Maybe some of you have experienced this. I replaced my RR unit at 5000 miles and everything was working fine for about a week and a half of one hour commutes. Then one day the bike started doing all the things it does when the battery is dying ie: tach jumps, odo and clock resets. Anyway I got home to start checking things and noticed that the output plug from the RR had come disconnected. I thought, "Well shit, I'll just plug it back in and put a zip tie around it so it doesn't come undone again." That did not solve the problem. The battery is still not getting charged. The battery is good(charges back up with a trickle charger and holds charge when not running) and I did all the leak testing, stator test etc. and everything points to the RR. The stator wires are pretty hot too when the bike is running and one of the yellow wires on the RR side is turning brown. Would the RR burn out again from the plug coming disconnected?
I don't know that it would burn out from becoming disconnected. But that yeow wire turning brownleads me to believe that there is a problem elsewhere. You sid you replace the r/r at 5000 miles. That seems like an early death for that part, but I ma not familiar with the failings of the VFR r/r's (i.e how reliable they are or if the failures are hit and miss). Also, did you replace it with an OEM or aftermarket r/r? Someone else might have better knowledge, but maybe the stator is going out and thats the reason for the burnt wire. As a start, if you have a multi-meter and have a service manual, the manual should tell you what wires to check for resistance. This might help determining the problem, if it is the r/r or something else.
RR answers for your 98 Hey Zona... I own a '99 same thing basically. It's been a while..was probably 2000 when my RR burnt out. Killed the battery with it. So, I did some tests once I got everything squared away. Ran around town with a thermocouple on the RR heatsink. It was running extremely hot. Fashioned up a bracket for a 12V muffin fan..like used in computer hardware..attached to the front side of the RR heatsink and spliced it into the talilight cct. Did the run again and saw markedly cooler operation. Have been running 30Kmiles without problems since. Mine burnt out at 6K I think. I complained mightily to Honda about this situation because my bike died in a very dangerous situation. Seems they have relocated the RR unit to a place where it will now get some air. For us though...the only solution is to force cool it with a fan. Being in AZ probably doesn't help. I remember a friend with a Katana down there had his faring melt... the bike was getting so hot. Let me know if you want a pic of my setup and I'll get it to your email on Saturday. Cheers.
My battery is holding a charge still. It was just a few weeks old. I did all the tests from my Haynes manual and the Electrosport diagnostic flowchart and everything points to the RR. My stator is fine...the resistance tests and my voltage was at about 58-60 on all three yellows, which is within the recommended range. The tests for leaks that show a short somewhere were also fine. I have cleaned grounds and some connections. I have seen the posts on the fans and rewirings as well. I think I will get another RR from electrosport (I wish I knew the comparison to Honda OEM) and check the numbers again. I am also going to try the soldering recommendation instead of using the plugs. I'm going to be pissed if the new RR goes again even when all the other tests are fine.
VMAN, I replaced with the Eletrosport one originally. I have seen varied opinions on their products. I am debating whether to get one of theirs or go OEM. I found a Honda place that has them(OEM) for about $140 instead of the typical $200. Anyone know what gauge of wire their running on those? I think I might put it up under the wheel well to get more air....or put the fan on it.
A fan might be a good idea. I haven't ever relocated an r/r so I can't really say if it's a good idea or not. A PC cpu fan will probably work very well as they are usualle small or even a hard drive fan. I bought a HD fan for my secondary drove on my pc but I have not installed it yet. It's a dual fan unit, one to pull away heat and one to draw in cooler air. Hope you get it worked out.
I got a reponse from the tech man at Electrosport and he told me that if the red wires touch the ground wires upon coming unplugged could have burned out the RR. So anyone reading this, make sure your plugs stay together and prevent my misfortune! I decided to order the Honda RR since the Electrosport one has to be modified a little to connect it. I don't want anymore short problems. UPDATE: I put in the Honda OEM RR and it is way bigger with more surface area than the Electrosport one and I am assured that it won't come disconnected and is connected well because of the correct plugs (ES RR did not come with both plugs being correct; stator plug was wrong). No probs and have been riding on 100+ degree days. ES does have a great troubleshooting flowchart though!!!
Heads up for anyone using a PC Fan to cool their R/R: While researching many threaded discussions I've found that in many cases the computer fan motors fry up quickly due to the instability or rather, inconsistency of the flow of electricity on motorcycles. I'm riding an 87 VFR 700. I found a deal on an RR off an 84 VF 500 on ebay for $40. So rather than spending $150-200 on a new RR for my 80's beater-bike, I decided to try and make this one work. The wires line up almost identically - the only difference is that the RR off the 84 had one extra black wire coming off of it. I cut the plugs off the bad RR and quick-spliced them into the corresponding wires of the new RR and I left that black wire out entirely. I researched that the black wire on the 84 is a lead that runs to the electronic fuel pump and since the 87 fuel pump's electricity was already regulated through one of the other wires, I simply taped up that black wire. I think my next project is going to be to mount a fan on my RR so I won't have to do this again soon. I'll probably use that black wire to power my fan. Has ANYONE used any 12 volt automotive fans and if so, do you know the part number at NAPA or any other autoparts store? I'm hoping to avoid a computer fan as I don't want to have to rewire a new one every time there's a spike in power and the thing fries. THANKS!
