Charging problem solved

On the advice of Nailer and the links he provided, I finally got my 99 to have a good charge.

Installed the new updated Honda rectifier first. It has larger cooling fins and an included aluminum backing plate to better transfer heat to the frame. I checked the charge, 12.7 and climbing slowly at idle. However at 4k it dropped to 12.4 and I was NOT happy.

So following directions, I ran two wires directly spliced from the red wires on the rectifier straight to the positive terminal on the battery and two negatives to the stock ground point on the frame. Now I was getting 13v at idle, a solid 14 above that.

Also with the aftermarket rectifier that was on there (much smaller BTW) the yellow wires from the stator were getting VERY hot. Now they're quite cool.

I'm elated, thought I'd pass this information along.

 

Glad to hear you got it fixed. To fix mine, I got a new r/r from Mike Motorsports Electrics (a beefier unit too). and I ended up bypassing the wiring harness altogether. I had a positive wire (12 gauge I think) to the battery, a 10 ga ground to the battery, and I ran three yellow wires to the stator. Fixed my problem of chargins 13.5 volts at idle, 14.5 between 2K and 3K rpm, and then 13.5 3k rpm and up. After bypassing the harness, it started charging liek it should, 13.5 at idle, 14.5 from 1.5K rpm on up.

 

I know we're beating this RR/RR subject to death but here's an FYI. My 98 VFR, bought new and now with 20,000 miles, has had a few charging problems.
It all came to a head last Sept. when it died after a 200 mile sunday ride, 20 miles from home. I got it home and and found the connector from the stator to the RR/RR was completely fried- I had to cut the plastic connector and terminals to get it apart. I ordered a replacement from ElectroSport and took off on a 1600 ride to WV and back-no problem.
Yesterday after a 50 mile ride, I noticed a burning smell and again, the wires from the stator to the RR/RR were fried!!! A call to ElectroSport tech support told me they are re-desiging that model and that it would be replaced under warranty... surprise, surprise!!
I'm not an electrical engineer but I have many years of working on my own sh.t (I've broken alot of it too) and have yet to hear of why the VFR's problem exists. BTW, the yellow wires from the stator are 16-18+/- gage verses ElectroSport's wires to the RR/RR of 10 gage. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. BTW, all voltages are in step with the workshop manual.

Mac Morgan
mmorgan@devonmd.com

 

As I said in my previous post, a couple extra ground and positive wires need to be run, plus the Electrasport R/R that was on the VFR was in the process of frying my wires as well. Put a factory Honda unit on, no problems since my last post.