Charging problem..
 

I did a search before I posted this, and I couldn't find a match for what I was looking for. Sorry if this is a re-post.
Started having trouble back in early august. Took a long spirited ride for about 2 hours, and my bike blew the master fuse under the seat. I replaced the fuse several times, but it kept blowing the fuse every time I turned the key forward, or tried to start it. I was a long way from home, so I unplugged every wire in the tail (brakes, blinkers), and unplugged my front blinkers (all blinkers are aftermarket, as is the headlight bulb). I jumped the bike off a car and limped it home for about 1 1/2 hours. Got about 15 miles from home and everything on the cluster shut down. No tach, speedo, etc, but it kept running. Got it home and did that r/r check thats floating around the net. Bad r/r, no suprise there.. I replaced it with a generic one, replaced the battery and i've been fine since.
About 3 weeks ago, bad weather shut down my riding. Parked the bike under the carport and let it sit for about 1 1/2 weeks. Went to start it up, and no suprise, it turned over very sluggishly, but it did start. I drove it on a quick errand (maybe 15 min), and when I tried to restart it, it turned over once, then I just got a clicking noise in the tail. Dead battery. I bump started it and got it home. Got home and battery is dead. I jumped it off my car but it was blowing master fuses again. Finally got it started, and let it idle for about 10 min. I was going to take it for a 30 min or so ride to try and charge the battery, but it went about a half block and blew the fuse again.
I parked it, and bought a new battery. Ran the r/r diagnostic on it, and it's showing about 12.6 vdc off, and about 12.7 vdc at 3000 and 5000 rpm. Something isn't charging. Ran an ohm test over the connectors on the r/r wiring harness at the lowest setting (200) and got the "infinity" reading. (1 .) Set it up over 200k, and finally got a "1." reading. Thats right, right?
Ran a diode test on the r/r stator spades, and I get 489 on the 2 right connectors, and nothing on the far left connector. So that sounds ok, right? Does this sound like stator? Am I missing something?
Disclaimer. I'm no electrician, but my brother is and he walked me through this over the phone. I apologize if I sound like a 3 year old trying to explain this..

There are a number of wizards here who know a lot about VTR1000F electrical systems. I'm not one of them. However, www.electrosport.com has a very helpful diagnostic chart and the VTR1000F service manual is available through the Knowledge Base on this forum. Best of luck.

If you are blowing fuses then it would indicate a short. So either a damaged wire, or a component that is shorted out internally.

something doesn't sound right with your stator:
http://www.tiny-media.org/motovoltage/tech.htm

I think we have the same bike. The gremlins (multiple sporadic short circuits) make me cry sometimes.

You can test the integrity of the stator wiring and windings as follows: disconnect the plug at the RR. set your multimeter to Ohms scale and measure the resistance between each of the yellow wires back to the stator in pairs i.e 1-2, 1-3, 2-3. The readings should be 0.2 ohms - 0.5 ohms for each pair. Then check that there is no continuity between any of the yellow wires and the bike chassis (negative), you should get an open circuit reading on your multi meter i.e infinite resistance. If you obtain results other than those described above then the stator and/or wiring to the stator is faulty. If you find a fault there is another connector between the RR and the stator, disconnect this and perform the tests again at the RR connector, this will help you pinpoint the problem. Before deciding the stator is faulty check all the wiring to it make sure its not pinched or otherwise damaged.

If the stator is OK reconncet RR and, 1. measure the battery V with the ignition off.
2. Start the engine and measure batt V, it should be higher that the 1st reading around 14V +- 0.2 V
3. Then measure the V on the green & red/white wires from the RR this should be the same as the V in step 2.

If its higher you may have a high resistance between the RR red/white and battery positive (check the main fuse in the starter relay left side under seat cowl) or a bad ground connection on RR or batt negative (look for corrosion).

If its lower you may have a short circuit between the red/white wire and ground.

If all of these check out OK then suspect the RR.


Never charge a sealed bike battery on a car charger, they push too much current through them causing overheating and shortening their life. Buy the best bike charger you can afford and always charge every 3-4 weeks when the bike is not being used.