To MOD or not to MOD.

Hate long posts so gonna get to the point.

1. Honda VFR 800 FI 2001 bought 5 months ago.
2. Battery and regulator fried and replaced 2 months ago.
3. Battery needed charging 2 days ago.
4. Gonna buy a optimiser this week.
5. Should i do the regulator MOD? Is my bike likely to need it being a 2001 model?
6. Why is my new battery already needing charging?

My uncle is willing to do the MOD for me. I just need to understand it and explain it to him. And maybe find, and show him some posts on this forum. Could someone please explain it to me in basic terms?

 

Aggh not good.

Quite a few 5th Gen's seemed to be affected by the dreaded electrical gremlins - so much so that there is an extensive thread routinely referred to as "the drill" designed to help others work out what is up with their bike.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/39277-How-to-fix-common-regulator-Stator-failures

Hopefully you have already seen that thread - if not it is well worth reading (the same tests also apply to 6th gens), before launching in with the full VFRness loom mods which may not fix the underlying problem.

Personally I would consider spending some time to do the drill (post #9 in the above thread) and be guided by the results - and whilst you are there don't forget to check out whether or not any of the more common issues affect your bike - things like fried connectors + bad grounds. Inherently all four elements of your charging system (stator, RR, Battery, Loom) need to be in good order and a fault in any one can cause problems for all or any of the others.

As for your new battery running down - assuming the new battery tests out OK (yes check it! as a tiny percentage of brand new batteries fail very soon) then I guess you may simply have some sort of drain/short (check voltmeter drain at the positive battery terminal and then pull fuses until it stops) or more worryingly it is possible the stator was also affected by the previous RR failure.

So do the drill to check the AC stator output is correct and RR is delivering suitable DC. Note the RR cannot make electricity it simply rectifies AC to DC and then regulates it within a set range - so if the battery is being drained it may be one or more leg of stator is now defective and the stator is just not supplying enough AC to the RR to keep up with the bike demands and recharge the battery.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.




SkiMad

 

Thanks so much. My uncle thinks my 5 mile journeys over the last 2 months have drained the battery. The journeys haven't been long enough to charge the bayttery back up. The rr and now battery have been tested and are working properly.

 

Strangely thousands of motorbike riders reliably commute that sort of distance into Central London on all manner of bikes year after year without any problem. That sort of trip distance should be ample for a modern bike with a decent stator to replenish the start up battery drain. I accept your battery would take a hammering if you are braking that trip up into loads of really short and low speed trips, say a few hundred yards between stops, as the stator/RR will struggle to replenish the starting drain.

As Tink mentions - the charging system on your VFR may check out perfectly whilst the bike is cold, but can fail once it warms up and instead of charging the battery can rapidly drain the battery. That is why you are meant to do "the drill" twice - once with the bike cold and then again after you have taken the bike out for a decent fast ride to get it really hot. That is pretty much what happened when the stator on my 2006 died. The battery failed returning from a very damp trip to North Wales with flooded roads and the electrics did not enjoy being used as a submarine. Electrical tests came up clean when it was cold but once the stator warmed up it shorted out and drained the battery leaving me to call a recovery truck.



SkiMad

 

When you bought the battery did you have them put it on a meter to show you its fully charged?
Do you have a trickle charge on it ever?

 

Yes i saw it fully charged. And no i've never had it on a trickle charge. I've just bought an optimiser today online and will use it each night. Will that be the answer to my problem even if it is the stator?

 

i will ask my uncle to look and perform the drill. If i leave it on a trickle charge each night will that keep the bike running even if the stator is faulty?

 

Good idea - it should be a lot easier to run the checks with help than doing it all yourself.

I am not sure it is worth speculating on whether trickle charging can offset whatever is wrong with the charging system. OK if you need to use the bike to get to work then regular overnight top ups with a trickle charger may be enough, but until you do the diagnostics we have no way of knowing what is really at fault.

You won't be the first VFR owner to find these sort of electrical gremlins frustrating but as a replacement stator could be very expensive I would be tempted to hold off spending out on anything else at least until you have done the drill. If you need help interpreting the results feel free to post up the results. I also suggest you fight your way through pretty much all the posts in that thread - as there is a lot of useful stuff in there including pointers to some brands of replacement parts which you may want to avoid.

In the meantime you might want to update your forum profile (Forum Actions + Edit Profile) to include the specs of your bike and an approximate location - town/city is fine. That way if you really get stuck you just might find someone on here lives nearby and is willing to swing by and help - especially if you have a well stocked beer fridge.

Good luck



SkiMad :smow::smow::smow::smow::smow::smow:

 

Another thing is get a digital volt meter and fit it to the bike and you can see instantly if the alternator is charging or not and I would say yours isn't charging and with a working alternator a few hundred meters will have the battery fully charged again. Charging the battery each night is just a band aid

 

Anyone have picture of a volt meter mounted to a 6 gen? Thanks...maybe an easy mod since bike is idle till February. ..

 

Great idea..thanks

 

Tinker...can you post a pic so I know what your using......no rush..when ya have time
.

 

Thanks...when I was typing you sent the thread...thanks bud

 

Thanks I'll update my profile on my laptop, I will do a lot of reading. But fore the record I live in Fareham UK.

 

Will look into getting one thanks.