07 VFR800 Charging System Issue

Hi everybody, a couple days ago I was changing the oil and when I was finished I cranked it up no problem. Then a couple minutes later I tried cranking it again and it wouldn't start like the battery was dead. So I put a charger on it and it cranked right up but a couple minutes after disconnecting the charger I noticed the LCD displays were not working. I turned the bike off and cranked it again and it was dead. So far I have ruled out the battery (less than 2 years old). I have gone through the steps in the service manual. The leakage is below 2.5 ma. The yellow wires coming from the stator have the correct amount of resistance. With the bike running the battery measures about 12.5 volts. When I disconnected the r/r plug and checked the voltage coming out of one of the red/white wires it's showing 20 volts but when I plug it back in and check the plug on the battery side it only shows 12.5 volts so it seems as if the issue might be at that connector. It's not melted or anything but I did notice that one of the pins on the connector was black so I'm thinking about chopping the plugs off and soldering the wires together but the 20 volts I was reading concerned me. That seem too high unless there is something further down the line the reduces it before it gets to the battery. I haven't had any issues that would normally appear with a regulator that is overcharging. Thoughts please.

 

Disconnecting the regulator to battery wires with the bike running is not a good idea. You coul've fried the regulator. Search on the net how to check a regulator/rectifier, specifically the diode bridge. If the stator volts are fine as manual stands, replace the regulator/rectifier and tell us the result.

 

Sorry if I was unclear but the bike was off when I unplugged the r/r harness. Then I turned off the bike before I plugged it back in also. It sounds like the regulator is bad with it reading a 20 volt output. According to the manual, 15.5 volts is the max I should be seeing so I'm leaning towards replacing the r/r which seems to be the culprit most of the time from what I'm reading on this forum.

 

But you cannot check the output voltage that way. That 15,5 volts are measured all connected and at the battery terminals.

 

Take a look at this thread if you haven't already. http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/39277-How-to-fix-common-regulator-Stator-failures/page9?highlight=The+Drill

 

Ok but I did check the voltage at the battery with the rectifier plugged in also and there was no difference, about 12.5 volts either way. The stator seems to be doing its job the best I can tell. Resistance and voltage look good.

 

You should check the stator output voltages. with the bike running you can unplug the 3 yellow wires from the r/r and measure AC voltaGE from each wire. AC volts should be between about 8 volts at idle up to about 65 at 5000k rpms, and all should be the same.

 

Thank you. I just checked the output voltage on the the 3 yellow wires and one of them does have a significantly lower voltage than the other 2. So I now believe it is the stator that may be the issue but my voltage at idle on 2 wires was around 18 volts and the other one was around 13 plus I'm also getting continuity when I check the yellow wires to ground which I understand should not be the case.

 

Yes, stator to ground is bad. But this test is done without rectifier installed. (Hope you are doing it right)

 

So I replaced the stator which looked nice and toasty and I'm still waiting on the new r&r.

 

Just an update. I had already installed the new stator over the weekend. I got the new r&r in yesterday and installed it last night and everything seems to be working good. Battery is charging like it's supposed to now. Road it to work this morning and no issues. Thank you to everyone who commented and gave me advice.

 

So where did you get the stator and rr from? OEM? Ricks? Electrosport?

 

Glad you got it sorted.

It is obviously too late to influence things now - but I hope you went for a genuine OEM fit stator and a Shindengen RR from roadstercycle.com. - they seem to be the best long term solution to 6th Gen charging system issues. My stator and RR looked exactly the same as yours - although mine had covered almost 100k by the time it cooked itself to a crisp.

Going forward you might want to consider discretely fitting one of those cheap chinese LED volt meters from eBay - the ones showing volts as a number. They won't stop things going wrong, but connected across an "ignition on" circuit (like running lights) they will allow you to monitor the health of the charging system as you ride. They are rarely very accurate - but what you are looking for is reasonably stable volts once the bike is running. Then if you suddenly see volts fall through the floor or shoot through the roof, you have a chance to head for some place safe before the battery gets drained and you end up stranded on the roadside.

Take care



SkiMad

 

I ended up getting an Electrosport r&r and the stator from Rick's.

 

Yeah I got lucky. Mine died in the driveway. But the voltmeter is not a bad idea.

 

People are still buying from them? How are they even still in existence? Get ready to change it again. Hopefully before you fry your ECU...

 

Voltmeter is a must!

 

I'm guessing it would have been nice for somebody to tell the guy not to buy an Electrosport and then linked to a few threads discussing their issues, BEFORE, the guy unknowingly bought one. Thanks Captain Obvious.

 

Hey don't buy electrosport

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