Inept mechanic with standard electrical issues!

Hi - I'm new in every sense of the word: New to my bike (VFR800 '02), new to trying to fix it, and new to this forum - so please be gentle with me!

I rode the bike nicely for a while after getting it a few months ago and then summer hit and it was waaaay too hot to ride so it sat in my garage taunting me for a while. When summer finally eased off a bit and I decided to attempt a ride I discovered a completely dead battery... I figured months of sitting there doing nothing and no trickle charger in play - it was silly of me not to expect it.

So I got a new battery and a charger and swapped it out taking care to put the permanent trickle charger leads on so I could leave it plugged in when necessary for a long period without battery draining. Once again I was on the road (hooray!!!)

But the joy was short lived and one evening my lights dimmed as I rode and eventually the bike just stopped with not even enough charge to fire a spark plug. I got towed home and figured I had a charging problem I needed to investigate.... Turns out this is a known "thing" on VFRs!

So a bit of reading and I wonder is my stator cooked or my Rectifier/regulator?... or both?
I find something called "the drill" and decide I need to get cracking.....

Of course nowhere in the drill does it tell me where the components I need to test are on my bike and how I get to them - so it took me quite a while to work out that I need to get underneath the right side fairings....
...and then took me a considerable length for time to work out how to remove them! (Yep - this is *not* my comfortable space at all - but pandemic bits and pieces mean I have less money and more time on my hands than I would usually have - so this needs to be a bit of a project!)

Finally today I got the fairings off - can see the connectors I need to test so I got myself a multimeter and decided to start some testing!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19oRc-xLjWNGpE7s-2DrjplMdfMiR5EyS



Voltage across battery terminals: 12.8V (ok)
Voltage across battery terminals at idle: 11.8V (hmmm.... not so great)

Next step - I went looking for the stator connector to check that it was generating some voltage so with my multimeter set to AC I jammed the red probe into the connector where each of the yellow wires are in here with the black probe on my negative battery terminal:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=187z0wgxBuAD8Y5UHOZF5U_73L0Cv4gRH



Readings were not inspiring:
Wire 1: 5V at idle..... 5V at 5000RPM
Wire2: 4.8V at idle.... 5.1V at 5000RPM
Wire3: 4.8V at idle.... 6.2V at 5000RPM

So I'm reasonably confident that my stator is absolutely toast and that provides a decent explanation as to why my battery wasn't getting charged.... but I'm here now anyway - I might as well see if I can test the R/R right?

So a quick inspection of the connectors in the general area and I can see the wires that come from the RR end up in a connector with 2 red/white wires, 2 green wires and 1 black wire:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=18mK8Mp_log9g3bM27BPumYwDPu3b2Ebz


Now lots of mad googling away to see what I should be testing with the multimeter on diode mode and after watching a gazillion different you tube clips - none of which look quite like my situation cos for a start most guys in videos seem to rip the damn thing off their bike before testing it (which seems like a lot of work if it proves to be ok!)

But when jamming the red probe against the each of the red terminals and checking the reading from the other cables the results were consistent:

Red1 - Green1 = 0.88V
Red2 - Green1 = 0.88V
Red1 - Green2 = 0.88V
Red2 - Green2 = 0.88V
Red1 - Red2 = 0.0V
Red1 - Black = OL
Red2 - Black = OL

and then reversing the probes:

Red1 - Green1 = OL
Red2 - Green1 = OL
Red1 - Green2 = OL
Red2 - Green2 = OL
Red1 - Red2 = 0.0V
Red1 - Black = OL
Red2 - Black = OL

I can't for the life of me work out whether that's good result or not? Have I tested correctly?

Either way - I'm guessing the stator replacement is beyond my capabilities its far too tucked away for my liking so I'm gonna have to pay someone - but it would be nice to know whether the RR needs to go at the same time.

Any advice would be welcome!

(hope these images work - if they don't I'll have to move them and edit this post)

 

letting a battery sit for months without any recharging can kill it. when testing (unpluged) stator AC output you need to place meter leads between each set of yellow wires, not to battery negative.

 

Hence I got a new one.... although actually the old battery charged up again fine once I connected it up and left it for a while.. so now I have a spare!

 

sorry, guess i didn't read it all........ duh !

generally, the best way to test an r/r is by default: that is, if the stator tests good and you're not charging, then the r/r is the problem, but also inspect the red plug on starter solenoid for signs of melting.

 

I agree. Stator test is done with the plug unplugged and testing with the multimeter set to AC and the probes on two of the three stator wires - (A+B, A+C, B+C) both at idle and at 5000 rpm.

 

So - I bit the bullet and ripped a few things apart at the weekend..... and I can confirm stator is *cooked*





Replacement is on order and then the fun begins trying to piece everything back together again!!!

RR - looks to be in ok condition visually and passes sensible diode tests I can do with the meter (now I've worked out which wires to test again what)
Its a "SH689A-12" which I believe is still an OEM one, so if it does fail I'll look into trying to replace with a mosfet one. At least that's a job that looks manageable compared to the stator change, but I cant really justify the ~AU$260 for a "just-in-case" replacement right now.

 

I don't like the black bits... if you check the three yellow wires to each other for uniform resistance, and each to known good ground to see there is no short, MAYBE that stator is OK... I'm guessing marginal, if it were mine, there'd be a new one just based on appearance.

 

So I'm still waiting for my re-wried stator to show up in the post (inter-state postal service in Australia appears to have ground to a halt - I know it was sent over a week ago!).

But in the meantime bits and pieces showed up for my side project of putting in place a voltmeter! So I got myself some bits of wire, some crimpers, a fused relay and some funky connectors....

I'm triggering the relay from the tail light so the meter is only active with ignition, and it reads direct from battery giving a reading that matches my multimeter actors the battery terminals.

Its not as beautiful as some I've seen with people cutting into fairing or the dash to mount the meter in a way that looks amazing - but I'm pretty happy with this:

 

if you feel up behind that voltmeter you will discover that they is a dead space on that side of the panel. Than means you can fit it about as easy as it gets.

 

Are you using a standard 12v automotive relay to trigger it?

 

Yes it is.... take a look here:



It's a standard relay - but with an inbuilt fuse (was cheaper to buy that than buy a separate relay and inline fuse).

I should probably wrap a bunch of electrical tape around the back of the relay to make it a bit more secure - and could do with some cable management of the wires, but essentially I'm just stoked that it all works!

 

I am delighted to report - that following the eventual arrival and fitting of a new stator I am now able to ride again.... AND... the voltmeter reveals a solid steady 14.0V when riding or 13.8V if I'm idling at the lights and have my foot on the brake (guessing the brake light consumes 0.2V?)

Felt good to get out there again!!!!