WTF is wrong with my charging system?

[Fred]

I didn't see that anyone had posted this yet, so here's how you test your charging system.

1. Set your multimeter to DC volts and clip the leads to the battery terminals. With everything off, you should see about 12.6 volts or more on a charged battery.

2. Start the bike and watch the volts. They should increase once the engine is running.

3. Rev the engine up to 5000 RPM. Volts should now be around 14. The key here is that you're looking for an increase in voltage over what you saw when the bike was shut off. If voltage increases, then your charging system is working.

4. If you don't see a voltage gain, move to the next step. Locate the wire bundle going from the stator to the voltage regulator. Disconnect the connector between the two. This will be a three pin connector.

5. Set your multimeter to AC volts. Connect it to two of the pins on the connector that leads to the stator/engine. Start the bike and read the voltage. Then move the meter so it's testing another set ot two wires. You want to try all three combinations. You should see a high voltage, perhaps 60 volts. There's no specification for this voltage, so just make sure that you get the same high voltage with each wire pair that you test. Try this with each set of two wires until you've tried all three possible combinations. If any of the combinations does not produce voltage, you have a stator problem.

6. Instead of step 5, you can measure the resistance of the stator with the engine off. Set your meter to Ohms and, as above, try each possible combination of two wires. So test wires 1 and 2, then 1 and 3, and finally 2 and 3. From the service manual, resistance should be 0.22–0.34 Ω at 20°C (68°F).

If the stator checks out, then you either have a broken wire in your wiring harness, or the voltage regulator is bad.

Hope this helps.

[FZ6inNH]

This thread should be made a Sticky since these guys have posted some GREAT tips, troubleshooting techniques, etc... I'll do that!

[AJ_rider]

Originally Posted by FZ6inNH

This thread should be made a Sticky since these guys have posted some GREAT tips, troubleshooting techniques, etc... I'll do that!

I agree. There is a lot of useful information in this thread! Hopefully I wont have to use it *knock on wood* but if I do need it I know where to look! Thanks FZ6inNH and everybody in this thread.

Back to the troublshooting...

[abacall]

Quick updeate:
Of course, it's the simplest explanation, bad battery. I tried trickle charging it for two days, didn't want to hold a charge. I finally took it back to the place I got it. They checked it and said it was just a bad battery. Replaced under warranty. I hope the new one will eliminate my problems.