Check It All....and Then Again

well, my riding of late could be summed up in two words

1. rectifier

2. stator

or

pushing and sweat

long story short....I was doing some work to my charging system today and instead of putting the r/r wires back the way I had them (on to the r/r without the plastic block) I put them in the block and took the bike out for a ride after lowering the front 8mm and changing the fork oil (btw, 8mm is too much for me).

soooo, 14 miles into my ride, my bike goes kaput at a stop sign.  I KNOW what it is...r/r has died, for some unknown reason because I just checked it.  Now, this being my day off NOTHING went right. I won't go into details, but this ride took place at 8 pm est and I was due for a ride about 2pm. 

so, I'm about 9 miles from home...I know I can bump start it, ride for a bit then switch her off, bump start her etc, etc...so, first bump start and I'm cruising, I won't say how fast, but what do I pass going to work?  A VA state trooper...I think greeeaaat, he's going to nail me, but he won't have to go far because I'll be dead on the road soon enough.

He never did come after me...2nd bump start I get smart and use the road to my advantage, I make it about 5 of the 9 miles home by switching off the bike and coasting.  I call a friend and ask for her truck.  I check my connections on the r/r....yeaaahhh, let's just say that I found 3/5 were not making contact...another A HA moment.

I can't get the bike to turn over and tell my friend to bring jumpers....wait, I'll bump start it while I'm waiting and see how it goes...I get her running and she purrs like a kitten until my friend gets there and she follows me home without further incident.

The other incident isn't nearly as exciting, but suffice it to say when you clean the stator connection, reconnect it before putting the mid panel back on. 

One lesson I take from all of this (besides the obvious ones) is to carry a complete tool kit with you, and then some seemingly unnecessary tools just in case, and a cell phone...cheers!

Uh, what a pain.

All the prior gen's electrical issues makes me wonder when us 7th gen owners will see this.

After some 69,000 miles of realiability the original regulator on mine died late one night as I was riding home from a long trip. I could tell trouble was looming when I stopped for some supplies some 100 miles from home and the battery sounded weak... Riding home on Sunday night the headlights got progressively weaker, then it begun to misfire and finally died in the middle of a long tunnel. Attempts to bump start didn't work. Once a recovery truck arrived attaching a battery pack got it running, but as soon as it was removed - weak spark again. After being relieved of the equivalent of $150 the bike was home...

So after a little searching for solutions online, I found an original R1 MOSFET regulator and the right electrical connector components (On Ebay). A little surgery and battery charged - and it was back to rude health. :)

But like you - I sweated when mine failed. 

one other thing I will be putting in my 'tool' bag is a known good r/r

Glad you made it home safely and got her fixed.  It's easy to strike up a conversation with a VFR owner..."So, tell me about the time you got stranded".  If you don't have one yet, get a volt meter.  I installed a Datel meter on my '95 (after my story!) :goofy:

Chuck

^^yes, I'll be looking for exactly how to neatly tie one in and where to mount it shortly

Yes carrying a spare R/R is a good thing, I had my 1st one go at 45k, 2nd one died at 93k replaced with inexpensive one, then at 97k when the inexpensive one died I had a spare with me. Now I have a voltage meter but still carry a replacement with me. They do make for great stories! When the 1st one went I was coming home from Laguna Seca after the Moto Gp, 2nd one I noticed the Signs....speedo erratic and slow to start, made it home no problem, 3rd one in Greybull, WY had to divert 50 miles to a Walmart to get a Battery.

I keep wondering if it's possible to run two regulators in parallel. The way they work I imagine they wouldn't even know each other was there and if one fried, the other would keep on plugging. Also, each would then only have to dissipate half as much heat.

You might be on to something...the only question would be if one went south how would you know? At least I now will have an idea when mine goes bad with the voltage meter, much cheaper then the previous method of burning up GPS's  before realizing that 12 volt units do not like 19 volts :unsure: