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Hi guys, My VFR has been perfect so far but today it left me stranded for the first time. Situation: I have the VFRness installed. 13.4V at idle is my charging current. I have done about 150kms after winter break. (trouble free). Today I washed the VFR and some symptoms appeared. 1) When I turned the blinker on speedo and tach died for a second (dead while the bulb of blinker was on for the first time) 2) Speedo and tach dead when I turned the blinker on every time the bulb turned on. 3) Speedo and tach dead every time I pressed brakes. - I stopped at the side of the road. VFR refused to start again. Pump primed but starter didn't move after the button press. After I pressed the starter button pump primed again as if I turned the ignition on and off. 4) My friend came to rescue me with a new battery. (12V-12Ah insted of 12V-10ah) bike started right away and finished the 12 km journey home without issues (lights were off). When I came home I tried blinkers again, no issues. New battery had 12,4 V (engine off), 13,1V at 1500 rpm The old battery had 11.6V and is now charging. My questions are: Why? What happened? Is there an issue with Reg/Rec? (it is charging now so how can that be?) Could it be water from the washing? Thanks!

Recently added a voltmeter to my '02. Without heated gear on, I'm getting 13.8 V when running at speed, which I know is pretty typical. With vest and gloves on full blast, I get 12.7 to 12.9 volts. Is that enough to still charge my battery?

So this weekend I was down in Shelton, WA at The Ridge Motorsports track flagging and doing some track time. I rode down that morning (130 miles) with no problems. Also I've had my Reg and the VFRNESS installed for about 3k miles without any issues. The only thing I ever noticed is my lights would get brighter at 9-11k RPM's. Anyways I was able to ride the track for 20 minutes, about 8 hot laps of pure V4 glory with no issues. Parked for a brief 5-10 minute lunch before I hopped back on the track for about a mile to get back to my post at turn 8. When I got off the bike I noticed a little smoke from the rear wheel area, first I thought maybe hot header? Or some smoke from the tires? It was probably 85+ with real hot pavement. I walked around the other side and saw flames erupting from my f***ing fairings!! Luckily I had a fire extinguisher at my post and blasted away at it to no avail, had to rip off my side fairing and unplug the damn thing. Very sad way to end an awesome day ?

So... my VFR died on a trip a few weeks ago and it had to be towed. Turns out that my stator was toasted, so I had it rewound. I also replaced my regulator/rectifier. It was an SH689FA and I replaced it with a Shindengen FH020. Next, I tried to fire it up. It shows around 13 V at idle and climbs up to 14.1 V at 5000 rpm. However, when I turn hi-beams on, voltage drops at 13 volts and then continues to drop. I have seen it drop as low as 12.5 V and I'm sure that if I had let the engine running any more, voltage would drop even further. Same thing happens when my radiator fan comes on. It also drops and fluctates around 13-13.5 V with turn signals on. I tried using a different battery and a different regulator/rectifier (the latter taken from a Suzuki TL) and I got exact same results. I wired the FH020 regulator directly to the battery using 10 gauge wires. I also tested the stator using a multimeter. Resistance between all three terminals is within standard, there is no continuity between terminals and ground and AC voltage from the stator is around 30-40 V at idle and around 120 V at 5000 rpm, again between all three terminals. Before my VFR dies, I used to get 14.8-14.9 V while travelling, regardless of using Hi-beams, charging cell phones or anything else. All cables from stator to regulator and from regulator to the battery seem OK, and I haven't touched anything else. So, what could cause that drop in voltage? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance!

I have always put the bike on my battery tender after each ride just out of habit. I recently noticed(wasn't looking before) that after each ride when I plug in my battery tender, the battery tender stays solid red(battery less than 80% charged) and charges for a long time before going to red & green flashing (charge over 80%). It charges for about 2 hours in total before going to solid green. This makes me wonder if the bike is not properly charging while I am riding and my battery tender is masking a problem. I decided to take a look at the connectors and do some basic voltage checks based on great information here. The good news is that all of the connectors look great. No hint of burned connectors etc. The battery voltages without load and under load(ignition on, engine not running) look fine. The stator resistance measurements and continuity to ground tests are good. I didn't do any checks on the rec/reg. However, when the engine RPM is from 2000-5000, my meter shows fluctuating voltage at the battery from 13.4V to 14V. It will not steady out and keeps jumping around in that range even at steady RPM. The bike is a 2003 with about 11,000 miles. It has had the wiring harness recall performed. It is running great. Any suggestions appreciated. I'm not an electrical genius!

Ok, so I really have no idea how old the battery I have in my '03 is. I purchased the bike about September of last year. Anyway... the start of things: Before I parked the bike for the winter, by friend took it out for a day trip. I think the temps were in the 80's or so that weekend. On his way back home, the bike wouldn't start. All the lights came on, but would not turn over. He push started it, and it fired up. I guess a little later sitting in traffic it just died on him. It did this a couple more times, and each time he had to push start it. He finally got it back to my house, and I parked it for the winter. I started doing some research and read that during the summer you could possibly kill a weaker battery with the stress of the electrical requirements (or something to that effect), because with the headlights on, the tail light, then the fan kicking on and off, and then the added brake light and turn signals. Fast forward to today: I let the battery sit on the battery tender off and on for the past month. Each time I go out to check the voltage, it's around 12.3-12.5. Most times it fires up. Today, after letting the battery sit for 2 days on the tender, I took the battery to Autozone to have them load test the battery. the guy said it seemed to be fine. So I took it back home and put it in the bike. Checked to voltage, and it was about 12.5. I turned the ignition on, but did not start it, and watched the voltage drop to 11.5. I tried to fire the bike up, but no dice. I'm curious if that is a normal number, or if my battery is indeed toast. Sorry if that seems like along post, but I'm, still new here. :)