crap! Stator/R/R meltdown 3 months in?

in December I purchased and installed a VFRNess, Ricks Stator & R/R and an new Lithum Ion battery

Took today off to go for a ride and was greeted by a reset clock 1:00 and a partially dead battery.

F$%cking shit. I can't believe that I have this just 3 months after installing all new.

Charging the battery all day and just ran a voltage test and I'm off more than 20% on one phase.

Lesson learned, when people tell you to scrap the VFRNess and hard wire (aka solder) the connection, LISTEN.

Still waiting to hear from WireMyBike.com about the warrenty, but not looking forward to missing all this great riding weather while I return/wait for replacement.

Had a great little ride planned for today. 300 miles and a stop at Short Sugar's for bbq in Reidsville. I'm wishing I wouldn't have sold the ST1300. I love this bike ('98 VFR800), but the reliabilty of a 300amp alternator can not be overlooked.

Suggestions (other than scrapping a $130 VFRNess and soldering) the next one are welcome.

 

Tat sorry. I don't know anything about the VFRNess but I assume it is just heavier wires but connecting back to the existing connectors. I hear that the wire size was reduced on the later models but to this stage I have not heard of the original wires failing in the middle of the wire, which proves the wire diameter is not the problem, it all comes down to the connectors. If anybody has had wires fail (not connectors) I would be interested to know.

 

SOLDER= no problem.
Takes 5 minutes, costs nothing, problem gone.
Can't understand why people have such a hard time understanding this.

 

Ahem ahem (clearing throat) What were you saying??? Just take your own advise!!! There are no other 100% fixes, trust me..........................

 

Fried!

 

You are kidding, is that the new one? if so this is just bullshit. makes a mockery of this VFRNess stuff. Is the VFRNess a Honda so called fix, is this what the recalls were all about, sounds like a useless bandaid that doesn't work, problem is people fit these thinking they can ride off into the sunset, happily forever, but it still uses the same useless connectors. How many more people are going to get burned with this shit

 

Now in defense of the VFRNess it may not be the wiring/lug problem as much as a bad/low battery. I had read something to the point of how the regulator charges. I can't find the article but I think it went something like this.

Under normal charging when riding with a fully charged battery the RR puts out low amperage of about 1-2 amps like a trickle charger. But when the battery drops below I think something like 12v the RR goes in to high amp charge of about 13ish amps. This will create a larger pull from the stator and a lot of heat. Which is fine if the connector is large enough and the contacts are clean and mating well. Because of the heat the contacts will start to oxidize or whatever they do to build resistance. Which puts more draw on the stator and RR which creates more heat and on and on.

So the connection even if it is the right size and it's not taken car of will deteriorate over time when large loads are asked of it. So if you keep your battery up to snuff to where it just needs a topping off all should be fine. If your battery is low a lot or bad battery the RR goes into overtime and then suffers because of the connectors. Soldering the wires together removes all that extra heat. Plus the wires don't get hot like with a connector in the circuit.

All this is from memory and I have CRS. So you may want to check it out yourself. The info may have been on one of the elec suppliers site. I thought it was on Mike Nixon's site: http://www.motorcycleproject.com/ but I can't find it.

After doing my 83 back around 90 I never had another problem with the RR (original) and the wires have stayed soft like the rest of the harness. Even with low and bad batteries I've had over the years.

The reason mine started to melt was the 130w headlite I was running at the time. Pulled a lot juice.


Edit add: The contacts in the connectors are only crimped on the wires. Crimps are not that good IMO. I'm wondering if this isn't the real problem. If you solder the connectors it might reduce the resistance in the connection and generate less heat.

 

Grey, just more proof the connector is the cause of constant grief, it should be one of the first things pointed out to any new member joining as part of the welcome, first thing you do after purchasing any VFR, remove the connector and solder the wires. Might cause a spike in soldering iron sales though. The annoying part about the VFRNess is it obviously doesn't fix the problem, eventually everybody gets a low battery , caused by many reasons and the rec/reg makes the wiring work harder, so if you are going to bring out a fix for an existing problem, make sure the fix is going to do the bloody job, and using the same connectors that fail is just bloody dumb, even if they were soldered, they are still a push together connector, and that is where the problem starts

 

I'm not blaming the VFRNess or Rick's Stator R/R. I just saying that when I get the replacements, I WILL be soldering them.

Shame, I spent over $400 hoping to avoid this a second time and this failure is MUCH worse than the first (in December). Really it's a lot worse, because it's been in the 70's for the last two days and tomorrow and this weekend are going to be PERFECT riding weather here in NC.

Just wanted to share a cautionary tale to anyone who thinks simply replacing is the answer.

Ride Safe.

Becker (aka HellFishTat)

 

Tat somehow we have to keep this topic top of the page and keep banging on about it to try and get the message across to everybody that this problem WILL hit them at some stage and then it is too late.. Trouble is most people are ostriches and keep their head in the sand and hope the problem will miss them

 

the fried wires (use to be red) are coming from the stator. the partially fried wires (red/yellow) are from the Stator. The green/red wires are from the VFRNess.

My brother is a certified master mechanic. I had him help to make sure I didn't do things wrong. There really is only one way to install the VFRNess (per the instructions). I checked the voltage at the back of the Stator connection once everything was done (per Rick's youtube videos) and my readings were correct.

Joshua has been very helpful. I have the RMA number to send everything back to Rick's. He (Joshua) assured me he has only had 3-4 RMA's in 6 years, and that Rick's is good at living up the their warranty. I just hate missing out on riding over this, and probably next, weekend.

 

guilty as charged, although my wife would say my head is stuck somewhere, just not in the sand

 

Got the Stator and R/R back today. They tested and said both were working, just a high resistance issue at the gang connectors. they replaced that with 3 individual connectors. I called and told them I was going to cut and solder and wanted to know if that would void the remaining warrenty, they said no problem and they'd make a note of that.

I'm still bummed it happed and I missed past weekend in the 70's riding. Oh well. This weekend I'm camping with my daughter at a YMCA event. I guess I'll have to wait until next weekend.

Cheers!

Kevin (aka HellFishTat)

 

Okay. Now I really need help.

Go the stator, reg/rec back from Rick's elec and they said it checked out fine. Re-installed with soldered connections. Went out for a ride this beautiful Sunday morning and noticed 50miles in that my clock had reset to 1:00am again. Pulled over, got out the volt meter and checked at battery with engine off, 13.2. Checked at the battery with engine running 12.1. Not charging.

Pulled the headlight 20a fuse and limped home.

Checked volts at battery 13.9. Checked with engine running 14.9 WTF?

What other reasons could the clock/trip odo reset?

I love this bike but if it's going to have intermittent electrical problems, especially if it's going to leave me stranded for a third time, it's going away.

 

Like HellFishTat, I am having trust issues with my VFR and would like to do something proactive to solve what appears to be the VFR Achilles Heel.

First I heard "Fit a VFRness, problem solved" and now I'm hearing other things so a little confused. It seems pointless to me to own a sport TOURING bike that I can't trust far from home and I'd really like to address this electrical problem before I become another pissed off former VFR owner. Is there a post anywhere pointing to what exactly I should be doing to minimize this risk, as in, what exactly needs soldering or replacing to have a reasonably reliable electrical system? Pics and specific recommendations please. I'm a lousy wrench, electricals confuse the shit out of me, and I'm the kind of guy who would rather work overtime and pay a competent tech to do this job right the first time so I can ride in peace.

There are few things worse on a bike tour than having a catastrophic electrical system failure when you're way out in the boonies on your precious 1 or 2 week bike vacation that you've been waiting all year for.

 

Check ALL grounds.

 

Check your earth block.
It can make all sort or weird issues, clock resetting is one of them.
It is taped up in the main wiring harness near the R&R.
Remove it, add a new large gauge earth wire back to the battery and solder the lot.

 

Did you check it when you got home, motor running and headlight on?

 

Yes check you battery ground at engine, your wiring grounds at the frame,where ever it is, green wires. Are you sure your battery is good. Will it pass a load test? Wondering about contacts in the ignition switch. That's where the main power comes from.

Just some thoughts.