Charging Guru Needed

[Sandy]

Problem is bike (GS1000N) is only charging just over 12 volts (12.2 - 12.4). Just enough to maintain the battery so the bike is rideable without actually discharging the battery.

1.) Stator. It's got an old aftermarket stator, not sure which brand because I it got off an old parts bike. Yellow wires so probably not an original. Checks out fine, 65VAC at 5,000 on all wires, 2.0 ohms across all wires and no continuity to ground.

2.) R/R. It had an old Honda 5 wire R/R for last 10 or so years which I suspected was the cause so changed it out with a SH775 clone. Probably a fake shunt because it was cheap but still should charge. It made no change in charge. Wired directly to battery. Reinstalled old R/R and there is only a 1/10 or 2 variation between the 2 R/R's.

3.) Battery. One year old Yuasa wet cell that seems good as it readily accepts a charge from a battery tender. Battery will hold a charge for months.

4.) Wiring. Last winter serviced all the connectors and grounds and all seemed fine before and after. Wire to headlight switch was bypassed years ago. I did find a slightly pitted contact in the ignition switch and burnished it. I don't have single point ground but R/R as mentioned is direct to battery.

I'm kind of at my wits end and just wondering what to check next.

[Grimly]

My money's on a partial short in the stator windings under load.
I'd get rid of the fake 775 out of principle, whether that's at fault or not.

[Nessism]

A new stator and real deal SH775 is a shortcut to long term success. https://www.ebay.com/itm/126011048028

If money is tight, use loose wires w/spade terminals to attach the R/R, then fill the cavity with electrical (low acid) RTV. It works fine, and saves money on buying a connector. I'll send you a tube of RTV if you can't find any local, for the cost of shipping.

P1040151 by nessism, on Flickr

[Sandy]

My money's on a partial short in the stator windings under load.
I'd get rid of the fake 775 out of principle, whether that's at fault or not.

My thoughts exactly and ordered up a new one. I thought also possible is a new defective (aka cheap) R/R. I'll find out when the new stator arrives. Yeah, maybe put the reliable old Honda one back in. Just kidding.

[Sandy]

A new stator and real deal SH775 is a shortcut to long term success. https://www.ebay.com/itm/126011048028

If money is tight, use loose wires w/spade terminals to attach the R/R, then fill the cavity with electrical (low acid) RTV. It works fine, and saves money on buying a connector. I'll send you a tube of RTV if you can't find any local, for the cost of shipping.

P1040151 by nessism, on Flickr

That's how I wired the new one. Probably time to stop being a cheap prick and spend some money. The current stator and R/R have given me about 15 years and 50,000 kms of trouble free use though. We'll see what happens after the new stator.

[Suzukian]

There's this stuff called Plas-T-Pair, you just rub some Vaseline with a Q-Tip inside the housing, keep the connectors clean, they can be cleaned afterwards, with the connectors connected, fill it with the white power. Pour in the fluid, and weight till it hardens. You will have a permanent plug with a Dielectric resistance of 10K volts. I used this stuff when I used to make electrostatic speakers. I made customer header pins with it, and extremely high voltage connector headers. The Vaseline allows you to pull out the hardened plug, and it takes the exact shape, you can fix almost anything with this stuff. This stuff has been around for over 60 years. All the electronic shops I know have it, we used to make molds and repair knobs for old tube amps. The uses are too much to list, but for making a plug connector for the R/R that you can remove, this is the best way to go.

https://www.amazon.com/AmplifiedParts-Plas-T-Pair-by-Rawn/dp/B00E1QZ8O2

Plas-T-Pair.jpg

[1978GS750E]

Or........just buy the correct Triumph connector........#T2500676. If I remember correctly, they are less than $20 shipped! I've always used Hermys Triumph for them.

[Suzukian]

I didn't know those were available, great idea! For $13 plus change, you can't go wrong.

https://www.adeptpowersports.com/oem-parts/triumph-link-lead-regulator-t2500676-part.html

R-R connector.jpg

[salty_monk]

Yeah the Triumph connector is the cheapest way. Eastern Beaver sells the connectors if you want them separate. I've seen what you're seeing before where the stator doesn't perform under load. From memory 65vAC isn't partiularly high for one of these stators either.
For a cheap alternative there is a Kawasaki stator that fits. I can't remember the model it comes from but BWringer will know probably as he turned me onto them...

[Suzukian]

I used a Kawasaki XS1100 R/R for my bike. It was huge, big cooling fins. I mounted it under the seat where the tool box used to be it, hanging on the cross member, straight down. Haven't had a problem with it That was a decade ago. .

[Sandy]

Well that's disappointing. Old stator looks fine. New one arrives tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. Could still be failing under load from a broken wire but it's not burnt and it did test OK with no load however.

Stator by soates50, on Flickr

[Suzukian]

A couple of the windings look like they got really hot, compared to the nice tightly wound ones. You can never tell without a load on them anyways.

[Sandy]

A couple of the windings look like they got really hot, compared to the nice tightly wound ones. You can never tell without a load on them anyways.

I guess 65vac isn't enough to charge properly. Installed the new stator this evening and got 80vac. All is well. Any stators I've seen fail in the past looked WAY more crusty than that one and with no doubt failed any tests. Live and learn as they say. That one did last quite few years. I like it more when things just fail ..... not sort fail maybe. Lol.

[Suzukian]

When mine went bad, I thought, "I got 30 years out of it". That's really nothing to complain about.