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Working my way through the charging system.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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I have an all electrix bike, but it didn't get that way at the same time. The last time I tried this, the stator checked out with good output on the three yellow leads, so I replaced the regulator and it seemed to fix the problem. This was last year, and the bike got a new battery at the same time.

I replaced the stator the other day with the electrix unit. At 2500 RPM I get 12.5V, at 5000 RPM I get 13.5 V. (The battery is known good, and fully charged) The positive lead and the negative leads from the battery check out with less than 0.1 V showing during testing.

The stator gives 64V AC on all leads.

I don't have a diode tester. (I have a very good, but very basic fluke multimeter.)

Could have a lousy stator wrecked an Electrix RR? In not being able to find anything else wrong but the voltage at 2500 and 5000 RPM should I just replace the regulator with another electrix unit? (I bought the one on the bike from UK, so no warranty.)

The other thing I'm tempted to do is just ride it, 13.5V @5000 doesn't seem that bad. I'm worried though that without replacing the RR with a new one, I'm going to wind up alternating which part of the charging system I'm going to break every couple of years.
 
First check the accuracy of your meter Plug it into your 120 VAC household outlet, CHeck the DC voltage on your car. Then go back to the beginning & check the stator-- make sure to disconnect it from the reg.
measure it at 5K rpm
 
working thru electric system

working thru electric system

1st what bike do you have

my 85gs550l puts out 81volts on all 3 legs of the stator

check your manual it should tell you what your volts should be
 
The bike is a 1983 GS550E. The stator is a factory fresh Electrix unit. I checked the meter against my car and household voltage and it seems okay.

You know, this is strange. The factory manual says that the stator output should be greater than 75V, which is more than I'm getting from a new unit. I get 64V, and that is disconnected from the regulator. The magnets can't get tired can they?
It also says that the charging output should be 13.5 to 15.5V at 5000 rpm, which I do get.

I guess at this point, I have to assume that the stator has to be a good unit since it's new and that 13.5V @ 5000 rpm is adequate. I guess I'll just ride it. I like the manuals testing chart better since my motorcycle passes on the first test.

Thanks for your help. The GS was my first bike and I don't ride it a whole lot, but I just like it so much I can't bring myself to sell it. I always hear guys talk about how much they regret selling their first motorcycles.
 
Problem Solved!

Problem Solved!

I was poking around ElectroSport's website tonight and found this:

http://www.electrosport.com/Images/diode.test.pdf

As it turns out, my multimeter did in fact have diode testing on it. I just didn't know how to use it!

My Electrix regulator/rectifier had 2 out of three diodes bad on the bottom end. They are a result, no doubt, of trying to get by cheaply and not replacing the stator at the same time as the RR last time, so I guess I can't fault the regulator.

Which means I get to order a new unit to go with my new stator. I'm glad my nagging sense of "I really ought to verify my assumptions..." got to me and I didn't just try to ride the bike and see what happened.
 
diodes

diodes

Here's a little tip for those of you who don't have a ohm meter to check the rectifier. Checking the voltage on your battery with a AC volt meter set on the 20 volt scale or less with the bike running at around 3000 rpm. As diodes are one way gates for AC, MOST of the time if they burn out they will allow AC to pass both ways, soooo, if you have more than about .2 ( 2 tenths) of a volt AC across the battery you could have a diode burned out. Most regulator's of the aftermarket type, and for sure the stock reg have no filtering so you will always have a little AC getting to the battery but there should not be to much. The AC may also go up when you switch in the third phase of the stator with the headlight on. The AC across the battery on your bike may be higher than .2 and may even be 2 volts depending on what R/R you have and how good your stator is working. The stock stator and rectifier unregulated will produce almost 30 peak DC volts with the headlight on and no load. So if you have something like, say 10 volts or more AC at your battery you know for sure it's the rectifier and not the stator that is behind a battery that goes down. This is a good pre-test that narrows down charging system problems.
Keith
 
New R/R and Stator

New R/R and Stator

I've replaced the R/R now, and with the new stator everything seems fine for now.

I moved the R/R to the side of the bike to put it in the airstream and hope that helps.
 
Re: Problem Solved!

Re: Problem Solved!

DetroitGS said:
I was poking around ElectroSport's website tonight and found this:

http://www.electrosport.com/Images/diode.test.pdf

As it turns out, my multimeter did in fact have diode testing on it. I just didn't know how to use it!

My Electrix regulator/rectifier had 2 out of three diodes bad on the bottom end. They are a result, no doubt, of trying to get by cheaply and not replacing the stator at the same time as the RR last time, so I guess I can't fault the regulator.

Which means I get to order a new unit to go with my new stator. I'm glad my nagging sense of "I really ought to verify my assumptions..." got to me and I didn't just try to ride the bike and see what happened.
Click to expand...

Pretty sad that their regulator failed the test. I have a 27 year old Honda regulator on my bike that just pumps out the jam on a daily basis.
 
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