Staor and/or rectifier question

[luvmy40]

I noticed something I'd not noticed before while out on a ride this afternoon. While stopped at a traffic light my voltage was down at 12V. This in it's self is not odd. I've got the idle a little low, around 950 rpm+/- and the volt meter has always been solid at 14V when over 1500 rpm. I gave her a little throttle while still stopped, up to about 1800 rpm and the voltmeter didn't budge. When I took off from the light, I watched the voltmeter and it took a long time, maybe 30 seconds to come up to 14V.

 

The next time I stopped, everything was back to normal. 12V at idle, 14V as soon as I took off. I haven't checked to see if the stator mod has been done or if she has an after market stator. There hasn't been any need as of yet. What exactly am I looking for on the stator cooling mod? Is there any way to determine if the stator is original or aftermarket?

 

Does the simptom above sound like a stator or rectifier issue? Or, is it just a normal thing that I never noticed before?

 

Thanks in advance for any input!

[Flyinfool]

Start by cleaning the battery pos and ground connections. Then we can get into more detail.

[luvmy40]

I'll take a look at them tomorrow but I do keep a close eye on that kind of stuff and they were fine before I left for MD, about 1K mi. ago.

[Marcarl]

After that, check the 3 white (or Yellow) wires under the left side cover, they come from the stator and are routed to the RR through a connector. Often times they get corroded or burnt in the connector. Most will just get rid of the connector and solder the connections. No need to worry which one is which, they are all the same.

[camos]

Start by cleaning the battery pos and ground connections. Then we can get into more detail.

And the connector for the three white wires coming from the stator. And the connectors coming from the R/R. And the R/R base where it connects to the frame. The latter is the heat sink and the ground for the R/R.

[cimmer]

do all the above cleaning but if you have an unsealed battery, double check the fluid levels in the battery also.

 

Rick F.

[videoarizona]

Since in the 1st stop, the meter was at 12 volts...and in the 2nd stop everything was normal.

Is it possible you had your brakes on in the 1st instance and not in the 2nd? I know you don't have the electric anti-dives that suck up juice especially at idle...but just wondering what the differences could be. Like a brake light in one and not the other.

 

Other than that, a corroded terminal as mentioned or a loose one...including in the voltage meter...could have caused this...

Edited June 26, 2018 by videoarizona
clarify

[luvmy40]

Just to clarify.

 

The voltage has always dropped to around 12V at idle. It just always picked back up to 14 as soon as the rpms were back up over 1500 or so. That fairly typical of motorcycle charging systems. This one time, it took a while to get back up to 14V.

 

I know the Gen1 MK1 had an issue with the stator not getting enough oil for cooling. I'd just assumed(I know!) that at 130K mi. any problems would have already been dealt with or would have been obvious from the start.

[MiCarl]

Remember too that if the battery is at all discharged the voltage will take awhile to rise. So if you've just started out or were stopped for a long time it might not pop up like after a quick stop with a fully charged battery.