Charging System Trouble Shooting Flow Chart

Can't thank you enough Pete. It's amazing that I just got out of my favorite "reading room" reading chapter 9 of the Clymer's manual, the electrical system! No joke!

I picked up my new battery Tuesday afternoon, came home and installed it, hooked it to the charger, and left it. The next day I came out and with a fresh green light, I unhooked and went for a ride with my son in the morning. I came home, plugged her in, and had a yellow "charging light" for more than an hour! Thats impossible! Any other bike I've had, when coming home from a long ride, the light would go to "green" after about a minute or so. I never had to wait so long. Even after coming home from Bike night yesterday, 48 miles of only highway speeds, the charger still showed a "yellow" light after 1/2 hour after plugging in.

I'm definitely going to check out the charging system tomorrow when I get home. I've already got my multimeter next to me. I've already priced the Regulator/Rectifier at 75 bucks new just in case.

Oh, and the charger is only 1 month old and charges the other bike right up no problem. We'll see tomorrow.
 
Oh no! Another problem to sort out on the bike Billy!?!? Hope it is as simple as the rectifier. Keep us posted on the results following the flow chart.
 
I thought mine problem was the rec, now I think it's the stator. ugh.

I put the rec on last night, and on mile two of the test ride a high pitched whine started coming out of the lesft side of the motor. Sounds like the stator is dying.

I just want to ride a freaking motorcycle...

Billy, $75 bucks is a great price on the rec, mine was $225 shipped...ugh... Stator, $200+ ugh...
 
Pete, mine has has a high-pitched sound on the left of the motor for the life of the bike. I've never been able to pin-point what it is and the bike still runs like a top. I noticed the whine almost 6500 miles ago....

So, is it still exhibiting the issues or running great with the whine?
 
FZ1inNH said:
Oh no! Another problem to sort out on the bike Billy!?!? Hope it is as simple as the rectifier. Keep us posted on the results following the flow chart.
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Well, I'm not sure that there is a problem, I'm only going on past bikes that have gone to "green" a few minutes after a long ride. I mean, the battery is brand new and was fully charged. I'm just attributing it to the fact that while the bike is really clean, it is almost ten years old, and as you know with cars, after 10 years, parts just naturally go bad. I'm not upset or anything. If it's not charging the battery properly, I'll just get new parts.
 
FZ1inNH said:
Pete, mine has has a high-pitched sound on the left of the motor for the life of the bike. I've never been able to pin-point what it is and the bike still runs like a top. I noticed the whine almost 6500 miles ago....

So, is it still exhibiting the issues or running great with the whine?
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I'd never heard the noise before and it started during the test ride. I can hear it clearly above the sound of the motor/exhaust.

Fred and I will try to figure it out this weekend. I just want to ride...
 
Hellgate said:
I'd never heard the noise before and it started during the test ride. I can hear it clearly above the sound of the motor/exhaust.

Fred and I will try to figure it out this weekend. I just want to ride...
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Of course, it is difficult to know if the noise we both hear are one in the same. But I still need to ask... is the bike now running OK but with the whine or are you having the same issues?
 
FZ1riderNY said:
Well, I'm not sure that there is a problem, I'm only going on past bikes that have gone to "green" a few minutes after a long ride. I mean, the battery is brand new and was fully charged. I'm just attributing it to the fact that while the bike is really clean, it is almost ten years old, and as you know with cars, after 10 years, parts just naturally go bad. I'm not upset or anything. If it's not charging the battery properly, I'll just get new parts.
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Yes, it can start showing its age! ;) but to me, that indicates you are using more juice than you are supplying to the battery. That would mean that the brand new battery would take a severe beating if the issue isn't resolved. Thankfully, you DO plug in the bike.

Typically, our bikes are only plugged in when we put them up for the winter or know it will be a couple weeks of no riding.
 
FZ1inNH said:
Of course, it is difficult to know if the noise we both hear are one in the same. But I still need to ask... is the bike now running OK but with the whine or are you having the same issues?
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Fair questions. The problem is the bike not starting from the battery going flat. So I'm not having any functional problems aside from that.

I didn't want to ride it so much that it died this morning, and I want to keep the battery good so Fred and I can trouble shoot on Saturday.

The thing is the noise is now new. I'm thinking the bearings within the stator are dying.
 
FZ1inNH said:
Yes, it can start showing its age! ;) but to me, that indicates you are using more juice than you are supplying to the battery. That would mean that the brand new battery would take a severe beating if the issue isn't resolved. Thankfully, you DO plug in the bike.

Typically, our bikes are only plugged in when we put them up for the winter or know it will be a couple weeks of no riding.
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Thats exactly what I don't want. Not after paying 169 bucks for that battery! So tomorrow I'm riding to work, this way when I get home Richie can come down and help me diagnose the issue, if there is an issue. My other thought is that it may be that I almost never have the bike revving up at 5k, even on the highway. 4K is 60mph for me so does that mean that the charge is minimal to the battery while I'm riding?
 
FZ1riderNY said:
Thats exactly what I don't want. Not after paying 169 bucks for that battery! So tomorrow I'm riding to work, this way when I get home Richie can come down and help me diagnose the issue, if there is an issue. My other thought is that it may be that I almost never have the bike revving up at 5k, even on the highway. 4K is 60mph for me so does that mean that the charge is minimal to the battery while I'm riding?
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2250 RPMs and above should be putting a charge into the bike. At 5k RPMs, you've hit about the limit for charging capacity. They still always charge in the 3k+ cruising range. So, a multimeter will be your best friend tomorrow when you see what the system has at idle, 2500 RPM and 5k RPM for output. Since we know it isn't the battery, you've already narrowed the search. :tup:
 
When I got home today my son was AWOL again! The sweet sixteen that has been keeping him from helping me the past few weeks was tonight so needless to say, I was on my own.

I rolled the bike into the garage and removed the seat. I got out the meter and check the battery. It registered 12.99 volts without the bike running. I then started the bike and locked the cruise control at 2500 rpms. It registered 12.75 and slowly rising. I then locked it at 5000 rpms and it registered 13.58 volts after about 30 seconds. That was it, as it went no higher. I don't think thats charging enough for me. What do you guys think?

I didn't have the hands to run down the checklist by myself because I need to lift the tank and get to the wiring. I checked the list down to the first page where my readings sent me to section "B". My rectifier has three white wires, a red, and a black. Checking from the battery terminal to the red was lower than 0.2 volts and also to the black wire as well. I will have to lift the tank or remove the rectifier in order to check the stator wires. I'll see if Richie can give me a hand tomorrow after work. More to come.
 
FZ1riderNY said:
When I got home today my son was AWOL again! The sweet sixteen that has been keeping him from helping me the past few weeks was tonight so needless to say, I was on my own.

I rolled the bike into the garage and removed the seat. I got out the meter and check the battery. It registered 12.99 volts without the bike running. I then started the bike and locked the cruise control at 2500 rpms. It registered 12.75 and slowly rising. I then locked it at 5000 rpms and it registered 13.58 volts after about 30 seconds. That was it, as it went no higher. I don't think thats charging enough for me. What do you guys think?

I didn't have the hands to run down the checklist by myself because I need to lift the tank and get to the wiring. I checked the list down to the first page where my readings sent me to section "B". My rectifier has three white wires, a red, and a black. Checking from the battery terminal to the red was lower than 0.2 volts and also to the black wire as well. I will have to lift the tank or remove the rectifier in order to check the stator wires. I'll see if Richie can give me a hand tomorrow after work. More to come.
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Yea, that's too low. Probably causing your battery to never really be fully charged. I would have expected at least 14V at 5k RPM. You definitely need to look into it more as you don't want to ruin the new battery.
 
Well, if Billy is following the flow chart, 13.5 to 14.79 is "normal" but I have to admit two things... 13.58 isn't what I'd call spectacular AND the fact that it took 30 seconds to get there is troubling me.

Billy, I'd start with the suggestions regarding cleaning all possible contacts. Sometimes, it is just a matter of lowered connectivity or more resistance because of tarnished or dirty contact points. If you disco each one one at a time, clean them (a PEN eraser works wonders!!!) then WD40 them and reconnect them all, you will get quality contact points back and likely a better reading and quicker response at the meter. :D
 
FZ1inNH said:
Well, if Billy is following the flow chart, 13.5 to 14.79 is "normal" but I have to admit two things... 13.58 isn't what I'd call spectacular AND the fact that it took 30 seconds to get there is troubling me.

Billy, I'd start with the suggestions regarding cleaning all possible contacts. Sometimes, it is just a matter of lowered connectivity or more resistance because of tarnished or dirty contact points. If you disco each one one at a time, clean them (a PEN eraser works wonders!!!) then WD40 them and reconnect them all, you will get quality contact points back and likely a better reading and quicker response at the meter. :D
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Thats a great point Eric and yes, I was following the sheet. I even went on youtube and found some videos, that while not of Yamahas, show between 13.5 and 14 as within spec. The battery also showed 12.99 volts when I got home from work with the bike shut off. I'm going to clean all the connectors today and pack them with dilectric grease and check again. Hopefully my son will be home by then.
 
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