[BigT]

I have a '00 vulcan with ~17,500 miles. I am having problems with the charging system (big surprise huh?). At idle I'm getting about 13 volts checking with a digital multimeter across the battery terminals, it tops out a little over 14.5 @ ~ 4000 rpm's. Sounds good right?

Here's the problem, I check everything after a 20 minute or so ride and the voltage is 12.3 at best, sometimes dropping to 11.95. Rpm does not affect the voltage. I disconnected the wires from the r/r and checked the yellow wires with the multimeter on AC setting and am getting a reading of 40 to 60 (from 2500 to 4000 rpm) which makes me think that the stator is fine. Does this sound like the r/r is bad or could it be a bad connection somewhere? I've checked the ground connection from the battery and it seems fine, the connections at the battery itself are good and tight also. It does not make sense to me that I'm only seeing problems after warming up the bike. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dianna]

You may want to do a stator wire (ohms) test on the warmed up bike
Unplug and test the three yellow stator wires;
they should be .34 to .52 ohms between any
combination of the yellow wires, with no shorts to
ground.
If it is a stator going bad, I think you may find you have a short to ground on one of the three wires.
That is how I found mine. Bike would charge fine until it got warmed up. All the tests were good or a little off on a cold bike, but a different story once it was warmed up (usually about 5 miles down the road)

As far as the R/R test it should be as follows
Quoted from the manual as much as possible:

Regulator/Rectifier Inspection

Remove the left side cover.
Pull out the connector.
Be sure to set the hand tester to the 100 ohm range and zero
the meter(Not necessary on a digital meter)
Check the resistance between the regulator/rectifier terminals
as follows(there is a chart and picture in the manual which I
cannot reproduce right now but I will try to put it in words
for you)

A1 A2 A3 All Alternator Terminals
--- --- ---
Connector with pins facing
you and notch at bottom
--- --- ---
G M B G = Ground M = Monitor B = Battery

--|__|--

(Hope that came across right)


Measure B to M - should read infinity
Measure B to G - should read infinity
Measure B to A1, A2, A3 - should read infinity
Measure M to B - should read > 10K ohm
Measure M to G - should read > 10K ohm
Measure M to A1, A2, A3 - should read > 10K ohm
Measure G to B - should read between 0.4 to 2K ohm
Measure G to M - should read between 1 to 5K ohm
Measure G to A1, A2, A3 - should read 0.2 to 0.6K ohm(200 to 600 ohm)
Measure A1, A2, A3 to B - should read 0.2 to 0.6K ohm(200 to 600 ohm)
Measure A1, A2, A3 to M - should read infinity
Measure A1, A2, A3 to G - should read infinity

If there is more resistance than the specified value, the unit has an
open lead and must be replaced. Much less than this resistance means
the unit is shorted, and must be replaced.

Hope this helps someone out there.

Dan Morgan
2K VN750
VROC #9566
Altus, OK

If both of these check out ok then it could be a short somewhere else. Under the seat or along the front neck areas are usually prime suspect areas since wires tend to rub a bit there.

Hate to sound pessimistic but.. my stator on my 2000 shorted to ground at about the same mileage.

 

[Ironman]

Dianna and I both had the same problem. Little or no stator output when the thing got hot. Mine was bad right off the show room floor. Drove me nuts. (If I knew then what I know now...) Point is, you have to perform the tests after the bike gets up to operating temperature. Seems weird, but it's true.

 

[artman]

http://www.electrosport.com/Images/fault_finding.pdf

Check this site out and you'll be led in the right direction.

 

[BigT]

Thanks Dianna, I found the r/r test procedure in the verses, but I'm multimeter challenged.

I've been able to figure out the AC and DC settings, but the resistance still baffles me. I was hoping that the AC readings from the stator (yellow wires) once the bike warms up was a good sign. The settings on my meter (digital electro-tek) are 20M, 2M, 200K, 20K, 2K and 200 w/ some sort of noise looking symbol. Which setting should I put the meter on to get an accurate resistance reading.

Will I need to test the r/r with the bike hot or can that be done cold?

 

[Crobins365]

Thanks Dianna, I found the r/r test procedure in the verses, but I'm multimeter challenged.

I've been able to figure out the AC and DC settings, but the resistance still baffles me. I was hoping that the AC readings from the stator (yellow wires) once the bike warms up was a good sign. The settings on my meter (digital electro-tek) are 20M, 2M, 200K, 20K, 2K and 200 w/ some sort of noise looking symbol. Which setting should I put the meter on to get an accurate resistance reading.

Will I need to test the r/r with the bike hot or can that be done cold?

Looks like there are lots of members of the MC club (multimeterly challenged) - welcome! The ohms (resistance) symbol is an omega (looks like a hot air balloon with two little arms coming off the bottom - when this symbol is at its complete bow :notworthy , that's what it looks like); I tihnk you can put your multimeter on "automatic" and it should find the right range (someone correct me on that if I'm wrong), although to test the stator, you're looking at less than 1 ohm resistance (so you want a low reading).

The Kaw repair manual says to test the stator, set the meter to x1 omega. FOr the r/r, set the tester to the 100 omega range.

 

[93VN750]

My money says your stator is toast.

Need to check the dc resistance of each yellow wire to ground. Should be infinite hot or cold.

Mine read the same as yours measuring the voltage at the yellow leads while running, still had bad stator.

If you can tell us make/model of your meter, we can tell you how to set it in order to make the measurement.

Jon

 

[BigT]

My money says your stator is toast.

Need to check the dc resistance of each yellow wire to ground. Should be infinite hot or cold.

Mine read the same as yours measuring the voltage at the yellow leads while running, still had bad stator.

If you can tell us make/model of your meter, we can tell you how to set it in order to make the measurement.

Jon

It's an electro-tek digital multimeter from wal-mart with the resistance settings of 20M, 2M, 200K, 20K and 2K. There's also a 200 with an audio symbol next to it on the resistance settings. There's no model number on the meter, so I'm not sure what the model # is.

I hope that you're wrong, but I'd just like to know one way or the other. This is driving me crazy. :doh:

 

[93VN750]

It's an electro-tek digital multimeter from wal-mart with the resistance settings of 20M, 2M, 200K, 20K and 2K. There's also a 200 with an audio symbol next to it on the resistance settings. There's no model number on the meter, so I'm not sure what the model # is.

I hope that you're wrong, but I'd just like to know one way or the other. This is driving me crazy. :doh:

Basically if you set it on the 20M scale, it should show about the same reading as when you just have the two leads in free air. That's infinite.

If you get any solid number from any yellow lead to ground, you found your problem.

Jon

 

[BigT]

I'll give it a shot when I get home from work and see what I can come up with.

Thanks for your help.

Tony

 

[BigT]

Update

Being multimeter challenged, I may have this wrong but it appears that the stator is fine. I checked the yellow wires while cold and again after taking the bike for a spin. The r/r seems to be the problem, some of the readings are pretty close to what they should be, but the G to B is in the 13+ range.

I found an electrex (sp?) r/r on BikeBandit.com for ~$90. Anybody have any experience with electrex and/or BikeBandit?

 

[93VN750]

Being multimeter challenged, I may have this wrong but it appears that the stator is fine. I checked the yellow wires while cold and again after taking the bike for a spin. The r/r seems to be the problem, some of the readings are pretty close to what they should be, but the G to B is in the 13+ range.

I found an electrex (sp?) r/r on BikeBandit.com for ~$90. Anybody have any experience with electrex and/or BikeBandit?

There have been some problems with the electrix r/r. I have Rick's and think it is a better made part.

Try Rick's here http://www.ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/index.php.

Jon

 

[Foxhound]

Being multimeter challenged, I may have this wrong but it appears that the stator is fine. I checked the yellow wires while cold and again after taking the bike for a spin. The r/r seems to be the problem, some of the readings are pretty close to what they should be, but the G to B is in the 13+ range.

I found an electrex (sp?) r/r on BikeBandit.com for ~$90. Anybody have any experience with electrex and/or BikeBandit?

I've got a R/R from BB and had no problems with it as of yet. Over 1K miles since the stator/R/R replacements.

 

[slimvulcanrider]

OK I am having charging issues as well. My stator checks out fine...no short to ground, resistance in yellow wires is with in specs. the R/R also tests fine. Now here is where it gets weird. One of the Yellow wires from the Stator gets abnormaly hot along with the the Monitor wire from the R/R..so i am assuming that the Monitor wire is shorting out somewhere..where does the moitor wire run to, and is it in the headlight circut? I am allso having an intermitant issue with the headlight. All fuses are good, and I have replaced the Battery.

 

[slimvulcanrider]

Note on the abnormaly hot wires...I insepected the Monitor Wire (Brown) and noticed it was a little burnt, not bad just a little. I decided to check the monitor wire for grounding and it definatly grounds out somwehre. also the one stator wire that gets realy realy hot is A2, the wire that is directly above M. I disconected the Staror and the R/R, and and tested for continuity between wire terminal A2, and all three wires at the stator end. Found one wire with continuity as suspected. (Duh). then checked the same wire for short to ground. No such luck. Then checked M wire (brown) for short to ground and presto, BEEEP...my Ohm meter went off like a smoke alarm. So here is my next question as I logicaly put this together in my head. I traced out all the places that wire M goes through the manual. And Boy does that wire get around. The ignition switch, brake light switches, tail lights instrument lights head light, kill switch, and a ffew other places...

What should I do, start by replacing the wiring harness? Then move on to the ignition switch and brake light switches? or can this wire give me a direct to ground because it goes to light bulbs and such?

Please some advice to the NooB!

 

[Mastertech]

Put one mutimeter wire on the ground terminal of the battery[ use an exstension] you must have a solid known ground, and use the positive lead of the voltmeter to probe the three yellow wires ,one at at time with the stator wires disconnected . You should see infinity, which mean there is no connection between the positive lead and the negative lead on the volt meter. If one has a reading, then there is a shorted stator to ground;

 

[slimvulcanrider]

Well Mastertech i think that is what I stated when i said "Then checked M wire (brown) for short to ground and presto, BEEEP...my Ohm meter went off like a smoke alarm."

But I found the problem...M was grounding out along the frame where the wiring harness goes next to the battery...looks like the seat rubbed it wrong. also found Teminal "G" of the r/r plug was melted and G was touching A1...repaired this and R/R works now. 14.0 volts at idle 1.6 at 4000 rpm...so far it is working right

 

[Mastertech]

Thats my boy!!!

 

[slimvulcanrider]

Yup Yup...thanks to all your' help guys. after i get a new ignitor, the bike should be running like a dream...then comes the fun part....CUSTOMIZING!!!

 

[Mastertech]

Slim, did i mention to check the pick-up coils????