Dreaded electrickery

I suppose it had to happen sooner or later according to all the warnings I've read since buying the 2000 gen 5. Turned the key yesterday after 3 weeks of not riding her , turned over slowly then stopped turning suddenly as if a wire was pulled , I turned key off and on quickly and it turned over a couple of times and fired up. While letting it warm up I noticed the clock had reset to zero. I then went and rode it hard for about 80klm thinking flat battery need to charge it. Got home, let it cool down then put the multimeter on it as the clock resetting was worrying, it read 12.6v ignition off ,13.7v at 5000rpm. I did put a USB port on a couple of months ago wired directly to the battery. I suppose I'll have to do " the drill "or use it as an excuse to trade up

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

Now you have had a warning, fix the bloody thing so the next owner doesn't get caught with this piece of incompetent Honda wiring crap, or if you decide to keep it, you won't get stranded by the side of the road

 

That just means you've finally JOINED THE CLUB !! :eagerness:



Seems like 13.7 @5k is on the lower end of what's acceptable, but meters may vary. Inspect both plugs on r/rr and also the underside of the wires plugging in to the starter solenoid for signs of melting or other thermal distress.

 

Don't worry norm I wouldn't sell this thing, but I would use the electrical problem as an excuse with the wife to add a "more reliable" bike to the stable, mmm fireblade maybe. The fairings will be coming off tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

Oh and g'day to the 6th gen I followed for a while heading west on kilcoy-beerwah rd at about 11am yesterday.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

I get 13.7-13.8 at most rpm but then my bike is running a shunt type RR out of a Ducati. That has been plenty to keep my battery topped up and happy. If the wiring looks OK (especially the RR/stator connector and battery terminals) then I would toss in a new battery.

 

Today was ignition off 12.5v and a steady 13.95v with motor running, which is what it has been since I've had it (3 yrs ). It's always been slow to start after sitting for a week. Already had an rr upgrade with 2 thick grounds n 2 thick positive leads out of rr. Nevertheless the fairings will be coming off tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

It is hard to tell this now because the system has changed. If the battery was dead, when you rode it, the battery looked like a tiny impedance to the system, aka a short. This means massive current flows from the stator, more than it is rated for under the normal operating conditions. Like any short this super heats the stator. Don't worry as many of us have done this before knowing. Get yourself a battery tender and never ride the bike with a dead battery.

Definitely as part of the drill critically examine the stator for burnt wiring. If so it could still pass the voltage tests but start to flake out only when hot, thus you would replace it.

 

And for a bit more peace of mind fit a volt meter on it, that way you can monitor what is going on with the charging so that if something starts failing you get some warning

 

Voltmeter addition very sound advise. Your choice LED, analog, digital whatever...better than none.

IMHO should be equipped OEM on any modern, serious road going motorbike.

 

Thanks guy's. Where's the best place to wire the volt meter is there a fuse box to run it from or splice into any power wire up near the dash

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

I have my meter wired direct to the battery posts, with the positive feed going through a fuse and a relay. The relay is activated from the taillight power. I did it this way as I already had a connector in place for a charger, and I used that to feed heated grips and the voltmeter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I placed my voltmeter in that black plastic trim panel on the left (between the tank and fairing) and wired into a positive and ground in the blue wire harness.
It only works with the key in the ignition.

 

Pick up any ignition on live wire, they are already fused, it is just to give you an indication as to what voltage is in the system so it does not matter where the active comes from

 

$5 HF "Alternator tester"

 

Just a quick update. Here's a couple of pics of the stator and rr connection. Symptom or cause of problems?
Just received roadster cycle rr and harness, hopefully the cure

 

Stator connector is the cause and what you see are the symptons of a bad connector

 

Yeah no more connectors and a cooler rr and separate harness straight to battery. The stator tested ok so should be good to go

 

Sorry coming to this fairly late but just in case you have missed it, this is the thread where pretty much all you need to know about VFR electrical gremlins has been discussed to death - http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/39277-How-to-fix-common-regulator-Stator-failures

The "drill" is explained in post #9, and parts to avoid/choose are covered in posts 32 -41.

Whilst your photo shows some charring on the connector do not jump to conclusions! If that proves to be the problem then maybe remove the connector and use proper soldered and shrink wrapped joins instead - the process is covered in the same thread.

Do the drill - TWICE once with the bike cold and then again after the bike has been on a 20 minutes plus ride and the charging system should be good and hot as insulation on wiring in things like the stator might start to fail when hot and then instead of charging the battery can actually start to drain the battery.

Perhaps the most important message is to check your battery is in good health before you start those checks as otherwise you will get false results. Batteries don't last forever and if its on its way out it could be why the rest of the charging system is running at high loads for extended periods causing that charred connector. Elsewhere in the thread above you will find some simple ways to check whether your battery needs to be replaced.

Another worrying comment concerns your USB accessory. You do appreciate that because a USB supplies 5v DC there must be some sort of electrical voltage transforming going on which probably means a constant power drain even if nothing is plugged into the USB socket. I have no idea what your aftermarket unit comprises but it is never a good idea to add a permanent load directly across the battery terminals. At the very least it really should be connected via a fuse with power taken from an "ignition on" circuit! If the circuitry in the USB accessory is really crap drawing a lot of current - it could actually be the real cause of your current problems !

So please disconnect that USB gizmo - fully charge and load test the battery, if its good then do "the drill" and then, if you need help interpreting the results just post up the numbers here.

Once the charging is sorted fitting a cheapo led volt meter wired to earth and an "ignition on" feed will give you a heads up if things are going wrong and hopefully give enough warning to avoid being stranded.

Good luck let us know how you get on.



SkiMad