RaWarrior
Well-Known Member
While I think I know the unfortunate answer here, just wanted to see if anyone has suggestions about this..
Had the famous low running voltage on my Max for some time. Hovered around 12.8 when I got the bike. Did the crimp fix, went up to about 13.3. Then I forgot about it for about 6-7000 miles. Never any issues with starting or the battery going flat. Checked it recently, only 12.3 volts when idling and 12.5 revved up. 12.4 with highbeam and fan on.....not good. Still, I took it on several longer trips like this and never had electrical issues, hot starts not a problem. Only quirk was that when idling in traffic (fan on), the blinker would flash erratically(but would flash normally if you raised it just off idle).
I got a mosfet r/r off a Ninja ZX10 and wired it in(very similar to the R1 part, just a bit smaller). Stator wires directly to the r/r(eliminated that connector), output and ground wires directly to battery, eliminating those two. Fired the bike up, 14.4 volts idling, 14.5 revved up. Perfect. No headlight dimming at idle. Thought I had kicked this problem. Went for a 20 minute ride. Noticed on my way back at a stoplight the headlight noticeably dimmed at idle...uh oh. Checked the voltage when I got back. Idling, it's all the way down to 12.5, about 12.8 revved up. Standing battery(motor off) was a perfect 12.65. So what gives? The r/r was barely even warm to the touch(this might have been engine heat, it's living under the seat where the rear coils would be), and none of the wires going to it were warm at all.
The stator tested .8 ohms per leg when cold, and 1.2 when hot. Hot or cold, no continuity to ground on any leg. Seems like it should be fine, but yet more strange issues. Some wacky short that only appears under load AND heat? I guess it's possible.
I'm guessing(really the only thing left) is that the stator is only partially functional....good output when cold, marginal when hot. I have heard of this on outboards that come in with complaints of "runs good at startup but quickly starts to run poorly", or "starts right up when cold, but difficult when hot", where both cases turned out to be the stator.
I guess I should cut to the chase....where's a good place to buy one? Yamaha wants almost $400 for one...forget that. Dennis Kirk sells one by "Rick's Electrics" for $130 free shipping, which is more reasonable. Listed as a "heavy duty", I'm not sure if that means higher output or not. There's a guy selling reman ones on ebay, but the fact that he mis-spelled "stater" concerns me. If any of the vendors here sell them I'd be glad to support, but otherwise I've had lots of good luck with DK and they ship things fast...always get it in exactly 3 days.
Had the famous low running voltage on my Max for some time. Hovered around 12.8 when I got the bike. Did the crimp fix, went up to about 13.3. Then I forgot about it for about 6-7000 miles. Never any issues with starting or the battery going flat. Checked it recently, only 12.3 volts when idling and 12.5 revved up. 12.4 with highbeam and fan on.....not good. Still, I took it on several longer trips like this and never had electrical issues, hot starts not a problem. Only quirk was that when idling in traffic (fan on), the blinker would flash erratically(but would flash normally if you raised it just off idle).
I got a mosfet r/r off a Ninja ZX10 and wired it in(very similar to the R1 part, just a bit smaller). Stator wires directly to the r/r(eliminated that connector), output and ground wires directly to battery, eliminating those two. Fired the bike up, 14.4 volts idling, 14.5 revved up. Perfect. No headlight dimming at idle. Thought I had kicked this problem. Went for a 20 minute ride. Noticed on my way back at a stoplight the headlight noticeably dimmed at idle...uh oh. Checked the voltage when I got back. Idling, it's all the way down to 12.5, about 12.8 revved up. Standing battery(motor off) was a perfect 12.65. So what gives? The r/r was barely even warm to the touch(this might have been engine heat, it's living under the seat where the rear coils would be), and none of the wires going to it were warm at all.
The stator tested .8 ohms per leg when cold, and 1.2 when hot. Hot or cold, no continuity to ground on any leg. Seems like it should be fine, but yet more strange issues. Some wacky short that only appears under load AND heat? I guess it's possible.
I'm guessing(really the only thing left) is that the stator is only partially functional....good output when cold, marginal when hot. I have heard of this on outboards that come in with complaints of "runs good at startup but quickly starts to run poorly", or "starts right up when cold, but difficult when hot", where both cases turned out to be the stator.
I guess I should cut to the chase....where's a good place to buy one? Yamaha wants almost $400 for one...forget that. Dennis Kirk sells one by "Rick's Electrics" for $130 free shipping, which is more reasonable. Listed as a "heavy duty", I'm not sure if that means higher output or not. There's a guy selling reman ones on ebay, but the fact that he mis-spelled "stater" concerns me. If any of the vendors here sell them I'd be glad to support, but otherwise I've had lots of good luck with DK and they ship things fast...always get it in exactly 3 days.
