Electrical Problems Remaining after Stator and RR Replacement

[__YANNICK__]

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all well. I have some electrical issues and have a trip coming up that's putting a bit of pressure on me trying to fix it. I've been trying to resolve it, but have started running out of ideas.

In short my battery drains after rides of about 1 hour.

The longer version is as follows.

I did an off-road trip around Europe for 8 days and at the end of it my battery was knackered. My bike would die after short rides, so I replaced the battery with a brand new one but the battery issue remained.

So I started testing. I realised my stator was shorted, as there was continuity between the three yellow wires and the bike ground, so I replaced it.

Both before and after replacement my RR tested fine by itself for resistance between the 3 yellow wires and the RR +/-.

However, my battery voltage would drop from ~14.00V at idle to 13.4 at 3k revs to -13.3V at 5k revs.

I replaced i my existing RR with a mosfet RR. However, please note that I bought 3 new mosfet RRs and all three failed the diode tests. All of them failed the quality checks outlined here before I put them on the bike. I returned two and was allowed the keep the third for free

My results:

Meter Black to Mosfet positive1 or positive2 (each) & Meter Red to Mosfet R1,R2,R3

Diode Test (V): 0.266 0.266 | 0.266 0.266 | 0.266 0.266

Meter Red to Mosfet negative1 or negative2 (each) & Meter Black to Mosfet R1,R2,R3

Diode Test (V): 0.644 0.644 | 0.647 0.647 | 0.649 0.649

I assume I should get a value between 0.09V and 0.11V for the first test instead of 0.266V.

I put the last one on regardless, as I assumed I must be doing something wrong and the seller said I can keep it and try it.

The charging Voltage is around 13.75-13.85V at idle and the same around 3-5k revs. The idle voltage pretty much stays to whatever the 3-5k revs goes to. When first started is was around 13.5V at idle and went up with the revs and stayed up. Around 13.85V after a few revs to 5k.

Come today, several months into the issue, I did the above battery tests after installing the new RR and went for a test ride of about an hour or two stopping occasionally. My battery (thankfully) stopped starting my bike at my last stop when I arrived home.

Just before arriving home my horn stopped working and the LAMP warning light came on for my rear tail light. Turning the bike off and on fixed the light, but the horn only honked very softly and shortly for a few times and then stopped working until turning the bike off and on again without turning the engine over.

I ran a few continuity tests for the stator and it seemed fine. After the bike sat for an hour the horn started working again.

I tested continuity with ground in the RR with the three yellow wires and the third had continuity. I'm not feeling this is an issue, but thought I'd share in case it is and I don't know.

I don't know what to do next.

I tested my new mosfet RR diodes with 4 different multimeters to make sure that's not the issue.

I don't know what's going on anymore.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you,

Yannick


Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

 

[DJ123]

Have you tested your stator since replacement?

 

[__YANNICK__]

Have you tested your stator since replacement?

Hey there,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I tested the stator for resistance between each yellow wire and it's between 0.3-4 ohms between them, which seems good.

I didn't test the AC voltage yet directly off the stator, however the original passed the latter test and I had the same issues, so while I still need to run that test still it's likely a different issue that's still causing the same battery drainage.

I tested it for continuity with earth too and it passed.

Yannick

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

 

[DJ123]

What was the voltage output across all 3 phases? consistent across all of them too?

 

[__YANNICK__]

What was the voltage output across all 3 phases? consistent across all of them too?

Hey,

I need to turn on notifications for this thread, as I'm not getting them yet.

On the original stator I got pretty consistent AC Voltage results of 27-28V to 80-90V when revving from idle to 5k.

This was the original one though, not the new one yet.

Yannick

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

 

[__YANNICK__]

Hey,

@DJ123 so you know if it's a problem that one of the three yellow RR wires has continuity with the ground. I know that it's an issue for the stator wires but I'm starting to wonder if it is for the RR.

I'm also wondering if this was an issue when new or if it happened as I rode with it for the first time today.

Yannick

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

 

[DrFarkoff]

My advice is to "Take the bike to someone who knows what they are doing with bikes and bike electrics!"

it will cause you much less hassle and grief in the long run

Its a simple system !!

The rotor spins and induces a 3 phase output from the stator which is then rectified to single phase and regulated to 12 volt (ish) by the rectifier regulator unit which then feeds that to the battery

You could try to Wire the 12 v out of the Rect Reg unit directly to the battery! (Google Triumph Tiger 883 charging upgrade)

If you are getting charge out of X Y and Z It must not be making it back to the battery!!

Check out Electrex world RR45 Its a 3 wire in 2 wire out Rectifier regulator This is what we used for the triumph modifications

 

[__YANNICK__]

Hey everyone,

I thought I'd come here with an update.

Firstly, thank you @DrFarkoff for your good advice. Wiring it directly is a great idea as a well as accepting I've run out of knowledge.

I did give it to our local garage. They said I did all the tests they would have done and so got an motorcycle electrician with 20 years experience to take a look.

They mentioned my earth connections weren't ideal, so they cleaned them up. Simple solution. I thought they were tucked under the actual tank but they're just in the front and under the airbox so I'll know for next time.

However, it's not sure if things are fixed as this is what happened next

1. My mosfet RR #1 was faulty
2. They installed my mosfet RR #2. I rode off from the mechanic and my bike didn't charge at all so I just about made it back. They said it was faulty now too. Please note both were slightly out of spec originally.
3. I asked them to put my original shunt RR back on so I could get back home. This one tests fine, however with it at idle the battery voltage is about 14-14.2V and when revving to 3-5k it goes to 13.8V-13.6V respectively.

I got two other used regular shunt RRs since, with similar results.

Today I did a test ride (and crashed because I left my disk lock on. ... took some deep breaths, realised I really need to get back on my bike again in general and took it off again. I need to get back on my bike!)

Then I drove around for about 1 hour. At highway speeds I had very consistent 13.7-8V with very rare jumps to 14V throughout the whole ride.

However, after about the 45mins point , when I stopped for the first time and left my bike in neutral at idle at around 1500 revs, the battery went down to about 13.2V and one time within 12.7-9V for a short time. Both of those at idle.

When I got home at the 1 hour mark and stopped again it was quite consistently around 13.1-13.2V at idle. When I turned the bike off and left it for about 9-10mins it was left at about 12.8-9V with the bike still off. the latter seems good, but I'm a little unsure about the lower voltage at idle after 45+mins ride, especially since it was 14V at idle and 13.6-13.8V and 3-5k revs before heading off.

Does anyone know if this is expected behaviour? It might be, but I'm unsure at this stage. Maybe others have tracked their voltage while riding?

Thanks for everyone's contributions and help until now!

Yannick

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

 

[theoneandonly]

FWIW.

have you checked AMPS into battery . you need a "shunt" . you connect your meter to it on milliamps and it reads amps either plus or minus .

 

[DrFarkoff]

Does anyone know if this is expected behaviour? It might be, but I'm unsure at this stage.

Pretty Much what they system does The starter sucks a load out and then the alternator replaces that debit and as Equilibrium is arrived at the charge lowers

My advice at this stage is to STOP watching volts and ride the thing!!

Watch the road and the scenery and focus on your riding

You are overthinking it! The most important thing is that it started each and every time!

Maybe others have tracked their voltage while riding?

NOPE only when it fails to start after you have stopped somewhere

If you are really worried buy a NOKO booster charger or similar and carry it with you ?

Ride safe and watch the road

 

[__YANNICK__]

Pretty Much what they system does The starter sucks a load out and then the alternator replaces that debit and as Equilibrium is arrived at the charge lowers

My advice at this stage is to STOP watching volts and ride the thing!!

Watch the road and the scenery and focus on your riding

You are overthinking it! The most important thing is that it started each and every time!



NOPE only when it fails to start after you have stopped somewhere

If you are really worried buy a NOKO booster charger or similar and carry it with you ?

Ride safe and watch the road

Thanks @DrFarkoff ,

apologies for the late reply. I took a few rides and my bike has turned on after every ride. I kept a bit of an eye on the voltage has been roughly the same. 14.1-2 at startup and then 13.6-8 during riding and 13.2-4V at idle later.

Today, I turned off the voltage display for a while. I think I'm slowly gaining confidence in my bike again. I'm slowly feeling like I can potentially plan a trip again and not worry about it dying on the road again.

You're right, it's one of my joys to ride my bike, so I have the ability to start doing that again. Feels really good.

Thanks for the kind words,

Yannick

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk