Blowing Main Fuse on 2006 RSTD

[David Hall]

Bot this 2006 rstd from Miles a while ago no problems have riden about 12 hours since purchase this evening following good 2 hour ride where everything worked well the bike just quit...dead as a doornail..coasted into a parking lot and did some digging found the main fuse and it was blown changed it and the bike started and ran for 20 feet before the fuse blew again..will get it to the dealer tomorrow hope it lasts the night downtown in the parking lot any suggestions??

[Phoneman1981]

Hello David: Sorry to hear you are having bike issues. Have you by chance used the search tab? I typed in "Blown main fuse" 5th thread down from the top has a lot of good useful information. Good luck. Keep us posted.

[David Hall]

thanks will go there now just getting the trailer ready for the dreaded tow instead of ride

[David Hall]

Have now found that the rr is shorted out actually smoking when power applied to the main fuse wondering why the failure apparently this bike had a high output stator installed can anyone say if that also requires a different rr can say that the battery was shot when I received the bike and PO recommended a new battery did that but wondering if the battery was in such poor shape does the continual need for charging tax the stator/rr equipment leading to failure realize I have two questions here comments very welcome

[David Hall]

bump

[RSTDdog]

Do you have the info on which aftermarket Stator it has? Maybe check with Miles and see if he bought it and whether it came with a new Reg Rect. Maybe parts have a warranty still? Miles should know or have this info.

 

I recall the ad for the bike and it seems he had some accessories added. You may need to disconnect all aftermarket accessories and then reconnect one at a time to see if one of those is causing an excessive draw or has a short.

 

A bad battery could cause a problem. How bad was it? Would it hold a charge and start on its own or did you need to jump start to get the bike going?

[David Hall]

Thanks I will check with Miles for details the battery was nearly shot would not hold a charge had to push the bike to start got working my way through the logic and wondering if the battery had put an undue stress on the RR

[Dave77459]

No expert on this stuff, but I have had electrical struggles for some time and that has given me some experience. I recently had to replace the regulator/rectifier at the tail end of a longish trip. I'm sure that what I am about to say will be corrected if it needs it.

 

The battery doesn't push electricity. It supplies power to the engine and accessories, and then it is replenished by the charging system, of which the stator and RR are the main components. I think of the system as plumbing, where the accessories are the drain and stator/RR are the faucet. When the reservoir (battery) gets low, the faucet turns on to fill it.

 

If the battery is topped up, the rectifier doesn't need to send everything through. The stator still puts out the same juice, but now the rectifier dissipates the unneeded energy. It does that in part by converting electricity to heat. If your high-power stator is sending a lot of energy, maybe the rectifier has to create a lot of heat.

 

Another common problem is that after years of converting electricity to heat, the connections get burnt. That causes more resistance, and resistance is dissipated by more heat. The stator is still cranking out juice, but less is able to flow to the battery due to increased resistance. Where does it go? Heat. And that makes the problem worse.

 

As RRs age, they convert more energy to heat. Mine needed to be replaced, because the power coming out of it was less than spec. It was getting very hot and the battery was getting drained.

 

I do believe there are higher power RRs that supposedly are matched to the higher output stator. That could help. But more commonly, making sure the connection coming out of the rectifier is not burnt is more useful.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Dave

[David Hall]

I guess the RR just wore out no way to identify the cause we replaced it and nothing else have now riden about 6 hours on the new one and no problems with anything. The stator is from Buckeye and they say that their high output stator is designed to work with the OEM RR and they tested it that way. Could be that the poor battery overworked the charging system but we have no way to prove that. Most importantly I am riding again so once again in a fine mood. This is my 6th Yamaha including the FJR and a new Roadstar 1700 (sold) and must say that the RSTD is by far the most enjoyable ride I have owned. It makes me want to ride all the time.

[Phoneman1981]

Interesting read. Glad you are up and going again.