Chaharly Posted May 16, 2019 #1 Posted May 16, 2019 Hey guys, so over the winter I installed Ricks stator and R&R upgrades. Put about 600 miles on since then and everything was going fine until today when I got about 5 miles out of town I noticed my voltage dropped. I turned around on on the way back it went back up to normal, right above the line. A few miles later it was back down again. I parked it in the garage and when I put the voltmeter on it was getting about 12.8 V. I felt the wires green and red wires that plug into the red and black and they were extremely hot down to the R&R. I let the bike cool for awhile and when I came out and started it agian the bike was charging as usual. I took it about 5 miles down the road again and yeah, same symptoms. The wires to it feel really hot. I put the R&R close to where it originally was but do I need to sand all the paint off that area? Any tips at all would be appreciated since I'm supposed to be taking the nephews with my dad on a campling trip on the 26th. Please Help!!!!
Chaharly Posted May 16, 2019 Author #2 Posted May 16, 2019 Also the r&r itself was very hot. But it's located pretty close to the exhaust
frankd Posted May 16, 2019 #3 Posted May 16, 2019 In view of the fact that it starts charging normally after it cools down and the Rectifier/regulator is getting extremely hot, the first suspect is the regulator. I think if I had the original regulator/rectifier, I'd put it back on the bike and see what happens. The OEM regulator/rectifier is a pretty reliable unit. Is the new stator a higher capacity unit, or is it identical to the OEM unit. Frank
Chaharly Posted May 16, 2019 Author #4 Posted May 16, 2019 Its the high output stator from Ricks motorsports. The regulator is as well. I think i may have gotten rid of the old regulator
Marcarl Posted May 17, 2019 #5 Posted May 17, 2019 I would try to let it run in the garage with a fan feeding fresh air on the RR and see if it heats up.
Freebird Posted May 17, 2019 #6 Posted May 17, 2019 If I remember correctly, Squidley had a big problem with Rick's regulator similar to what you are describing. I'm not 100% sure though. It may have been the stator that he had a problem with. As I think about it, I'm almost sure that it was the high output stator from Ricks that he had the problem with.
Freebird Posted May 17, 2019 #7 Posted May 17, 2019 I found the old thread. Read all the way through out and you'll see what he found. https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?74896-Buckeye-HO-upgraded-stator
Chaharly Posted May 17, 2019 Author #8 Posted May 17, 2019 I would try to let it run in the garage with a fan feeding fresh air on the RR and see if it heats up. I know she's getting real hot while I'm riding it but i will check it again at idle I'm the garage. I got a good box fan I'll throw on it
Chaharly Posted May 17, 2019 Author #9 Posted May 17, 2019 I found the old thread. Read all the way through out and you'll see what he found. https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?74896-Buckeye-HO-upgraded-stator Thanks Freebird! From reading it i think he was experiencing a short to ground where I am not, though believe me i will go over all the wires.
Chaharly Posted May 17, 2019 Author #10 Posted May 17, 2019 Ok this is where I'm at now. I checked AC voltage across the three stator wires in every combination and was getting 11.8 to 11.9 on all three wires over and over. I checked the resistance and had .3 ohm on each wire combo, and am not grounding through the wires as far as i can tell. I hardwired the stator to the R&R but wired in the plug for where the two positives and negatives connect to the bike. That plug and the wire around it gets pretty hot so I'm going to eliminate that plug tonight after work and see if that makes a noticeable difference in temp. Also i thought i had gotten Ricks Stator AND RR up grade but the regulator is this one from Boss Bearing. I believe the actual regulator is an Arrowhead. I'm thinking of buying Ricks RR now and I'm wondering if this regulator is worth a crap
frankd Posted May 17, 2019 #11 Posted May 17, 2019 Did you have the stator disconnected when you measured 11.9 volts? If so you have a bad stator. To detect a shorted stator coil, you need to have the stator disconnected, and measure phase to phase (lead to lead) and even at idle you should measure more than 11.9 volts. At 3000 RPM it'll measure about 100 volts, and all 3 phases should be nearly equal. I forgot what I measured at idle, but I'd guess you'd get about 40 volts. I have connected three 75W, 120V incandescent light bulbs across the stator leads, then I held the RPM at about 3000 RPM. AT first all 3 glowed at equal brightness, but then one started intermittently getting dimmer and then back to being equal to the other 2 and I knew I had an intermittently shorted coil.
Chaharly Posted May 17, 2019 Author #12 Posted May 17, 2019 I did have it connected to the regulator. I'll go home at lunch and retry it quick
Chaharly Posted May 17, 2019 Author #13 Posted May 17, 2019 Yeah i was up in the 30s after snippung the wires and almost up to 60 at 2000 RPM
Chaharly Posted May 18, 2019 Author #14 Posted May 18, 2019 Alright i think i figured it out. Where i had the regulator mounted it was sitting right up against the muffler. I thought it was a good spot but didn't realize the muffler goes there:bang head: So I'm gonna go ahead and assume that's the problem. Do you guys think this regulator is trustworthy now that its been over heated like that?
cowpuc Posted May 18, 2019 #15 Posted May 18, 2019 Alright i think i figured it out. Where i had the regulator mounted it was sitting right up against the muffler. I thought it was a good spot but didn't realize the muffler goes there:bang head: So I'm gonna go ahead and assume that's the problem. Do you guys think this regulator is trustworthy now that its been over heated like that? I wonder if you having against the muffler was/is causing a grounding issue so the reg couldn't shunt like it is suppose to? The mufflers are rubber mounted and sealed at the headers with gasketing so they may not produce the best ground IMHO. It doesnt seem that the muffs would get hot enough to cause internal issues of the reg if thats what your thinking = IMHO of course. I would not fear using it as long as it checks out on its readings = do a quick voltage check across the battery with a volt meter to see if its acting normal (reg drops off at idle and jumps to 14.5ish volts when you tap the throttle). ANother thought would be = how much "extra" amp draw are pulling from the new high output stator Cha? That being that extra draw on the stator/electrical system will normally put out xtra heat from the regulator,, that is why higher output electronic devices may have more cooling fins as a heat sink. It's possible that you are just experiencing something normal..
Chaharly Posted May 18, 2019 Author #16 Posted May 18, 2019 I wonder if you having against the muffler was/is causing a grounding issue so the reg couldn't shunt like it is suppose to? The mufflers are rubber mounted and sealed at the headers with gasketing so they may not produce the best ground IMHO. It doesnt seem that the muffs would get hot enough to cause internal issues of the reg if thats what your thinking = IMHO of course. I would not fear using it as long as it checks out on its readings = do a quick voltage check across the battery with a volt meter to see if its acting normal (reg drops off at idle and jumps to 14.5ish volts when you tap the throttle). ANother thought would be = how much "extra" amp draw are pulling from the new high output stator Cha? That being that extra draw on the stator/electrical system will normally put out xtra heat from the regulator,, that is why higher output electronic devices may have more cooling fins as a heat sink. It's possible that you are just experiencing something normal.. Ive been getting conflicting answers as to if the regulator needs to mounted to the frame or not. What I'm reading says the ground comes from the two black wires. I'm not running anything much extra off the electrical system except my new grip warmers occasionally and i do suspect heat will be higher from an HO Stator. I'm kind of grasping at straws here now though. The stator checks out fine. The regulator acts fine when its cold. Drops to around 13.5-13.8 at idle and only goes up to 14.5 when revved. I'm getting no significant voltage loss to the battery but when i would take it out and ride it after a few miles you could watch the voltage gauge slowly drop from 14.5 to around 13. It would go to about 12.9 at idle and slowly crawl up to 13.8 ish when revved. So really i have no clue what could be causing this And thursday was the first day it happened. It was about 90, so a good 10 degrees warmer than it had been every other time I've taken it out and I've put about 600 miles on with the new equipment with rock solid voltage until Thursday
bongobobny Posted May 19, 2019 #17 Posted May 19, 2019 Yes, the R/R should be mounted to the frame for heat dissipation. The R/R has cooling fins but it needs a heat sink such as the frame which represents a huge piece of metal for the heat to go. You could even go as far as to use a heat transfer compound which is like a white paste to help mate the two surfaces...
Chaharly Posted May 19, 2019 Author #18 Posted May 19, 2019 Alright thanks for the replies guys. Heres a couple of pics where it was mounted. I don't understand why the pics flipped like that.... but you can see where I had it mounted was not a good spot. I tried to use one of the original mounting holes from the original RR but I'm not on the frame very well and I'm pushed right up against the exhaust. With the Stator checking out and the wiring harnesses checking out, I'm pretty much to the point where its gotta be this voltage regulator. I work 12 hour days on the weekends but Monday I'm gonna move It over and test ride it, but unfortunately its only gonna be 50 Monday
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