Torque Junkie

I did an hour and a half of thread reading research before posting and couldn't find my answer.

Not charging while riding.

Charge battery overnight on trickle charger. Key off - battery tests around 14.0 V fresh off over night charge.

Bike will start when fully charged.

Voltage test shows 14.2 V on idling and immediately drops to 13.6 V just above idle, so it is charging at idle and not charging above idle since battery was 14 V after fresh charge.

Battery is now on last legs. Can start bike a few times after charging. Ride it anywhere over 20 minutes. If I turn it off it turns over maybe twice and is dead.

Rectifier/Regulator is pretty hot to touch while running but won't burn me. Later model regulator as it has fins, so not original. No other electrical symptoms except a dead battery after a ride. Lights not dim while running. No blown fuses.

I know I will need to buy a battery, but not willing to do until I figure out the charging problem? It doesn't seem like a stator problem as I am charging at idle it appears, but I don't know how much.

Any suggestions? I'm looking to do the R1/R6 swap if needed, but am not willing to just throw parts at it at the end of riding season. Rather buy the new battery in the spring so it doesn't just sit for five months, but wish I could ride the last of the good weather.

Suggestions?

Tweety

Sorry, but the post more or less spells out that you didn't do much research... Or at least you didn't take note of what you found...

Step One, download the fault finding chart from electrosports, and check the other components, to verify if your R/R is the culprit or not...

Step Two, replace the faulty parts... I'm rather sure you will end up finding the R/R to be defect... So replace that and the battery...

Step Three, fix the problem that caused the R/R to fail in the first place, bringing the battery with it... Ie find the resistance that's converting voltage to heat, and overworking the R/R...

Step Four, go ride...

None of these take more than a few hours, so you should have plenty of riding left... And the R/R replacement should be a Mosfet one, not the R1/R6...

Wicky

How old is your battery? Is there a serial no. on the R/R - just in case a PO fitted a cheapo replacement. Are you connections clean and tight.

Torque Junkie

Have not torn into the bike yet other than to use a voltmeter, wanted advice first. All my research has been on this forum. I didn't see anyone else who had the problem of only charging at idle. I suspect the rectifier first, just by the amount of posts on them.

I have no idea how old the battery is, have had the bike two years and previous owner owned it a year and didn't buy it. Yes, I will replace it, but not until the charging problem is fixed. It does charge on a trickle charger, or I would not be able to start the bike at all.

I will look at connections and grounds, but that does not explain it charging at idle only. It could also be a short that is drawing excessive power above idle also, and not regulator related.

I'll run through the trouble shooting chart.

Tweety

Well, I can find about 5 different threads with the answer just by searching...

It's very likely to be the R/R, but double check all of it... The reason I say it's likely, is that a diode based R/R like the stock unit, has a set of diodes that should if feeling well, work on all RPM's (ie all AC voltages), but when they get worn out, they either stop conducting at various voltages or completely (good), or act's like a fuse (very good), or starts to conduct when they shouldn't and either discharges the battery when parked (annoying), or worst case scenario, they start conducting when they really, really shouldn't and you get a puff and a cloud of smoke as your battery goes bye-bye...

All of this makes for various combinations... Charging at idle but not at speed, and the reverse, or not at all, or discharging... All have been covered in old treads, more than twice... But regardless of that, you should easily have found the advice to get the chart and test what the problem was, it takes effort not to find that one...

You are correct that the connectors and such does not account for the strange charging directly... It only accounts for the heat buildup that eventually kills the diodes in the R/R... Ie replace the R/R and all works well again, for a short while until the new R/R starts dying from the same sickness... This is regardless of type and cost of the R/R... The Mosfet's last a little longer but they also die, and they aren't that cheap... So that why I said to eliminate the root cause...

comedo

You aren't alone. Prior to changing to a MOSFET reg/rec, the readings at the battery on my VTR were 14.17v at idle and 13.3v at 3500 rpm. The original reg/rec was more than 10 years old and had worked well enough for 83,000 km.

boozepickle

Well guys I am new to this forum but I am having the same problem. I have just replaced the battery; got it from Sun motorcyle and I had them test it to make sure it was good since according to them the last one they bought from me was bad. Anyway I have also replaced the R/R with an aftermrket and I am still having the same problem. I have tested the stators AC voltage and resistance. I have checked for faults and parisitic drain; all have checked out. The only thing I can think of is the stator. It will pass specs when it is cold; but magnetic fields and wire windings are sensitive to temperature changes so maybe it only acts funky when it gets hot. Can anyone shed some light on this because I really dont want to take it into a shop and pay an arm and a leg.

saige

Have you checked your grounding points on the bike,those are as just as important.

One of the grounding points is where the original R/R goes,you will see a shiny spot where one of the screws go.make sure the grounding wire is touching the subfram itself.better contact.
And the other spot is in the top right hand side of the sub frame which connects to the frame of the bike.make sure its not rusted or anything like that.

The grounding is very inportant for anything on the bike.that is a cheap,easy start point.
next,make sure your positive and negative is in the right spot on the R/R
and if possible,back track your wiring to make sure there is no burns or breaks in the wiring,may be a issue where its tapping,arcking etc etc......very possible it wont blow fuse.i know because mine is burned as of now and it still ran and such,dont know how.but it is possible.i had no fuse blown or any warning.most likely happened while riding and couldnt smell the burning.

And ofcourse,make sure all wiring is plugged in under the seat where all the wiring is bunched up in front of battery.sounds stupid,but anything can upset this bike.
good luck

benstokes25

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