[cjlucas27]

Okay, I’ll give that a try, we are in the moving process so it’s been hard to work on it. I’ll run the bike without the rectifier and I’ll hook all of the wires back up and see if they all work without heating up

 

[cjlucas27]

Hey! Happy New Year, I still exist, currently going through a move to a new home, holidays, college, and work has made it hard to find time to get working on it, I’m going to give an attempt sometime within the next few days I’ll let you know how it goes

 

[cjlucas27]

Okay, I’m back, here’s what’s changed. I got sick of trying to sort the harness out so I bought one to replace it. The entire bike has a complete new harness. It has a new rectifier and a new starter relay. Everything works great, no backwards headlights or melting grounds. It’s still not charging though. The only thing I feel I have left is to replace the stator again. From what I have read the resistances should be 0.3. I’m getting 0.1-0.3 so I’m very close yet the plastic on the stator plug (not the harness side) is melted but not corroded. I’m confused because melted plastic screams it’s fried because of the last harness, but “okay” resistance numbers says it should work

 

[gpounce]

Glad you got the harness fixed- sorry we never got the old one figured out.... overheated/melted connector at the rectifier/regulator is a known issue on the gen1's- the RR runs really hot- a bit melted/browned isn't automatically bad.

I assume you measured resistances between each pair of the 3 stator wires- if so that is as expected. Suggest getting a couple short lengths of small wire to slip inside selected terminls as you mate the harness to the rectifier/regulator. That way you can test parts of the circuit with your meter while the bike is running. Start with the meter set for DC, measure the output terminals of the rectifier/regulator- expecting something like 14v when the engine is running. With the meter set for AC voltage you can test the stator wires- IIRC those can range well over 30v

 

[cjlucas27]

No big deal, I honestly gave up on that harness because I was afraid if we fixed one thing, it would melt something else. I felt it was a lost cause and I didn’t want to spend another season bothering with it.
I am guessing the out put terminals of the rectifier are going to be the top two of the plug? They aren’t the three on the bottom that come from the stator right? That wouldn’t make sense to me.
Another clue leading me to believe the stator was broken is when I rode it the 20 miles last season, brand new first start up it charged the bike just fine. By the time I got back to the house after the 20 miles, my girlfriend on the back of her dads bike behind me told me that my tailights were flickering and dimming out. I park up, it was no longer charging.
I will test that tomorrow as I won’t be around the bike tonight

 

[cjlucas27]

Also just to mention, neither the stator plug or the rectifier plug on the harness are melted yet, but I have heard of the rectifier plugs always melting on this generation like you said

 

[gpounce]

There are 2 tests; one is to see if the rectifier/regulator is putting out about 14v dc- thats to the red and black leading towards the battery- I'd expect them to show your battery voltage- not 14v since something is wrong with the charging system.

The other 3 wires leading from the stator to the rectifier/regulator are AC- you can test them also if you set up the meter for it. You might well be right about the bad stator. The idea is to use the two short lengths of wire to tap variosus leads of the rectifier/regulator while its in circuit- definitely need to be careful doing this you don't want to short anything out...

 

[cjlucas27]

So I tested the stator, I got 10.3 volts from the top two wires, 14 ish from the top left and bottom, and 13.5 ish on the top right all at idle. These wire directions are as if you were to unplug the stator and look at the side of the plug opposite of where the wires come up from the side cover (so where they make contact with the wiring harness plug). The rectifier was also unplugged for this stator test because I’d prefer not to burn this one up along with the other three I have. As far as the rectifier part I didn’t get that far as I have to scavenge some wire for that test.

 

[gpounce]

Those sound like pretty low readings- I would expect substantially higher voltages- did you do this test at idle only? My bike shows peak charge at 4 to 5k engine rpm. My service manual doesn';t show expected voltage readings- but for sure if the stator voltage is low you won't get proper charging. Heres a shade tree test idea- if you can snag a 12v bulb (preferably an incandescent headlight/signal lamp), connect it to the stator lead pairs like you did with the meter; it should go bright for each.

 

[cjlucas27]

I didn’t get to rev it at all, I only had enough charge left to keep the bike running for about a minute. It didn’t warm up enough for it to rev without stalling, I will give that a try tomorrow and see if my voltages change at all

 

[cjlucas27]

I did the stator test again this time with a rev and at about 4-5 thousand rpm I was getting high 30s for voltage..... so whats the next culprit?

 

[gpounce]

30's between each pair of stator windings? if yes, then probably time to look at the rectifier/regulator.

 

[cjlucas27]

Yes it was 30s between each of the pairs. Also just to note moving to the rectifier, I just bought a new one that I have ready for whatever I need

 

[gpounce]

That sounds like your stator is good. With the rectifier/regulator hooked up, can you get at the red & black wires out to measure voltage- those are the charging wires- also check the 30amp main fuse. The fuse is probably OK since the bike will start and run, but always worth confirming- check fuse by putting your meter in resistance, pulling the fuse and touching the leads to the fuse terminals; 0 ohms == good, infinite == bad