Tightwad

My apologies...I shouldn't have taken this thread off track. Hopefully the OP will give updates to his fixes.

Physically Bigger? you dont know what your talking about , some 3rd party junk might be physically bigger The st1300 agm battery is identical in size as the vfr agm battery, its just much better battery with more cca and reserve power. Ive had both yuasa and the scorpion in the st1300 battery, exact fit and the same size. The oem vfr agm battery is ok, but really the st1300 agm you can tell its the battery the vfr should have gotten in the first place. When you get about 45 or 50,000 off the lithium, then maybe you have something, the Agms still provide the longest life with trouble free operation, and are far more proven longevity wise. You are right about the battery size...for some reason it was sticking in my head that the 12-BS was a slightly shorter battery. Really my point was you have no first hand information from using the LiFePO batteries and even your AGM battery usage is restricted to fairly moderate weather riding on 1 bike. Most of the people who have had problems with the MOTY batteries live in much cooler climates. Mileage ridden is actually a detractor to your point of the longevity of your choice of battery. Batteries that get less use are abused more...riding daily will generally keep a battery running longer than those cases where the bike sits for a length of time.

Just going to chime in that the OPs problem was probably never his battery but rather his charging system as he has discovered. I am also running a LifePo battery in my bike, which I built myself, and it is great! My charging system loves it as well...much better than the crap AGM battery that had a weak cell from day 1...gotta love Yuasa... For further clarification...there is no such thing as an ST1300 battery. ST1300 is a model of Honda bike. The battery used in that model is a 14 series which means it is physically bigger and thus has more capacity than the 12 series the VFR came with from the factory. Assuming your charging system is working as it should either battery will be just fine...of course I would opt for the more power route...but calling it an ST1300 battery is confusing and misinformative. I am also going to say that while I love my LifePo battery (I run one in my Seadoo as well) I wouldn't suggest them for everyone as overcharging them is a quick way to pour money down the drain. Running them flat can do the same thing although the VFR will die before they get that low while riding.

Correct for checking voltage. To test resistance you need to set it to the Omega section (4 o'clock) and you need to know what level you are checking as the meter has multiple upper limit settings...to check for resistance to ground set it to the highest setting. For a complete short to ground any setting will go to zero.

:+1: Color makes no difference, electrical testing makes all the difference. If it tests good cold, stick in the oven @ 200 deg and test it again. This WILL change your readings, but you should still be within specs. Or you could find that when the bike is @ operating temp, it's open (hence the cold and hot test) If you decide to do this please heat the oven to 200F and then turn it off before putting the stator in there. DO NOT BAKE YOUR PARTS! Just a safety notice. Will this heat the part to the 200 degrees needed tho? I see no problem baking the parts...200 isn't high and they bake parts all the time.

Not an expert on visual inspection but it looks normal to me. The difference in color is (I believe) because the entire stator is not oil covered.

Also, if you replace it with a MOSFET style R/R you shouldn't have the same heat issues...mine is cool to the touch even when not moving.

That is not the original R/R for that bike....someone replaced it with something else...explains why it melted down on you. A 98 VFR has separate wires sets for Stator wires and Red/Green wires. They also mount on the left side to the frame where it can heat sink if needed. You are going to need to rewire that...any pictures of the rest of the wiring? I am curious how much they cut out of it.

I am a bit saddened to see how a general request for fairly simple information was treated. Does it really matter if she is trying to sell the bike or just winterize it to sell in spring or to ride? While VFRD is solely supported by it's members it also doesn't have a problem generating revenue...we are not hurting here and can help a lady 9or gent) in need. Hooking up a battery tender is indeed easy...if you have the parts and are not generally leery of working on motorcycles. There are enough people who take their bikes in for oil changes and what not to prove that it isn't a slam dunk for everyone as simple as it is. I am glad Beth got the help she needs (you did, right?). I have the Powerlet charger attachment if you need it on my site.

Nice install and great pictures! Glad to see the VFRness donated at least some of it's parts... For the block off connector (great idea BTW) you could have filled the cavities with hot melt glue instead of the liquid electrical tape...less messy I think.

I run mine off the same circuit out of my fuse block, shouldn't be a problem. You can always verify that the volt meter isn't seeing a voltage drop by comparing the voltage to that of the battery. The fuse blocks I make/sell have 14 gauge wiring to each circuit.

All you need to do is wire from one side to the other with a switch you can manually activate in the middle. Not the cleanest solution but it would be super easy. I would prefer having flashers than could run with the key off personally. This would take a bit more modification.

You can get the parts you need by order the VFRness for your bike from my site. It includes new R/R wiring from R/R to stator and to battery. It also includes a starter relay connector repair kit. www.wiremybike.com

To answer another question... The purple wire on the VFRness is to feed the OEM R/R monitor wire input (black/white wire). On the OEM harness some bikes used a switched source for that wire leading to overcharging situations but others use a non-switched source. The VFRness uses a blue wire that taps into the ignition switch to know when the key is on and trigger a relay which feeds the purple wire with battery voltage. With a Rick's R/R the purple wire is no longer doing anything as everything is regulated internally...in these cases the Relay is only used to trigger a fuse panel (or in some cases a single device connected to the purple wire alone).

I answered your PM but so others can see it... The VFRness fits into the Red/Green wire connection forming a T. Nothing should be unplugged. The stator connection of course is left alone as we are only working on the output side. I am VERY curious where your smoke is coming from...what is burning?

I am glad everything else checks out!

Ouch...that looks nasty. If that wire was indeed bypassing it's fuse and contacting the frame the VFRness was totally out of the circuit and thus it's fuse was intact etc. I would replace that fuse holder with a 12 gauge (or another OEM one) and continue your testing...strange that it would have come into contact with anything...look for burns on hardware.

No reason to order one if you can roll your own!

Tightwad, I didn't realize that they were additive... Should I use 10A fuses on each of the two RR output wires and 20A in place of the OEM 30A fuse? Thanks again for the help! it's not really additive, just potentially additive. The VFRness used to be shipped with 15A fuses on that principle but people found that the VFRness would instead assume more of the load....over 15A and then blow the fuse, transferring the entire load to the original fuse holder and blowing that fuse. I use 20A fuses now and haven't had a problem.

Congrats on getting it fixed! You could have used the Stator plug by removing the connectors from it prior to pulling the wires through the frame. I am not sure I agree with your now 90 amps of potential...30 on each leg could add up to 90 before a fuse blows. The VFRness, which is very similar in concept, uses a 20 amp on it's 1 fuse and a 20 amp on the OEM fuse holder.

You should get some charge at idle, but it isn't much and depends on the RPM you idle at. My bike idles at about 1300 I think, so it charges well. Other bikes I have had idled at 800 and they discharged at idle as the RPMs were too low...the charge output is linear to the RPM.

Go oem if you want to be in spec numbers wise, the OEM are the Best even though they will fail too, still last longer and less weird chit than aftermarket. Where are you getting your "will last longer" facts from? Nothing I have seen shows that a correctly made aftermarket unit won't compare to an OEM part...think about it...both are brand new (not talking rewinds here). Aftermarket R/Rs often last longer than their OEM counterparts.

At what RPM does charging start to rise? It doesn't sound like you have an issue...at low RPM the bike won't charge. As long as you get 14.6 at normal cruise you are just fine.

Glad it worked out and fixed your issues! I didn't understand what you were thinking on your lights before. I have a better suggestion. You can order from my site a conversion kit to allow the Latching relay I sell to be used in the place of the original low beam relay. This would leave all light functions the same except the HID wouldn't fire until the bike is started. That meter isn't waterproof by the way, I used one similar for a couple years in a less exposed spot...then on a trip it started reading in the 20+ volt range and freaked me out.

I wonder if you could get some expandable tubing to go over the connection...kind of like Chinese Finger Cuffs?