Hello. My name is Jim and up until about 1 hour ago I was in EDD (electrical dysfunction denial).
You see, I thought I was ahead of the electrical curve by adding a digital volt meter stashed neatly into the mirror. I thought that since I'd be able to monitor the bike's system, I'd be able to ride worry free until I decided to get off.
Well, you know the rest. Constant focus on the mirror led to an obsession with how well, or in my case, when will the system fail.
So, after almost 3 years of watching my mirror give me readings of 13.4 at speed and a roubust 12.9 while doing most everything else, and a very disappointing 13.1 above 5k, and when I revd it, the volts would most times if not the vast majority of the time drop, I decided to do some digging into the board.
I first swapped an OEM RR which showed the same output. I recently swapped the battery only to obtain about the same v figures as well. I did all of the electrical diag test minus the load tests. All that checked out.
I didn't want to crack open the stator cover only to be reassured. So, I read 007's and Chris' write up on the R1 swap.
Well, swap is complete and I'm in 14.4/14.6 heaven. I only did the wire upgrade to the RR for now. I just wanted somequick feedback. I'll add the ground-to-battery-to-frame next.
I touched the three phase wires coming from the stator which were nice an hot. I touched the RR harness and it showed no heat. The R1 RR was not even warm. I could not do that with the OEM unit.
For specs here they are:
1st observed low volts at about 6k miles, I now have about 11k (I know, get out there);
OEM unit has "SH579A-11" and "7.D" in white;
I neither had any volt spikes nor any on road failure;
All connectors/wires are fine with no signs of heat stress;
R1 RR and associated connectors - about $35
I'm stoked to belong to the VFRD community that has contributors who share their experience, troubleshoot, and publish fixes.
Thank you for all your input and a big :thumbsup: to 007 and Chris.
Jim