I have a '99 VFR800Fi, and haven been having an issue with the charging of the battery (I think).
The bike after a time riding will completely cut out and stop, with then no charge in the battery at all to start.
I would then bump-start, leave the lights off to aid charging, then it would be OK, then happen again.
I have worked out that this does not happen if I ride with the lights off, so what I can assume is that the battery is not getting enough charge when the lights are on to top up the battery, it is actually using the battery to run the lights.
Does this sound right?
I am thinking that the first point of call should be to replace the R/R, but do I get a new aftermarket one or go the R1 route which I think is normally done.
Most likely R/R problem. It is easy to check bu measuring the battery voltage when the bike is running. with idle the voltage should be around 12,5 and at 4000 rpm around 13,5 to 14. I had the similar problem with my 3rd gen and I replaced the R/R with cheap Chinese one which lasted 2 months, OK I got the replacement form the supplier as warranty and now I have that as a spare one under my seat and have OEM installed.
Wireing - the wireing loom may be defective a poor connection to the battery or a bad ground cluster
The Battery - its possilbe the battery is simply wore out and wont take a charge
The Stator, I had a 5th gen for 120k miles and had to replace my stator twice
The Regulator Rectifier
Now you have to find out if the battery is overcharging and boiled out or undercharging and not working at all.
Get a multi meter and check the battery charge with bike off, if its not charged at all then charge it up with a battery charger before proceeding, if it wont take a charge then you have a bad battery.
Once the battery is charged hook it up and then start the motor then check the voltage at the battery, if its idling and charging over 13 volts thats good, then rev it up to 5k rpm and watch the voltage if it goes up to 14volts then your ok, it is spikes over that then the RR is not working, if it drops voltage from the idle voltage then you have a bad RR. If the idle voltage is low around 11 volts or less then I suspect your stator is shot, rev it up and no more then 12-13 volts then your stator is probably bad.
Test the stator by unhooking it from the RR and get to the three yellow wires, if he connector is burned up then yea the stator is bad. Check each yellow lead to each other with the multi meter set to ohms and it should be around 0.1 to 1.0 ohms thats the range it needs to be check all three phase leads to each other if one of them has no resistance or if its and open circuit then the stator is bad. Then check each of the yellow leads to a ground source and check to see if there is continuity if there is a circuit then there is a short in the stator and its bad!
To check for wire leaks you unplug the ground cable from the battery and then hook up a amp meter to the battery and to the ground lead and check the amperage if there is more then 1.2 mAmps if it is more then that you have a short somewhere.
Test the RR leads the ground wire to ground (green) should be continuity if none then the wire loom on the RR is bad, test the red/white wire to ground the voltage should be the same as the battery voltage if its less then the RR is going bad
Just went through this. After doing the tests, it was the stator. It lasted 47,000 miles. Oh, and do yourself a favor. Start with a new battery. They can lie to you and give you bad readings. Also make sure you do tests when bike is hot. The stator gets worse as it warms up.
Not being an expert, but having faced this a few weeks ago, the best advice I got was to follow the electrosport fault finding guide. Don't have the link handy, but search my username for stator or regulator and you'll find the link. Get a multimeter and follow those steps when the bike is cold and when is hot. You'll get an answer. I saved ~$160 by not replacing things that weren't broken.
Following the tests I did, all points to the stator. Fair play, I'll get a new one....BUT the diode tests for the R/R all have a value between 4.0 and 6.0 as "good". All of my values are 4.6. So...do I install stator and let her rip, or should I also look at replacing the R/R?
^^^^^^^ Voltages dont look good - quick check at 5000 - 6000 rpm please, then do the following stator checks.
-- What's the milage on your bike?
- Check stator
- 1. pull connector apart. Set meter to resistance. Check pin to pin, 3 yellow wires, A to B, B to C, C to A. Whats the numbers? Should be less than 1.0 ohms.
- 2. Check continuity from each A,B,C pin to ground, -- -should be infinity - nada nothing. no continuity.
- 3. Crank it back up. Do another pin to pin thing, but set meter on AC volts. idle and 5000 rpms. What's da numbers? Should start 20ish and climb 50ish and more.
4. Repeat hot.
Oh yeah - before you test again -- do an overnite charge on the battery and go to the autoparts store to load test it. Good? Bad? The battery has to be good before any of the other test mean anything.
I agree doesn't look good. Need to isolate problem among stator and R/R. If Stator is putting out decent output, it's classic R/R death as mentioned above.
End of thread · 12 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 18 Jun 2012