How to fix common regulator/Stator failures

Discussion in '5th Generation 1998-2001' started by Rubo, Jul 7, 2012.

  1. BOIKE333

    BOIKE333 New Member

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    Instead of soldering the 3 stator wires at the connection on the right side of the bike, has. Anyone tried wiring a larger wire straight from the mosfett around the left side and making the solder connection just outside the stator? Would seem one solder joint with a smaller gauge would be better than 1or2 with that crappy stock wire, no?
     
  2. OZ VFR

    OZ VFR Member

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    There is nothing wrong with the stator wires.
    It is an AC feed and does not need to be bigger, the issue is not the size, it is the connection.
    Solder them where it is the easiest.
    Do that and solder positive and ground wires from R&R directly to the battery with a fuse on the positive, and you will never have the problem again.
    Also should get rid of the earth block on the harness and also solder.
     
  3. BOIKE333

    BOIKE333 New Member

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    OZ, thanks. What is this earth block you are speaking of, I don't believe I've heard this terminology before.
     
  4. OZ VFR

    OZ VFR Member

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    On the 5th gen, there is a rectangular earth block that connects all the electrical system earths with a multi pin connector.
    It is taped up in the main harness just in front of the R&R.
    If you feel around on the harness you will find it.
    Remove the connector and cut as close to the plastic plug as you can.
    Strip a bit of all the earth wires and run a new bigger gauge cable with a new ring terminal to the battery negative.
    Now twist them together and solder. Trim and tape back up to make it neat and moisture proof.
    This will get rid of the common problems caused by bad earths, like the neutral light dimming up and down badly when blinker is on, or the red FI fault light comming on with blinkers, or the clock resetting (clock can also be bad battery).
    There is nothing wrong with our R&R or stator as it is pretty much the same as all other bikes.
    Problems are caused by bad connections with marginal wire sizes, and too many earth/positive connections before it gets to the battery.
    I cannot stress enough how important running new soldered cables from R&R directly back to battery is.
    If you're going to do one of these fixes, you might as well do all of them.
    That way you are eleiminating all weak points.
    Will your R&R or stator still fail? Maybe, they are not designed to last for ever on any bike.
    But you should get well over 100.000ks on any well sorted system.
     
  5. BOIKE333

    BOIKE333 New Member

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    OK oz thanks for the info. I have a 4th gen, so do they have the earth block in them as well?

    Thanks BOIKE
     
  6. OZ VFR

    OZ VFR Member

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    I would guess so, but don't know where.
    I think the 6th gen is under the front fairing, but on yours I have no idea.
    There has to be a place where the earths (negative) from all lights, instruments and all other gear join up.
    Someone with a 4th gen will add info soon I would think.
     
  7. blainerides

    blainerides New Member

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    YESSSSS. What V4toTour said. Solder the wires. It's the only way. Streamline the flow of electrons by minimizing resistance (the way it should've been done), and all will be well.
     
  8. NormK

    NormK New Member

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    Why would Honda solder the joints when they have had a constant income stream through their dealers who have had to replace all the components
     
  9. MARTICUS

    MARTICUS New Member

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    I feel like I'm going to be repermanded for this.. "search nooob!!"
    But I am having a hard time understanding what I need to do to my 99 with almost 8000 now.
    I believe I need to;
    A) find a suitable (and hopefully economical) mosfet style rr
    B) cut out the connections on the 3 yellows and some grounding wire and simply solder/heatshrink the wires.
    C)done - go ride?

    Is there a current list of rr's to use? The r1 one still the way to go?
     
  10. mello dude

    mello dude Administrator

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    Dude --- first thing is go buy a multimeter at any auto or hardware store.
    Then go to post #9 and follow the directions. You will need take off the tail body work, but thats easy.
    Write down all the numbers that you get from the tests. If you have any questions, ask away.
    Depending on the results, that will point you in the next direction
    If you just wanna change out the R/R now... go to www.roadstercycle.com and get the FH020AA R/R. -- Stay away from cheap ones, you get what you pay for.
    Its a good idea to add a voltmeter up front so you can follow the trend of what is going on in the system. You may be fine for now.
    Next pull apart the stator to R/R connector and take a photo of it and post it up.

    Let us know what you find.
     
  11. MARTICUS

    MARTICUS New Member

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    Thanks, will do. I was thinking since I haven't had an issue a preemptive replacement wouldn't need "the drill"... but maybe the first owner took care of this already :wishful:

    I guess it's time to go to the gayrage...
     
  12. MARTICUS

    MARTICUS New Member

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    Well I now know I'm not an electrician, but this is what I've done.. 1436642492369.jpg
     
  13. MARTICUS

    MARTICUS New Member

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  14. MARTICUS

    MARTICUS New Member

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    Also checking the resistance to ground showed a 1 in the far left number and nothing in the rest.. 1436643130048.jpg


    Edit: also mellow dude taking off the rear section did kind of suck cause of the fancy rack.
    Is there any circumstance where I shouldn't replace the rr? And is this one stock? It did get quite warm by the time the bike got up to 175F.
     
  15. mello dude

    mello dude Administrator

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    Marticus ---

    First of all, thank you for doing the drill and writing down the numbers and posting them up. But before going farther, I have to ask, is your battery new? or did you get it tested?
    - I'm going to assume that your battery is ok,, but you need to look into it.
    - Drill numbers -- Stator very good, no problem. R/R is a little weak, it has the sinking voltage at revs syndrome. Even at idle is low... Not to panic for today, but do plan to replace soon, it is headed south. (my bike ate it a 12k miles)
    -- Tryout recommendation ---- Clean the living shit out of that stator connector pins with say, 1000 grit sand paper of emory cloth and do the same to the female side. Then retest at 2000 rpm and again 5000 rpm. See if that improves your voltage. (Again you gotta insure your battery is perfect before this) This will determine how urgent you need a new R/R.
    --- IF it improves, you could do the solder all three stator wires to the R/R like the post above. That will help for awhile.
    Do now---
    - add a voltmeter up front, there are plenty of ways to go, heres mine
    [​IMG]

    -- It still comes down to you have the typical OEM Honda 5th gen R/R and it will die. Its just a matter of when. You could milk the one you got for the moment or just change it now.
     
  16. MARTICUS

    MARTICUS New Member

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    Nice, also I don't have any history on the battery but I did not charge it. I'm thinking I just want to solder in a fh020aa and be done with it, if I do you still think a voltmeter is needed? Not that it would hurt to have.
     
  17. MARTICUS

    MARTICUS New Member

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    Also I'm about to go on a 14 hour trip friday/Saturday, how risky is it to solder the contacts and head out? Death-defying or just my normal mildly irresponsible ?
     
  18. mello dude

    mello dude Administrator

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    If you go with the new FH020AA R/R you most likely good to go for quite a while - you could get away with out the voltmeter for a long time too, but up into the 30k mile time probly a good idea. ..Me? --- .. .I just gotta know how I'm doing....
     
  19. mello dude

    mello dude Administrator

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    Do the solder it and test it again. Charge the battery up and get it load tested. It must be good! -- Heading out? Its a probability thing.... I'm at 80% ok, 20% maybe not. -- In poker that's a near slam dunk...lol.
    Quoting your words... mildly risky....

    And here's the butt... there have been guys with similar readings and have been stranded.
     
  20. VFRnewbie

    VFRnewbie New Member

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    Can anyone offer me a little reassurance of my deductive skills?

    Damn it, I really thought my electrical woes were behind me... Goes to show where complacency gets you I suppose!

    So, I have a fifth gen' providing no charge to the battery. It's previously (a year or so ago) had an upgraded RR fitted when the stock one went pop, and I cut and soldered when fitting the replacement.

    Out with the mutimeter, and I find that the stator output seems to be the problem. at 1800ish rpm I get 20v AC across two of the yellow stator output wires, and 1.8-2v AC across the third. Bugger.

    So, nothing for it, I guess it's new stator time. I drain the oil, remove the stator cover (with some difficulty) and, expecting crispy-fried coils, what I see is a pretty healthy looking stator. Measuring here, I get good continuity between all three wires, and no short between any of them and the centre of the stator. Hmmm....

    Back on the bike it goes, 3ltrs of fresh oil and a freshly charged battery re-installed and I start her up without re-soldering the stator wires to the RR. Now when I test, I get 20v AC across all three wires :crazy: So, I guess measuring the stator output by probing the output wires with the RR connected was skewing the reading somehow.

    Next suspect - RR. But to my surprise, A diode test yields good results:

    - multimeter probe to + RR wire, + mutimeter probe to yellow RR input wires gets 530ish for all three.

    + multimeter probe to - RR wire, - mutimeter probe to yellow RR input wires gets 530ish for all three.

    + multimeter probe to + RR wire, - mutimeter probe to yellow RR input wires gets nada.

    - multimeter probe to - RR wire, + mutimeter probe to yellow RR input wires gets nada.

    Head scratching ensued, followed by the bleedin' obvious which I should have done to start with: check the RR output. 2 to 3v DC :grumpy:


    So, here's my question for any more electrically minded than me: Can my RR pass test with a multimeter yet still be knackered? my head tells me that it has to be the problem, as its input seems fine, and its output is clearly not...
     
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