.

Once you have verified that the battery is fully charged and can hold that charge then test the system voltage at the battery. If voltage is still low then test the other charging system components. If you are not sure about the battery take it to a motorcycle dealer and they can load test it to verify if it is retaining the charge.

Sounds like your stator is working. It must be disconnected from the R/R to test it. Test the battery.

[HumalogAddict]

First thing to confirm is indeed the battery

If the test you are trying to do is the one I think, it needs to be done only on the stator side of that connector.Turn the bike off, unplug that connector and then measure from a to b, from a to c and from b to c. All on the stator side. The meter also needs to be on ohms for this test. You can also do the continuity test from each wire (stator side once more) to ground. There should be no continuity.

If you did not yet have a look at this flow chart, it is awesome for testing your chaging system:

http://www.electrosport.com/media/pdf/fault-finding-diagram.pdf

[RolandHTG]

Your stator looks good on the AC voltmeter test when you tested correctly; disconnected. In my experience the with the OEM R/R and harness the battery will start draining at idle speed when the fan is running. I recommend the VFRness and a Yamaha R1 R/R and an on board voltage meter.

[spud786]

You should do the High reistance ground test, voltage means squat!! if it cant pass that test

[mk2davis]

Your stator creates AC power, and your voltage numbers (21V AC at idle, 60some at 5k) look right. the RR converts AC to DC, and reduces voltage from 60ish to a usable 15ish, so that why they are so much lower. Your DC power on your first post looks a little low, but within range (from my specs on a 3rd gen).

This is where an on board voltmeter comes in handy. I've watched voltage drop down to 13.2, and cetainly indicated a problem before I was left stranded. A VFRness gave me an extra 1V DC across the board, and oh so stable. My issue was an ailing wiring harness.

My brother has similar issues on his ffifth gen, and my recommendation was a VFRness.

I would also check your harness/connects for your starter. It sounds like it's getting less juice as heat increases. I'd also recommend a battery leak down test. Some of your accessories may be grounding out and draining your battery while it sits.

Good luck.