Electrical problems?
 

Ok so I rode last night and I noticed that it was running as if one cylinder was running. After about a quarter mile my bike started running better but I noticed that the low beam light was not working. The hight beam was still working so I thought the low filiment {sp} must just be shot. I get on the highway and the high beam went dim and then was fully bright again. I really thought nothing of it and continued to my destination. After arriving at the party I parked and cut my bike off but I needed to move and when I tried to start her she wouldnt turn over. {as if the battery was dead or something} The thing is the high beam was still working as well as all the other lights. I waited a few hours and it stared up but my head light was totally out. (no high or low beam) I rode it home with my wife in front lighting the way. What coud cause this?

Failed regulator/rectifier is the most likely cause. Do a search and test voltage at the battery off, at idle, and at 5000rpm. Should get about 12.5-13 for a fully charged battery, ~13V at idle, and about 14 at 5000.

Ok so I go out to test the battery as described above. It was 12.9 off, 14.1 at idle and when I went to check it at 5000 rpm the bike just shut off. Now I have nothing. No lights or anything. I checked the R/R and everything appears fine. No melting on the R/R and the connections look new. What can I check next. Oh and the battery terminals are tight.

UPDATE:

I checked the 30 amp fuse on the left side coming from the positive battery terminal and it was blown. I changed it and everything except the lights came back on. I checked the light fuse and it was ok. I then checked the buld and it was shot. She started up and idled without any problems. I forgot that I had the R/R off when I started her though. I guess the battery just wasnt charging without it. Right? So here is a pic if the R/R and Connections. They look OK to me.{nothing melted} What should I check next. What would cause that fuse and bulb to blow?
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1141/1001367jm7.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8620/1001366dd8.jpg

It sounds like you have a short probably in the headlight switch.

How can I check that?

You can try to get a multimeter on the contacts and follow the manual to test for continuity and shorts to ground. I would actually remove the switch and look for possible broken connections and possibly a hot headlight lead grounding on the handlebar.

You really need to check the voltage at 5k rpm. It might be frying fuses and headlights at 19V. Do the headlights not work or are they fried. You can test the headlight filaments for continuity rather than applying juice.

grounding on the handlebar?

There is a hot headlight wire that feeds into the hi/lo switch. It may have become detached and is resting on the negatively grounded handle bar (clip-on) the switch housing is attached to.

Is the headlamp fuse blown?

Fuse is not blown but the headlight is.

I'd guess you are just getting too much juice pumped to the system. Your regulator in your regulator/recifier is not doing its job. Most of the failed r/r units I've seen have not been "melted". It's just as likely for all the rest of the wiring to be "melted". Replace and/or update it.

Still sounds like a bad r/r to me. When you went to test it at high RPM it put out enough voltage to blow the fuse..

this sounds like my problem.....i replaced the RR and im still having problems and they sound like this guys problems...killing the battery

didnt know about the 30 amp fuse but if it helps any to know my headlight blew when my RR went bad and a previous owner had the wroung fuses in the wrong spots in the fuse box....blew my low beam...

where exactly is this 30 amp fuse?

Its under the tail fairing on the left side. {On the left if you are setting on the bike} Follow the wire coming from the positive terminal on your battery to a box on the left side {under the rear fairing}. Disconnect the top this black box and the fuse is in there.

So is it fixed yet?

You know you can pretty much bolt anything in. As long as it has a reasonably close load factor (pick one from a bike with as much current draw or more) and it has a triple phase stator (three yellow wires instead of two, order doesn't matter) you can bolt in anything and in some cases improve performance for only a few bucks. Look on ebay, some r/r's are going for .99. Get something with big heat fins. You'll be the coolest kid on your block.

Got one coming.

I ended up getting a R/R on ebay. The one I got was from a 04 gsxr. I followed the directions from Superbling and everything went smooth. I now get 13.6V off {just topped off battery is this normal to be over 12V}, 14.79 at Idle and 14.75 at 5000. She seems to run smoother for some reason also.

She definately seems to idle and run smoother since the R/R upgrade. Does this sound right to you. Also does my voltage numbers look OK.

The charging voltage you have looks 'close' but slightly high. It may be your volt meter is slightly off.
Compare the charging voltage to your cage - which should be about the same. If you're reading ~14.75 in the cage then your meter is probably off.

Yeah I thought that too. I compaired my readings with my cousins bike and he was getting lower readings. His bike is an 05 Katana 750.

charging problems
 

I haven's been riding much recently. Thursday, I took the bike out to run some errands. On the second stop, the bike wouldn't crank. Dead Battery.

I got a passing biker to help me push start and got home.

With the bike still running, I put the voltmeter on it to verify no charge it read low. around 12 volts.

Charged the battery. Started and got 14 volts, plus or minus.

So, the charging problem is intermittent.

It would appear that when heavily loaded, the regulator/rectifier breaks down. Like with a low battery from sitting.

I report this to add another data point. I have another rectifier/regulator that I will adapt to fit. and I'm adding a voltmeter so that I can monitor charging state.

Miles of Smiles
Tom

After sitting for a week or two, I got back to the bike. With the surface charge on the battery gone, the running voltage was around 12.5. It didn't rise when I reved the engine. This is not good!

Today, I changed the rectifier regulator out. I replaced it with an after-market unit I had on hand. it's a five wire unit just like the oem. (3 yellow, i ground, one hot)

Started it up. It's trying to charge at idle (13 volts, rising to 13.3 or 13.4 in a few minutes, but drops a few tenths when you rev the engine.

I then Checked the stator resistance and get just under .9 ohm on each leg. No ground. This is out of spec, (0.5 ohm max.) Cheap multimeter. Since each phase is the same, I'm suspicious of the bad readings being "really bad".

Can anyone confirm anything about this. either my equipment or my approach??

Thanks
Tom

More Data.
 

I rechecked the stator resistance with my friend's Fluke meter. With the quality meter it measures .7 ohms. Same on all three phases. Still out of spec, but closer.

He also had an old Goldwing Rectifier/regulator he loaned me. I'll try that one and see what kind of output I get.

Well, as for the readings on the stator... Mine's the same... About .75 on all, it's normal for an ageing stator to slowly gain resistance... even if it's out of spec it's "fine" as long as it's uniform... If it changes between poles it definetly needs changing... Basicly as it is you "loose" a few % of efficiency... That should account for about .1V or so?

The bad thing is it doesn't account for your problems... it can't cause intermittent problems... and having .1V lower charging voltage isn't really a problem... though it might compound your other problems...

I borrowed a goldwing rectifier from a friend and jury rigged it in place. Older Goldwings have a separate regulator. When I started the engine, voltage immediately went up to the 14 v range. At higher revs, it went over 15 volts into the 16+ range before I killed the engine.

I have concluded that I had two bad rectifier regulators. One was the original Honda unit, the second was an aftermarket that I bought a along time ago. It's new (as in never installed) but didn't work either. The test with a fully charged battery right off the charger must have needed so little output that voltage rose that first time.

So now I need a new voltage rectifier regulator. I'm leaning towards OEM, second version with improved heat sinking. I don't feel like rewiring even though it's simple. and the units I can find on eBay are running 40 to 50 bucks plus S&H.That's not enough savings to bother.

Thanks for the help, guys

Tom

I just bought a rectifier regulator from an 06 R1.

It came without any pigtails.
from the picture, it has two plugs. Can anyone direct me to a source for what pins go where?? a quick search didn't find anything.

thanks in advance for any help.

Tom

Becareful Tom how you go wiring that 06 R1 rectifier.
I fitted an 99 R1 rectifier to my Superhawk and the live and earth (ground) terminals are the opposite way around to the standard SH unit. So your newer unit may be the same!

Chris.

Two of the wires matter where they go, (positive and ground) the rest can go to any of the three.

See: http://vtr1000f.wickidnet.com/ for info

mine is the next model, for fuel injection,I believe. It has two plugs.

I found this write up, with a picture of the two plugs. It looks like one is from the alternator and the other is to the electrical system. If the plugs have only one row of prongs, I can wire from the photo. plus and minus are clearly marked.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/i...ic=29102&st=60

by the way, in searching, I found a wattage figure for the FZ1 of 560 watts. The R1 reg/rect looks the same. So maybe it has that rating too.
That's quite a bit larger than the SH.which the manual says has 280 watts.

Miles of Smiles
Tom