Need to turn my 5th gen VFR into a Power Plant (Charging and battery upgrades?)

Hello, First post here, long time VFR lover.
I need to upgrade my charging system and battery.
I run quite a bit of electronics on my 2000 VFR800. GPS/Stereo+Amplifier, + about 40ft of LED's + compressor for air horns + everything Stock(thos rad fans in gridlock suck down the juice).

My current yuasa battery is on it's last legs, I've kept a good digital charger every day practically since new (2 seasons ago) and today after a 90min ride on the free way, wouldn't even fire up at the gas station (had to get pushed)hwell:.

Since I got it 3 years ago, I've felt the charging system hasnt been anything to brag about, I have a volt meter mounted on the bike and I never seen it go above 13.3v and now I dont see it going above 11.5v.

So please can you tell me:

►What is the best Options for batteries for someone like me who draws a lot of power?

►What can I do to my charging system to make it as powerful as possible (with out braking the bank).

Thank you very much for any help or input given.

 

Hmm

Me thinks "the drill" is what is needed. In good order your charging system should be delivering in excess of 15 volts at 5,000rpm and certainly over 12 at idle - so either you have a fault in the charging system or your voltage gauge is under-reading - have you compared the gauge reading with a decent voltmeter?

If both show low then disconnect and recharge the battery then test for volts and again after 1 hour to see if its holding the same charge. If all is good reconnect and go through the drill here... then post up your findings if you have questions.


http://vfrworld.com/forums/5th-gene...how-fix-common-regulator-stator-failures.html


If the battery is dying, then fit a decent brand replacement like Yuasa. Check out the battery upgrade list on here - which will indicate if there is a bigger capacity battery available for your bike - http://www.yuasaeurope.com/images/uploads/uk/downloads/YBSU26605_Yuasa_Motorcycle_Cat_09_A4.pdf


NB I don't think LED's consume a lot of power - even 40 feet of them! Is this what you are riding????:smile:







However the fan, stereo and amplifier can eat amps. Have you checked to see if the standard stator output can actually deliver the demand you have hooked up. If its too much you may need to contact a Honda dealer to see whether there are non-vfr stator's which could be modified and fitted - like that fitted to the Pan or Goldwing.

Good luck



SkiMad

 

I am trying to think really really hard what battery I have in mine.
It is slightly smaller than standard (just put in a bar of wood as a spacer lol), but kicks out slightly more amps or something.
Costs only a bit more.

If someone doesn't beat me to it and name it I will try to pull mine out and have a peek.

 

The early bikes only had a 350 Watt alternator, but yours is rated at 470 w at 5k rpm. Tally up the wattage of all your loads--maybe you are pulling down the voltage supply by running so much load that it exceeds the power rating.

Getting 2 years out of a motorsickle battery is about average depending upon how you maintain the electrolyte, don't overcharge or discharge, etc...

 

No, please !! We're G-rated here.

 

Good grief. You're not going to like what I have to say...but you have farkle overload.

After the commencement of repairs I would give serious thought about which items I could do without. The electrical generating capacity of your machine is engineered with a certain amount of margin...you may have used up the margin and then some, contributing to premature charging system failure.

Keep in mind that if the maximum amount of current your generator may deliver is, say, 50A, and your accessories are drawing at least that much, then if the marginal charging system (through old age) begins to reduce in efficiency, then the parasitic loss of your accessories will cause the exact symptom you describe...because the current is no longer used to charge your battery, it's being used to run all your farkles. After a certain amount of draw, your battery is used to run the farkles too...leaving you stranded, as the bike will no longer start.

Good luck...use the genuine manual and a good digital DVOM for your troubleshooting...AFTER you have disconnected all your accessories and returned the electrical system to stock.

 

If I did it right, I tested the r/r and the stator. The r/r seems fine diode wise and that's all i know about that. The stator however I don't think is right.
The battery at rest is like 11.5-12, when I check the stator at idle they 2 of them are 11.1, and one is 12, and at 5000rpm the first 2 go to 13 but the other one goes down to 11.1
Thoughts? Should I remove the stator cover?

 

++++++1 mello Dude is on top off things :thumbsup:

 

I did do "the drill" and that was my report of what I noticed.

I took the stator cover off, and now I'm getting worried. I found Oil in it? That shouldn't be, should it?
Also I don't think the color of the stator means in good shape?

I added pictures, can you see them?

 

mellodude is on the right page here

 

I think when you chech ohms to ground and other phases you will find it is not in good shape

 

Since you already took the cover off this test is a moote point. You could have cut the three yellow wire connection and gotten an old lamp with an incondecent bult (new fangled ones dont work) and seen how bright the bulb got by touching two of the yellow wires to the plug. Be careful not to touch them together as you will fry out the stator. I never did this test bear in mind, I did check it for AC voltage and got 60 AC current, problem was that everything was soldered together, so I bit the bullet and popped for a new stator. It was a happy ending to the story, bike is on its third stator in its 22 year existence, new wiring harness too...Anyway, you cant take your money with you, you know :rip:

 

So, if you see a train wreck about to happen? its best to avert your eye-balls? I mean, you learn from doing right? so, in this case, what does'nt kill us/him or gets him stranded on a dark desolate road in the middle of bumble fuck, is supposed to make him/stronger? All, I am saying, is this, if you dont know, you dont know...

I have a good shirt that my wife hates, it has the Ahola Monkey on it showing its arse-hole. Do you want me to fed-EX you one???

 

Does it help that he is :canada: IAN ???

 

dude, chill, you have to post stator readings, without that we can not help

 

I Did state my read outs.

But typing that out in a rush I see its pretty unclear.
My battery is in question, I haven't done a load test yet. After being on the battery tender all night, it reads 13.2v, key on 12.3v.
R/R volts at idle is around 12.5, and 13.5 at 5k
The AC volts on the three yellow wires are: A: 11.1v , B: 11.1 C: 12v at idle, and at 5000rpm it reads A: 13v, B: 13v ,C: 11v.
The stator is 1.0Ω on all a,b,c yellow wires.
The stator will not ground.

I realize having a questionable battery may be a problem but I am on order waiting for a replacement, so this is the best I can do with what I have.
I realize most people here are just trying to be helpful, I am capable, I just haven't worked on the charging system of a bike before.

 

Your stator is toast - that picture is not as bad as my stator - but think about it - any stator putting out less than 12 volts is going to be discharging the battery not topping it up. The RR is indeed a piece of witchcraft but it can only do so much - the bit which looks like a pentangle of diodes forces AC volts to flow in one direction only, then the rectifier bit stops the volts exceeding an upper limit usually a bit over 15 volts, dumping the excess volts as heat. What the RR can't do is make low AC volts into higher DC. That string of AC readings should be over 12 volts at idle and nearer 60volts at 5,000!

As you can see below, a bit of oil in the stator housing (an egg cup) is normal - inevitably a bit will seep past the oil seal. But if there is loads you probably need a new oil seal. Here is what a really well fried stator looks like...



The yellow coloured bit of the windings is what they should look like, and that really dark brown section is where the insulation on the windings on one leg of the stator have failed shorting the output through the other windings.


So what to do. 1st ring your dealer and get a QUOTE and part numbers for the parts - a genuine new stator and gasket. Then ring David Silver Spares as they are often a fair bit cheaper for exactly the same part, and will also know if an uprated part is now available. NB I found that the phone staff seem to work to different price lists to the ones on the online shopping site so check both ways. Whilst you are waiting for the parts might as well start to carefully clean off the old gasket so your good to go.

Good luck



SkiMad

 

1. Battery voltage appears okay at 13.2, but pulling down to 12.3 with key on indicates either weak or bad battery, or excessively high power loads.

2. The RR voltage test seemed to indicate that the stator and RR may be good and trying to work but the voltage levels were too low--again maybe due to bad battery or excess accessory power loads.

3. The stator ac voltage test results don't make sense--was that done with the yellow wires connected to the RR, or with the connector open? Did you measure A to B, B to C, C to A? Your reporting makes no sense unless you measured A to ground or something. If done while connected it is not conclusive.

4. The continuity and ground test show okay stator.

A low battery will try to suck all the amps from the RR to charge back up. A weak or bad battery will suck all the amps but not stay charged. Excessive accessory power loads will use up all the available current and cause the voltage level to get pulled too low to charge even a good battery.

Get a known to be good fully charged battery and repeat the stator ac voltage test to determine if the stator is good or bad.