Flyinfool

Continuity does not always signify a good connection. It is possible to show zero ohms but the actual good contact area is so small that the connection will not handle higher current. The get a better test of a connection you need the bike running with everything turned on that can be turned on and then measure voltage from the frame to the battery negative. If the voltage is more than zero there is resistance somewhere while under load. I had the chalky blade and it was causing me all kinds of grief. I eliminated that connector and solders the wires together. I saw no purpose in life for that connector to be there.

That sure sounds better than what I saw on the way home from work yesterday. There was a bike on the side of the road with obvious issues. I stopped to see if I could help. He had run out of gas. He just bought the bike a couple of hours earlier, his first bike ever, a Buell. He had shorts, sandals, no shirt, and no helmet and no MC license. His issue that attracted my attention, he was rocking the bike back and forth trying to duck walk it to a safe place but did not know how to find neutral. I did give him a ride to a gas station but in the process he had to listen to me splaining things on him. He mentioned that he will never get a license because he would be required to wear a helmet as a new rider and the hot chicks do not like guys with helmets. I asked how well the hot chicks like guys in a wheel chair drooling out of the corner of their mouth after they smacked their melon while trying to be cool and learning how to ride at the same time. Or how well the hot chicks like major scarring from road rash. I am not sure if I got thru or not, but by the time we got back to the bike with the gas he was quiet and appeared to be deep in thought.

If the battery is showing 12.7 then it is 100% charged, even if the battery is junk. But when the load is applied is when the voltage will drop way down, that is the part that indicates it is bad. A bad RR can take out a battery. It looks like the stator is ok. There are 2 wires connected to the negative battery terminal, the big one that goes to the engine ground near the water pump that you already found. Then there is a smaller black wire that goes to a one pin connector right in front of the battery. That is the wire that is the ground for everything on the bike except the starter motor. Clean that one pin connector and then try to follow that smaller black wire to the frame ground. I do not know where that frame ground is located, I never had a reason to find it yet. But it does look like I guessed right that you have multiple gremlins, So far a bad battery and a bad RR. I also suspect that frame ground. Then there could still be your original issue, or it all could have been these gremlins playing havoc due to low voltage in all circuits. In your original post you mentioned that it would stumble as the load and rpm went up. that lead everyone to checking the spark system,, low voltage will cause a weak spark that may not make the jump as the load and rpm go up. Low voltage could also cause the fuel pump to have low pressure and not keep up. Hopefully this will kill all of the gremlins in one fell swoop.

You really need to go though the whole test procedure. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=81297 We can spend days taking pot shots at the problem and still miss something. I still am GUESSING that it is the RR but all of the tests have to be done to rule out everything else so that the RR is the only thing left.

I don't know about Ohio, but the deer around here do not know what a rattle snake is. So to a deer it is just noise, but your bike already makes noise. A startled deer can run in any direction. I have seen deer that likely would have stood on the side of the road and watched you go by, jump out on the road at the sound of a horn, because it scared them, their first reaction is often, not always, to run in whatever direction the are pointed. Deer are so unpredictable that the best defense is to see and avoid. This means good lights at night that really light up the ditches so you can see them coming.

Dang, I missed that. :bang head: :bang head: :bang head: :bang head: :bang head: :bang head: :bang head: Someone run over here and smack me..............But not to hard ALL of the testing we are doing should be with the black lead in the common jack.

That is what I was thinking.:think::think: Take your meter and check you cars battery with the engine on and off, if your car is also 16V you have a bad meter.

There is no easy test for the regulator portion of the RR. The tests listed for while the RR is disconnected are to test the diodes in the rectifier portion of the RR. So since there is no test we can do for the regulator, you have to eliminate everything else that can cause a problem, and can be checked/tested, and then if everything else is good it must be the regulator that is the problem.

I have tossed this out a few times now and never got a reply. The first and second gen motors share a lot of parts. First gens do not whine. (or they are to fast for the whine to catch up.) Will a first gen basket work in a second gen? Has anyone tried it?

That high voltage on the battery has me cornfused.... I would still get the battery load tested before replacing anything. The high charging voltage may have damaged it and a bad battery can make the RR look bad. I would still go through all of the steps in the charging system test in order to rule out as many issues as possible befe spending money. I have never been one to just throw money at a problem till it goes away. But I have never seen a battery with a failure mode of high voltage.:think::think:

15.2 is to high. The high voltage may have cooked the battery. High voltage will eventually cook most electrical things on the bike. You definitely have a charging issue. This could be causing all of your other problems.

If the voltage running at 3K rpm is not 14.0 +/-0.5 volts then if it is high, the RR is bad, if its low, then it could be the RR or stator or a bad connection somewhere. There is a thread on how to test the whole charging system and identify the issue. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=81297 If the voltage is at 14 V then charge the battery and take it in somewhere to get load tested.

It is sounding like you might have multiple gremlins in there.

Start it up and check the battery voltage at 3,000 rpm.

It reads 14.28 across the battery with the engine off and the charger not connected??

Try another approach. A weak charging system or a bad battery can cause all Kinds of weird things to happen. Put the battery on a charger and fully charge it. Put a good volt meter across the battery. It should read around 12.6 volts. Start the bike, run at ~3,000 rpm. It should be about 14V with the voltmeter across the battery.

I hate it when gremlins eat my pics......

Ya just know how important pics are to us on this site, we cant just let a pic thred with no pics go with out at least a little . I do not have permission to view that album.........

:sign yeah that:

Then you go back to post #5.

Ouch!

HA! Let me get one built first. I still need to buy the horn and then acquire a new TIG welder to build the aluminum box. I could weld it using my MIG welder (I do already have all of the stuff for welding aluminum) but the welds are not very pretty compared to what can be done with a TIG welder. My first one will most likely be MIG welded, or maybe even bolted and/or riveted.

I'm working on it. http://www.hornblasters.com/products/details.php?i=shocker-228vx-train-horn-kit There is smoke coming from my poor little cad system and my poor little brain. I have several items up on ebay right now to generate the funds for this project. As long as it is powered thru a relay direct from the battery the power draw is not an issue. Its not like the compressor is always running, it is very intermittent at most. It will plug into my receiver and then also double as a rack to load a small cooler on top of. I also have a receiver mounted to the trailer so I can still have it while towing. It also has an air hose for inflating tires.

The easiest fix is to just get the stronger spring from SkyDoc_17 and a new gasket. You don't even have to drain the oil. The oil will stay in as long as the bike is on the side stand. Many people also change out the half plate to a full plate at the same time. You will have to inspect your plates and steels to see if they need replacing or not.

What kind of pieces are they, hardware, stones, rust,,,,,,,,? You could try one of those little grabbers used for getting screws out of tight places. http://www.harborfreight.com/24-inch-2-in-1-pickup-tool-94162.html OR The proper application of high explosives can make any problem go away.