Bertha has charging system issues

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krakum1967

krakum1967

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May 28, 2014
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Location
Jamestown, ND
Suffice it to say, Bertha has electrical issue at the moment. Well, I had 2 days of relatively calm riding on it....


So the gauge has been doing the spinal tap tour ever since I brought her back to life. Today in the heat the numbers really went down, by the time I was in town, the were down to 10 Volts. So I got it home, thank god. Was 101 degrees this afternoon, warm for this country.

I managed to get it in the shop and on the center stand. I got the cover off and pulled back tape to test the triplet of wires from the alternator. I was able to gets the resistance readings. They are 4.9 to 4 ohms per pair. Only one pair is .1 off from the other two. The readings at the battery are as follows. The system was outputting 11.25 volts according to my digital meter. This was at idle. At 3500 rpm, it produced 11.45 volts. I tried to get the AC Volts off the three wires off the stator, and two of the read 13 volts, yes 1.8 on one pair, 13 on the next, the bike died before I got the last AC reading. These readings (AC) were taken with the Rectifier/Regulator plugged in.

Should I focus on the regulator, or is the stator out too, we thought this would happen when we swapped the block. We but the best of the two stators on the bike, and I scrapped the other one. I just did not have the cash to put the RR in that I wanted to put in, and I wish I had of taken a pawn loan or something, follow those hunches Kraig...grrr

So if this is bad, I am going with the alternator, I looked over the threads, but was wondering if anyone had any recommendations? Want to go with a nice single output wire 40 to 60 amp alternator with the internal regulator?
 
I personally would just put in a new stator. The only thing the external alternator has to offer better is
1. a little more output and a built in regulator.
2. You don't have to pull the motor.
But you will have to move the radiator forward, modify your timing belt covers to accept the drive pulley, source a drive pulley or make it yourself. Then you have to figure how to mount the alternator of your choice.
1000,1100,1200 stator will fit.
 
I would only change your stator once you have tested if properly and found it to be faulty....
 
Is the RR getting hot? If not, it may not be getting power. I would pull the connector, clean it up and be sure it is all the way in. Wouldn't be the first time.
 
It gets real hot, and I do have a cold solder on one of the AC leads. I am really thinking its RR, I have perfect resistance across all three nodes in the stator, and that always seems to be the key, I think it from stator on forward. I know I showed like thirteen volts, but like I said the rr was still connected and I have to wonder if that impact the results. And I could not rev it cause I was trying to keep a bike with dying electrical revved and hold two leads at the same time. I have always been told to disco the stator when testing AC voltage. And I cannot because the PO had the plugs soldered, and I know one lead is cold soldered cause it flashes connectivity when I move it around.

I need to learn what the regulator on the shell does, and what the one next to the battery box does. Why does this system have two?

This is weird. If I can rule out the stator, I will be going to a MOSFET regulator, its well worth the added expense. I get my kits at https://www.roadstercycle.com as it has all the connectors, and Jack sells good products, plus he build some nice trikes. And I am still fascinated with the whole EFI thing and he has a way of converting existing carbs to throttle bodies. Anyway, I have to go get the stator disconnected for the RR,and then find a charger and bump it over to test it. My trickle charger fell off the shelf and broke yesterday. So I am comfortable in electrical, I have done lots of fixes, and it is usually the RR, this one is so young, and it looked good. No burnt insulation or posts, and it tested out fine.
 
MOSFETS kick a$$. I swear it added torque and horsepower when I converted that Hyosung. The coils and ignition units behave completely different when you have the correct voltage hitting them.
 
I was doing some light reading, and i see that the Regulator is mounted on the shell underneath the left hand false tank cover, its the Rectifier that is mounted near the battery on the outside of the battery box. They are separated on this model of the Goldwing.

I have a range of values to test on the Rectifier, and I am dimes to donuts certain that this is the issue. When I first got the bike, I had an issue near the rectifier that caused a connector to get flamed out. As mentioned by the previous response, I am guessing this was a heat issue because it was not getting correct power. Well after I unwrapped the two solders I made, they are fine. I unwrapped the one that was okay on the last issue, it is two aluminum wire leads stacked on top of each other with a turd pile of cold solder on top of the top one. I am thinking it has just enough to hold the wires together, but I am thinking that this poor solder joint is a culprit. And memory serves me, I do remember having the system go way down to like 8 to 9 volts, and then it would jump as it would get 13.5 volts out on the highway, but would drift and droop between 10 and 12 in town as it was running the fan and other items with little or no heavy draw being generated. When I wound her up, she always went to 13.5 volts within 2 to 3 minutes.

So I will be testing the rectifier today. I know that the output on the regulator is being weird, I have to check the wiring on it. I have this round black and white 12 inch long wire connector that I did not make that appeared underneath the bike last week when IO split up the shell. I need to check to see if that is a ground that is missing from something too.

If either the regulator or the rectifier are out, I may just get the FH020 or the other regulator. It is not the new one from Polaris. Its a big one that he suggests for people that have or want to light the bikes up, and add tons of accessories.

Anyway, I am keeping my fingers crossed. Either way, this is the first bike I have encountered where the rectifier and the regulator are separate.
 
O I took the rectifier out. I tried reading it when it was on the bike, but its hotter than heck out there. I took it off and brought it in. I can hit the number rang if I move the leads just right. Numbers within range will appear, but so will numbers above the range or below it. I tried to reverse test it, and I am showing a bad diode if that is the case, it is letting back voltage in, it should have at least 2000 ohms resistance on the reverse, and it practicaly an open circuit, I should say it has continuity when it should not in reverse testing.

So I took the electrical cleaner to the connector and the fiber brush. You would not believe the crud that came out of that connecter on the female side. I scrubbed for fifteen minutes and it finally stopped depositing wads of gooey junk...yea, yea, I know, but that was the best way to describe it. Both ends have been cleaned and I have it rough mounted on the bike. I am charging the battery right now. My neighbor said it will handle my battery, it is over 250cca rated, and his smart charger does a nice 2 amp run on the light AGM's. He said its what they use on the personal water craft. I broke my old trusted charger friend last night. The battery companion lasted since 2007 and NEVER missed a beat, I dropped it off the counter and heard a sick internal snap, and no lights or charge voltage. REst well old friend, you served many bikes through many cold seasons. Best 10 bucks I have ever spent at a garage sale.

Anyway, I will have a test start in a while. I did cut and replace that cold solder, it was really bad but the circuit was wiggy on it during testing. Now the stator defintely tested good. I have 2 ohms resistance across all three pairs of wires. I also have no short to grounds. So that one is good. My mech friend said the voltage test may no apply here, it depends on the setup off the RR, and this one is split. He says the Rectifier has mre work to do on this model, and its likely why I saw 13 volts on it last night when IO did manage to cross those leads. His money is on the cold solder. He said it does not matter if it has continuity, the cold solder may not be capable of carrying a load and will act disconnected.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=126283#p126283:1a46l0ff said:
krakum1967 » Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:32 am[/url]":1a46l0ff]
He said it does not matter if it has continuity, the cold solder may not be capable of carrying a load and will act disconnected.
Click to expand...

You could have the same problem with your stator :doh:
 
You may well be right. Those diodes can be rather finicky and can be shorted easily. I arced one as a kid. Dad was really pissed one spark and it was fried.
 
The connector cleanup failed, I am getting increases on revs, but only at .2 to .3 volts from idle to 5000 rpm. It tried to fight the fan draw, but the fan takes .2 or .3 volts to run itself cool, and the battery comes back, but its just not springing back, its like a two to three week long slow lea, and I am certain its because Yellow one is grounded in the rectifier, it is not grounded when testing the stator itself, I will see what is out there, but anybody got one here they may want to trade an item for, I have a ton of extra parts.
 
ok i agree with tony i think your getting to far from source ....its sounds to me like the stator wire thats feeds the rectifier is bad ...is my guess ..the stator integrity can be checked before rectifier....on 1000 wiring ...the stator wire is joins in harness behind the black tape ... that the wire right from the stator if it dont read there its the stator bad
 
I am measuring for the stator right off the stator, it is testing within specs in the manual. It states continuity between the three pairs, and no short to grounds on any of the three wires. I tested for both continuity and short to grounds, and the stator is good. A second doc I used shows there should be 1 to 2 ohms resistance on the three pairs, it has that. And no grounded sections either.

I get the same reading at the harness when you take off the recitifier. If the rectifier is disconnected, on the rectifier's harness, you are to test the the green wire (there are two but they are joined in the rectifier, so you can use either post) to each yellow wire, its one of those readings that is showing 2 ohms resistance in both directions. You test one way with the red lead coming from the green wire, and then switch them for the reverse test. When I use the red lead from the green wire and go to the first yellow lead I find in the harness, its reading 2 ohms. It should be 5 to 40 ohms. The other two wires read no change so there is no continuity whatsoever on the other two wires from the green wire. When I reverse the test, that first pair shows 2 ohms on the way back, this indicates that the diode is grounded or burnt open if that makes sense. The reverse direction should have 2000 ohms resistance, it has 2. The other two wires reversed have no continuity. There should be 2000 ohms resistance for each of those three yellow wires going back to the green lead.

I have not tested the red side, it fails on the green so whats the point.

Oh the rectifier gets hot enough to light a smoke on, and the regulator is cool to the touch
 
hmmmm yes ... ok i am up to speed now ... if you had a 1100 reg an retifier unit on hand you could just plug that end and see what happens ive done that before as a test and its not at all hard to do as test ... i dont remember anything hard about it
 

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