Charging Question

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wedoo2

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I believe that I have a battery problem as it is having trouble holding 12v. The service manual says that to test the stator you need continuity between all three of the yellow wires coming out of it. I do have continuity, so is that definitive? Not that it matters but the stator is only about 2 years and maybe 5-6,000 miles and I got it from a good source.

Going to have the battery load tested today to see what that shows. If it passes I'll look at the reg/rec
 
Better yet, after load testing the battery, check the connection at the RR. It often gets dirty enough to stop charging. It goes without saying that you also need to check your stator connector (if not already soldered).
 
I think the other stator tests are measuring resistance to ground on each leg to ground, no continuity is good. The other is measuring voltage output of the stator, but I don't remember the proper voltage (maybe 70VAC?) on the different pairs (ie. say A to B, B to C and A to C), going from memory, which isn't great :)
 
I had forgot to check continuity between the yellow wires and ground. All show continuity and I believe I have a stator gone bad.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=203573#p203573:nj15kg78 said:
wedoo2 » 40 minutes ago[/url]":nj15kg78]
I had forgot to check continuity between the yellow wires and ground. All show continuity and I believe I have a stator gone bad.
Just to be sure you did, the 3 yellows need to be disconnected from the harness wiring when testing.
 
Thanks Dan, they are still soldered together. The service manual does not mention that, although there is a crappy picture of the guy testing the wires with the connector unplugged that I missed before. I'll cut the wires and test them for continuity again, then against the ground.

When I start the bike there is no evidence of any charging going on. It maybe gets to 11.9v. This may be a reg/rec problem and I will surely replace that before I pull the motor. If the stator is bad then I would want to put a new one on anyway. I can only hope. I may have screwed up when I changed the stator the last time I had the motor out and didn't change the reg/rec then. I have read where that is recommended.
 
No continuity to ground is good. No continuity at all to each other is Not good. You may need to use a very high range for the test though.
 
This really looks like the stator. I'm thinking about going ahead and doing a poor boy conversion. At least I can leave the motor in. Just trying to figure it all out is the hard part. Right alternator, crank bolt, pulley, wiring to the motorcycle, etc. Egads. At least I have a clean, air conditioned garage to work in. Just need a good tutorial I guess.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=203617#p203617:immcs1mu said:
wedoo2 » 35 minutes ago[/url]":immcs1mu]
This really looks like the stator. I'm thinking about going ahead and doing a poor boy conversion. At least I can leave the motor in. Just trying to figure it all out is the hard part. Right alternator, crank bolt, pulley, wiring to the motorcycle, etc. Egads. At least I have a clean, air conditioned garage to work in. Just need a good tutorial I guess.

I'm looking at that decision myself on my '86, I believe I'm going to replace the stator instead of the poor boy for 2 reason's.... 1- The Wing is in such good condition I don't want to cut brackets and heat and remold the plastic.
2- I need a practice bike because of #1.
 
I did the Poorboy job on my old '84. Not that difficult, just a fairly long series of items that need to be taken care of. Allocate a couple of weekends. Heck, I spent way more time than I expected just running here and there for widgets to get the job done. Take the 50A auto-reset breaker, for instance.

In the end, it was well worth the time and effort.
 
Agreed it’s worth it.

Once done you have no worries running extra power hungry goodies like heated gear and grips, chargers etc. let alone the fact that pulling engine again to replace the stator is behind you.
 
The Poorboy - external alternator conversion is better if you tour a lot. Easier to replace an alternator than a stator when on the road. For a 1200 carb model a 40 amp alternator is more than sufficient and is slightly smaller than a 50 or 55 amp alternator. Also recommend using a three wire alternator if possible - has an excitation wire, a sense wire that reacts better than a single wire alternator and you can put in an indicator lamp.

Cheers
 
I know that I would not regret the conversion, but a couple of things have swayed me. First, my intention is to ride this bike the remainder of the season and trade it for a 1500 or 1800 next Spring. Keeping it stock may, or may not, help me sell it. Let's face it, I have a $2000-$2500 bike either way. Gathering the parts and figuring out how to do the conversion is daunting and I just am not up to it. I know how to remove the motor (third time for me). Then the fact is that I don't use heated grips, heated seat or gear.

So what I'm going to do is post a photo tutorial during the process so someone else can learn from my tom-foolery. I have been sick this week with whatever is going around so it may be slow going. Hoping to get everything back in place by this time next week if the parts come in fast enough. Haven't bought anything yet. Going to paint the motor while it is out as well.

BTW, I bought my last stator from Rick's, who is supposed to be a good vendor, but it lasted only two years. Less than 7000 miles. I have to add, though, that I did not change the rec/reg which I see now I should have. I will change it this time.
 
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