Volt problem

[rollin thunder]

Hi guys I need help.My bike always puts out 13.5-14 volts but i start it up today and I am getting 12.1.I took the foot rest off and checked my connections and everything looks ok .My rr gets hot so I am getting jiuce to it .What else can I check besides at the battery to see if its putting out and maybe something came loose .:ummm:

 

[DMAN999]

Read through this:
http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=19108
It should help you figure out where the problem is.

 

[alorio1]

Check your ground cable to the engine, check and clean RR connection under left side cover. I would clean all these connections even if they look OK. The connector under the left side cover it notorious for charging problems, the female part of the connector gets hot and causes loss of voltage sent from RR. I cut the connector out and soldered these wires together on my bike.

 

[rollin thunder]

I have been looking at the r1 rr .Is that a good upgrade ?.I see guys putting it under the left scoop.I did check all my grounds and they look ok .I cleaned the one by the oil cap and the one under the faux cover on the right side.I also did the rr mod a year ago and it made the whole system much better with no problems at all.

 

[rollin thunder]

I cleaned the footpeg and all the wires that connect down there and added a little dialectric grease and still nothing.So the three white wires are from the stator and the red wire to my battery supplies the volts to charge it and the rectifier regulates the volts to the battery and there is one ground wire I have grounded to the frame correct?.

 

[Miles Long]

I cleaned the footpeg and all the wires that connect down there and added a little dialectric grease and still nothing.So the three white wires are from the stator and the red wire to my battery supplies the volts to charge it and the rectifier regulates the volts to the battery and there is one ground wire I have grounded to the frame correct?.

Yup. In case there is a break or poor conductivity in the red wire, run another wire from the red RR connector directly to the positive post of the battery. If this solves your problem, install it permanently, using an in-line 30 amp fuse.
If no luck, check the output of the stator. Should be 50-60 volts A.C. , between any two of the white wires. Check all three wire combinations. They should all be approximately the same A.C. voltage.
Cheers!

 

[one2dmax]

I do have (3) of these R1 regulators on hand. Not sure that these are 100% necessary.

Sean

 

[tsmith154]

Hum. I am not alone. Thanks for helping Rollin Thunder. Indirectly you guys are helping me to. Thank you so much. I do not want to steel the thread. I hope it is ok, but I will describe my situation. Just tell me to stop posting here and I will right away.

2001 vmax 1200

I cleaned all the wire connections. Removed the connectors (charging circuit) and used solder/heat shrink tube. Replaced the wire from the regulator to the battery with larger gauge.

From the battery to the frame.
While in idle, used a volt meter 12.5 dc. Brought the rpm up to 4000 and the volt meter read 13.5 dc.
Plugged in the electric jacket with gloves and turned it on and the volt meter at idle 12 vdc. and high rpm 12.5 vdc. While watching the volts for awhile the reading was dropping. When the fan kicked in with the jacket the volts dropped fast. I turned off the jacket and the volts returned to 12.5 vdc with the fan and the engine high or low rpm. While watching the volt meter the engine shut off in front of me. The volt meter was 12.5 vdc when the engine shut off.
I tried to start the bike with the grone of a dead batter. The volt meter read 12.5 dc. with the engine off. When I try to start the bike the volt meter reads 3v dc. The motor does not turn over.
Tomorrow I will test the white wires as you guys described.

 

[Tex85]

Tsmith you may want to go ahead and pull the battery to get it tested at auto zone or the equivalent. It sounds like a possible dead/dying battery. You might also have a RR problem similar to what I had in December where once it gets warmed up it stops charging the bike as much as it should. If you jump the bike and run it until the temp is in the red kick on the fan and keep going does it ever shut off on you? If it keeps running your RR is likely fine. If you shut off the bike at that point and try to fire it up again and are unable it points back to the battery.

Personally I would have yhr battery tested first before running down some other paths first, after all auto parts shops will do it for free hoping you'll buy the new replacement through them.

Any suggestions Miles gives you are is good as gold. He is the one who straightened me out of my most recent electrical problem.

I hope you find the problem soon, its not fun chasing it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tsmith154]

Thanks for your reply.

checked my stator: the three white wires. across any of the white wires. Idle: 10.6 vac. and about 3000 rpm or more 11.6 vac.

I bought the battery last year. And have replaced it every year for about 3 years now. The problem never went away. But that will not stop me from taking your advice and get the battery tested at Auto zone. If they are open Sunday, I am there.

What is "RR" Is that the Rectifier/Regulator? I think that is what you are talking about.

I just found this:

<H1>1998-2007 Yamaha VMX1200 VMX 1200 V-Max Regulator Rectifier

[ESR280]</H1> $78.99

Re-Designed and Improved heavy duty Yamaha VMX1200 VMX 1200 V-Max Regulator Rectifier has a higher power handling ability than the original OEM part. This regulator rectifier comes with a direct plug in connector. This unit is much more efficient than the OEM regulator rectifier because of its improve cooling fin design which allows it to dissipate heat quickly & effectively.

These are some of the several OEM numbers that this part would fit:
OEM Part Number(s) 3JP-81960-01-00


What do you think. Since I get the low voltage of 12.5 and 13.5 that is lower than what I have been reading I should have.

Since I do use A electric jacket and gloves is there away I can or should increase the current I get from the charging circuit?

Forgot to answer your question:
Yep. The bike did shut off today while I was testing the voltage with and with out the jacket, With and with out the fan. The jacket makes the voltage drop over time and with the fan it drops fast. The fan allows the voltage increase to the 12.5 vdc. While watching the voltage at the 12.5 vdc and the fan running the bike shut down. I tried to start it and it sounded as I had a dead battery. while trying to start the bike the voltage went down to 3 vdc. I have it charging now.

Well, I ordered a stator with 20% more power from here: http://www.regulatorrectifier.com/catalog/1985-2007-Yamaha-VMX1200-V-MAX-Stator
I ordered the SS I listed above.
And I am having the battery tested tomorrow where I was suggested to (they are open), if it is bad I will replace it.

I figure, let's replace the stator, RR, and maybe the battery at the same time. Since one of the three should be the problem and I am replacing two good parts out of the three. I cannot think of any other part that could cause my problem. It seems practical to do this since I am spending so much time searching for the problem the cost of man hours adds up to be more than the cost of all three parts. I had spent 300+ dollars last year paying a motorcycle shop to find the problem and they could not. Heck that could almost have paid for the parts I just bought. Should have done this in the first place. Now watch it does not fix my problem.

 

[rollin thunder]

My bike cranks real well even though my battery is reading about 12.2 volts.i will also check the stator wires to see what kind of volts it is putting out.I have a heavy gage wire running from my rr to the pos side of battery .When I got the bike a year ago, cold the batt was 12.12 at 1000rpm13.5 and 2500rpm 13.0 .After the rr mod when cold 12.7 at 1000 rpm13.5 and 25000 rpm 14.6 .Today I get 11.7 at 1000rpm and 12.2 at 2500 rpm ,and the bike cranks over with no problem.Go figure!!!.

 

[rollin thunder]

Update for sunday .I checkedthe volts coming out from the stator .I picked two white wires and I am getting 10-11 volts A.C.Is that ok and how do I fix this problem?.I am going to call this bike Murphys Law.Now my tachometer needs to be tapped or reved to function and I cleaned the connections on them a few weeks ago and ,I have a small coolant leak around my thermostat housing .What next?

 

[rollin thunder]

Guys I checked the stator unplugged from the rr and got 20volts A.C. and 50and more when I reved it,between the three wires .I think it may be ok.Checked ohms also and it seems ok.

 

[tsmith154]

Tex85. Thanks for your help. I installed the new RR and the volts jumped up to 13.5 at idle and 13.5 while running high rpm. It just sits around 13.5 now.

I hooked up my jacket and gloves (electric) and I saw the volts slowly dropping when the fan kicked on. So I threw the Stator I bought that had 25% more than stock output (according to the store) on and yes that was the trick. With the fan on, jacket and gloves on hi the volts do drop down to 12.5 at idle 800 rpm but stays rock solid. Never changes. When I kick up the rpm the volts go up to 13.5. I am happy with this.

For the heck of it, since I did all this work I threw in a new batter after my testing.

Note: before the Stator, RR, and battery I did replace the wires with 10 gauge and removed all the plugs with solder/heat shrink.

For my next trick I am going to modify my clutch to grab better. I do not think it slips but I figure I will find out after this mod. I found this option on another web site. I will post it if anybody wants me to. It seems easy and cheep. It is warned though. Your hand might get tired if in stop and go traffic because of the extra pressure needed.

After that What would be the best cost effective hp gain mode. I have been looking. I am sure I will find it on this web site.

Thanks for your help.

 

[rollin thunder]

So ,how hard was it installing the Stator?.

 

[wildweasel_pt]

Theres a "how to" about that here on the forum...

 

[rollin thunder]

Thats right ,my bad.

 

[tsmith154]

surprisingly easy. Remove the peg and shift arm. Unplug your wires. Drain all of your oil. remove both covers on that side of the bike (Make sure to have new gaskets and clean all of the old gasket material, do NOT scratch the surface for the gaskets). The cover towards the front tire is where the stator is. When you pull that off be careful because the stator is connected to it. Remove the stator and replace it with your new one. I have photos that is took that I used to make sure I reassembled it correctly. They DID help. I still have them but I do not know how to post them. I would share two maybe three of them with you that I found to be helpful to me. I just do not know how to upload them to this message.

I am no professional. Just an mechanical engineer that will dissemble something and hope to be able to put it back together again correctly. I was happy to see this was a easy job. About as much trouble it is to change the brake pads on my cars. Sorry it has been so long since I looked at this forum.

 

[tsmith154]

Ok. I think I did this correctly. I uploaded some of my photos (stator) including one of my RR.:biglaugh:

 

[SpecOps13]

The first time changing a stator is scary. Hardest part is getting the screws out of the stator if it's never been replaced. Yamaha used something like Yamabond on them. Impact Driver and a supported / cushioned stator cover makes things a little easier. Always Ohm the new stators wires with a good meter, capable of reading very low Ohms before and after the new stator is installed in the cover. Saves time installing a new stator that's BAD. Only things that could give you grief going back together is the gaskets and the gears for the starter. Make sure gears are in all the way and not backwards if one fell out during disassembly, pulling on the cover to overcome the flywheels magnetism (They go in one way to properly align). Insure the gaskets are aligned properly on clean surfaces and use RTV only if they are warped. I do use black RTV to seal the wiring grommet and the wires themselves that go through the cover. Try to hold the idler gear and pin in place with one finger till they go into place in the cover during assembly too. I torque the cover screws to spec and just a touch more.