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Grease Monkeys NZ

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 Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question.

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Coops
Serial Bike Abuser
Serial Bike Abuser
Coops


Posts : 241
Join date : 2013-12-14
Age : 47
Location : Auckland

Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. Empty
PostSubject: Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question.   Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. EmptyTue Feb 17, 2015 10:13 am

Fellow Grease Monkeys, I thought I would post this wee story on here in the hope that if this ever happens to anyone else, the problem can be easily remedied.

First, the background problem.
My 1981 Suzuki (GSX400) would run and ride well for approximately 15 – 20 ish minutes before the battery would drain below 10V and would either sputter and die or continue running until I got home, then not start again.. Until the battery had been recharged.
The battery is a brand new Lithium, the latest and greatest in battery development, it weighs next to nothing and is very small.

The regulator / rectifier was replaced, as there was an issue with that resulting in a parasitic leak.
Replacing the R/R solved the parasitic leak, but the battery drain while riding still occurred 100% of the time.
The charging system was checked, then checked again and all mutli-meter readings were within factory specs for the bike.

The bike running and revving at approximately 5000rpm would produce 14.4V at the battery.
All wiring and connections, earths and everything else imaginable was checked and checked again.
So after weeks of checking, pulling the seat off to get at the battery to charge the battery, swearing, head scratching, checking, tracing wires, checking earths, checking, reading online forums, watching YouTube videos and more checking, I finally took the side casing off to look at the stator.. which was not easy, as it’s a 30+ year old bike, bolts have been replaced and seemed to have been bolted down using the force equivalent of 8 muscle bound gorillas, banging, grinding and breaking off tips of a cheap set of bolt extractors I was in … taking out the stator, I was presented with 1 of the 3 phases burnt out !
The stator would charge the system at the specified rating, but appears the burnt phase couldn’t keep up with the load possibly at lower revs to sustain the charge while using the light and indicators etc…

So, an old Suzuki … a stator should be easy enough to find, right? Well yes and no… found a few second hand ones ranging from $100 to $165 plus freight… I thought do I want to go with a second hand one and possibly have this problem again in the future, ringing the local Suzuki dealer for a price of a brand new one, upon hearing the price they would like for said new stator, I fainted and defecated a large brick, in which order I’m not sure …. $500!
Anyway, after calling in a favour and masterfully using a contact, I have been able to get a brand new stator for $350, way better than $500!

This of course could be very premature, as I have not received the new stator and therefore not installed it and ran the bike…. But surely this has to fix the problem, right?

Stay tuned….

So, the invite from the Italian Motorcycle Owners Club to join their club learning session on bike electrics this coming Wednesday the 18th… is timely, come along no matter how experienced you are, you still may learn something.
I am 100% going to be there, with pen and paper in hand!
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keithmaniac
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Posts : 41
Join date : 2011-08-16
Age : 67
Location : Papamoa Beach

Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. Empty
PostSubject: Electricall system   Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. EmptyTue Feb 17, 2015 4:13 pm

Well done mate , glad you found that gremlin, best way to learn , glad you didnt give up.
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Coops
Serial Bike Abuser
Serial Bike Abuser
Coops


Posts : 241
Join date : 2013-12-14
Age : 47
Location : Auckland

Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question.   Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. EmptyTue Feb 17, 2015 8:08 pm

Thanks Keith, hopefully I'm not high fiving myself too soon, but I am fairly confident this should fix the problem.
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scotty
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scotty


Posts : 32
Join date : 2010-04-26
Age : 52
Location : West Auckland

Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question.   Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. EmptyThu Mar 05, 2015 6:31 pm

well done,glad to see you got it sorted, sorry i wasn't able to track down the fault, but if that winding is shorting out when hot it will be causing problems. have you fitted the new stator? any progress?
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Coops
Serial Bike Abuser
Serial Bike Abuser
Coops


Posts : 241
Join date : 2013-12-14
Age : 47
Location : Auckland

Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question.   Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. EmptyThu Mar 05, 2015 9:53 pm

Hey Scotty, all good.. it was one of those strange ones that played up when warm.
I've put the new stator in and that seems to have done the trick.
Now I'm just waiting on new intake manifolds, and I'll be racing.

Cheers
Tim
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Coops
Serial Bike Abuser
Serial Bike Abuser
Coops


Posts : 241
Join date : 2013-12-14
Age : 47
Location : Auckland

Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question.   Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. EmptyWed Mar 18, 2015 8:25 am

So I rode my bike all the way to work, and... back again without any trouble... wow, what an unusual feeling of euphoria, especially when riding slowly past a sea of cars waiting to get onto the motorway before joining another even thicker sea of cars already on said motorway. 

It's the small things in life that bring the most joy.

After months of ongoing electrical problems, and now being able to use my bike without hesitation, I feel can now tackle the header pipe that leaks like a bastard of my expensive 2 into 1 system.

Anyone out there have experience in this field? don't really want to have to send the system all the way back to Wellington.

Coops
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Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question.   Electrical system, to charge or not to charge, that is the question. Empty

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