Bad Stator - confirm?

[allojohn]

I've had this machine back on the road for about 6 weeks and I'm still d!cking around getting it how I want it. With the known electrical issues we have I replaced the R/R during the rebuild and cleaned up the connectors added a fuse box, along with relay mods for the Dyna coils, ignition and horn.

I decided to put a volt meter on the dash and wired it up though the headlamp bucket. Fired her up to admire my efforts and what do I get but orange & red lights! WTF. OK I've done something wrong. But then I measured the voltage at the battery. 12.1 not running, 12.5 running and 13 ish at 2,500 rpm and not much better at 5,000 rpm.

Bad stator, right?
Checked the resistance between the legs and got 0.8-1.0 ohms on each. I then check each leg to ground and got 0.0. So on to the final test with her indoors holding the throttle at 4,000 rpm, moaning about the noise and the smell, the voltmeter says 1.5 volts AC between each leg.

Bearing in mind electrickery is black magic to me, I think I have a bad stator but would like confirmation.

 

[posplayr]

I've had this machine back on the road for about 6 weeks and I'm still d!cking around getting it how I want it. With the known electrical issues we have I replaced the R/R during the rebuild and cleaned up the connectors added a fuse box, along with relay mods for the Dyna coils, ignition and horn.

I decided to put a volt meter on the dash and wired it up though the headlamp bucket. Fired her up to admire my efforts and what do I get but orange & red lights! WTF.

OK I've done something wrong. But then I measured the voltage at the battery. 12.1 not running, 12.5 running and 13 ish at 2,500 rpm and not much better at 5,000 rpm.

Bad stator, right?
Checked the resistance between the legs and got 0.8-1.0 ohms on each. I then check each leg to ground and got 0.0. So on to the final test with her indoors holding the throttle at 4,000 rpm, moaning about the noise and the smell, the voltmeter says 1.5 volts AC between each leg.

Bearing in mind electrickery is black magic to me, I think I have a bad stator but would like confirmation.

sounds like the battery is pretty far down it it is only 12.1V off. What it in when you turn on the key? (step two of the quick test) That will affect how much you can charge. If you did the Quick Test I could tell more but it seems you battery is pretty far down to do a charging system test.

You system is obviously charging some (12.1V==>13.0+V) so I would suspect there is a problem with your measurement of 1.5VAC between legs running.

Did you do an open loop test? A.) leg to leg and B.) leg to ground? Perhaps your meter will like those measurements better.

 

[allojohn]

Did the Quick Test.....

Key off - 11.95
Key on - 11.34
Idle - 11.60
2,500 - 12.03
5,000 - 12.19
Key off - 11.82

I did the leg to leg (0.8-1.0) and to ground (0) - all readings good. I'll put the battery on charge tonight and do the quick test again tomorrow.

I blew the fuse in my multimeter. I don't know when because it still works when the fuse is blown - just gives weird readings. What's that all about?

 

[Guest]

Charge the battery first of get a new one.

 

[allojohn]

Charge the battery first of get a new one.

It is a new battery (6 months) - not good eh?

 

[koolaid_kid]

A multimeter fuse "normally" blows if you put it in current mode and tried to measure a current over its capacity, usually around 10A or so.

 

[allojohn]

A multimeter fuse "normally" blows if you put it in current mode and tried to measure a current over its capacity, usually around 10A or so.

I'm not sure when it blew so I will redo the resistance tests tomorrow. Actually I'm not even sure it did blow but when I replaced it the meter started working properly again.

 

[posplayr]

Did the Quick Test.....

Key off - 11.95
Key on - 11.34
Idle - 11.60
2,500 - 12.03
5,000 - 12.19
Key off - 11.82

I did the leg to leg (0.8-1.0) and to ground (0) - all readings good. I'll put the battery on charge tonight and do the quick test again tomorrow.

I blew the fuse in my multimeter. I don't know when because it still works when the fuse is blown - just gives weird readings. What's that all about?

You do need to recharge the battery but it doesn't seem as it it is charging much at all.

If you are getting 0 ohms to ground on the stator test then you have a short and the stator is no good.

 

[allojohn]

You do need to recharge the battery but it doesn't seem as it it is charging much at all.

If you are getting 0 ohms to ground on the stator test then you have a short and the stator is no good.

I don't think I did the tests correctly first time and am not comfortable with this multimeter yet. I'm reading the manual again. More to follow tomorrow.
Thanks for your help so far gents!

 

[posplayr]

I don't think I did the tests correctly first time and am not comfortable with this multimeter yet. I'm reading the manual again. More to follow tomorrow.
Thanks for your help so far gents!

Simple proceedure with an ohm metere. Set to the lowest ohm setting (you should see the omega symbol on the dial) put the leads together and you should read close to zero. Across the stator close to 1 ohms. it should be very high going to ground.

 

[allojohn]

Sunday morning....

Battery right off charge.
Key off - 13.10
Key on - 11.90 (after 30 sec, lights on)
Idle - 12.20
2,500 - 12.80
5,000 - 13.00
Key off - 12.50

Resistance between legs 0.8 - 1.0 ohms
All legs to ground my meter reads OF (overflow, this is good right?)

Measured A/C volts at 4,000 rpm reads 65-70 between each leg.

My tiny mind is now thinking the stator is OK so maybe my nearly new battery is going bad?

 

[tom203]

Those aren't awe inspiring numbers- what kind of R/R do you have?

 

[posplayr]

Sunday morning....

Battery right off charge.
Key off - 13.10
Key on - 11.90 (after 30 sec, lights on)
Idle - 12.20
2,500 - 12.80
5,000 - 13.00
Key off - 12.50

Resistance between legs 0.8 - 1.0 ohms
All legs to ground my meter reads OF (overflow, this is good right?)

That is GOOD.

Measured A/C volts at 4,000 rpm reads 65-70 between each leg.

While you were running did you also check if the leg to ground voltages were also zero.

My tiny mind is now thinking the stator is OK so maybe my nearly new battery is going bad?

I unusually don't leave the key on for 30 sec, only a few secs to read the meter so the drop to 11.9v might not be that bad. You are charging some so the next thing do do would be to do Revised PHASE A of Stator pages .
You need to measure the voltage drops between R/R(+) and Battery(+) and well as R/R(-) and Battery(-) at 5K RPM . These voltages should be less than 0.2V.

 

[allojohn]

Those aren't awe inspiring numbers- what kind of R/R do you have?

Electrosport - again about 6 month old.

I unusually don't leave the key on for 30 sec

I was fiddling around with the meter.

You are charging some so the next thing do do would be to do Revised PHASE A of Stator pages .

I signed up with Keepandshare but cannot get access as you need to share your account with me. My K&S username is allojohn.

Thanks.

 

[posplayr]

I signed up with Keepandshare but cannot get access as you need to share your account with me. My K&S username is allojohn.

Thanks.

Sorry they should all be publicly shared now. I just open this as a new account to start restoring files that were previously lost.

 

[allojohn]

I just checked the legs to ground voltage at idle and got around 8 volts on each.

 

[JayWB]

I just checked the legs to ground voltage at idle and got around 8 volts on each.

That's not at all consistent with the other results you've posted.

You know you have to use the AC scale to read the stator, and the DC scale to read the battery and output of the regulator, right?

Not trying to insult you, but it looks to me that you're trying to read the stator voltage using the DC scale of your meter.

 

[allojohn]

That's not at all consistent with the other results you've posted.

You know you have to use the AC scale to read the stator, and the DC scale to read the battery and output of the regulator, right?

Not trying to insult you, but it looks to me that you're trying to read the stator voltage using the DC scale of your meter.

I certainly think I was using AC voltage. My meter has the ~ symbol when in AC mode. I'm disregarding earlier tests as bullsh!t.

Don't worry about insulting me - I know I'm a dumba$$ as far as this stuff goes. I just don't want to replace the stator and find it's not the problem.

 

[allojohn]

Sorry they should all be publicly shared now. I just open this as a new account to start restoring files that were previously lost.

Thanks - got it.

I am confused though, if I keep the R/R connected how can I get the meter in there? All my connections are insulated spades.

 

[posplayr]

I just checked the legs to ground voltage at idle and got around 8 volts on each.

Was that with R/R disconnected? What RPM?

If you don't have bad voltage drops in the Revised Phase A tests it is looking more like a bad stator.