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irregular voltage from stator?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rogerramjet
  • Start date Start date
R

rogerramjet

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Well I am 97% complete with my restomod. Had a reasonable charging system when I took the bike apart, then while testing the carbs, I neglected to have the red output wire from the R/R hooked back up. That's when I noted the melting. I assumed the R/R was toast so I replaced it with an electrosport unit. Before I hooked it up I checked the voltage at the Stator and my craftsman digital multimeter would occasionally hit 60VAC, but bounced from 60 to OL to 0.000. Since I saw 60V, I decided to hook it up to the R/R. Measuring the voltage at the battery at 2500rpm I get the same bounce in the multimeter 0 to OL to 13.6. I have a new battery, and plugged the multimeter into the wall and the voltage reading is steady 114.7VAC.

Is it normal to have such irregular voltage readings, or is the stator bad and making it impossible for the R/R to give steady output to the battery?

If the stator is bad, does anyone out there have an extra? Maybe one I could borrow for a replacement test?

As most seem to be, I am nearing the end of the project, and already have more invested than I could ever get in return ( unless I could transport it magically to Australia). NOW I don't want to just throw money at the problem.
 
I would guess that when you run an R/R disconnected from the battery the R/R output easily exceeds the 14.5V trip point to short activate the R/R shunting SCR's. That means the stator is nearly continuously shorted. It might not be that band unless you rev the engine in which case you are really stressing the stator along wih the R/R.
 
Based upon my read of the Stator Papers, I was trouble shooting the stator- 60VAC with the mm connected between any 2 of the 3 wires- with the stator disconnected from the R/R

When I checked the voltage at the battery, all was connected as it should be.

Regardless, I did not get steady output at the battery or the stator. I saw numbers on the mm that checked with the troubleshooting, but they were not a constant display. Is that due to the variable nature of the stator or a sign of something wrong?
 
rogerramjet said:
Well I am 97% complete with my restomod. Had a reasonable charging system when I took the bike apart, then while testing the carbs, I neglected to have the red output wire from the R/R hooked back up. That's when I noted the melting. I assumed the R/R was toast so I replaced it with an electrosport unit. Before I hooked it up I checked the voltage at the Stator and my craftsman digital multimeter would occasionally hit 60VAC, but bounced from 60 to OL to 0.000. Since I saw 60V, I decided to hook it up to the R/R. Measuring the voltage at the battery at 2500rpm I get the same bounce in the multimeter 0 to OL to 13.6. I have a new battery, and plugged the multimeter into the wall and the voltage reading is steady 114.7VAC.

Is it normal to have such irregular voltage readings, or is the stator bad and making it impossible for the R/R to give steady output to the battery?

If the stator is bad, does anyone out there have an extra? Maybe one I could borrow for a replacement test?

As most seem to be, I am nearing the end of the project, and already have more invested than I could ever get in return ( unless I could transport it magically to Australia). NOW I don't want to just throw money at the problem.
Click to expand...


I'd check the multimeter leads, lead sockets, and multimeter battery.
And your multimeter connection to where you are testing.

No matter what the R/R is doing or not doing, your measurement at the battery during the 2nd test CANNOT go outside the range 10 -17 volts or so at ANY time.

If you read 0 or OL at any time, there is something going on with your measurement technique or connections ...

Its possible there is a wonky connection in the multimeter leads that only shows up during vibration or something.
 
So the reads should be steady? That's what I thought. I have completely rewired the bike with new wires, terminals. All terminals are crimped then soldered. I suppose the mm leads could be wonky, but that's why I thought to check it elsewhere. I actually used the built in AC inverter in the bed of my brother's Tacoma, and the reads were rock steady.

I guess I'll go ahead and get a new stator, since that's the only part not new, and it's the start of the re-charge system. If it's output is intermittent, then output from the R/R to the battery would be intermittent also.

If I'm wrong, or if there's anything else to check, please let me know.
 
Before you go replacing the stator, do what Bakalorz said - double check multimeter. They do go crazy. The stator puts out frequencies of few hundred cycles per second, while house wiring is only 60 cycles per second. All these cheap meters are likely biased to house and car stuff. I got a bunch and they seem to work (beware low battery issues). I'd try another meter before I attacked stator.
 
Also, before ordering another stator, pull the cover off and take some pics for the forum. The most common cause of stator failure is overheating, and the windings get a burnt appearance. We can "usually" tell if one has passed on by visual inspection.
 
I do seem to recall that the windings were a bit scorched when I took the covers off a few months ago.

I will post a picture in a couple of days when I get a chance, in the meantime, my brother is going to bring me his multimeter to verify what I got from mine.
 
A good stator is usually a nice golden tan, blue or green, depending on the flavor of epoxy used. When it starts to turn dark it is time to worry. When it is entirely a dark colour, it is usually crispied.
 
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