Charging System

[Puddlejumper]

Hey to all, didn't want to bring an old thread back to the top, but as some of you will remember I posted in Dec. a problem I was having with starts and dies within 7 seconds. Many of you replied with suggestions which I again thank you for. Due to various reasons did not post after March this year. Any way, finally found some one to take the bike to Thursday and first thing checked was charging voltage back to battery. 12.3 volts at about 2000 to 2400 rpm.

According to the electrical section of the manual I downloaded, the voltage returning through the regulator should be min. 14.2 and max. 15.2 vdc at 3000 rpm. Can anyone with a manual in hand verify that this is correct?

Also, could this be what is telling my bike to shut off, the battery not receiving correct charge back into battery, telling ECM to shut bike down?

Hopefully this will take care of the problem and let me get this bike back on the road. Good riding to you all.

[minst7877]

The voltage with the bike running should be 14 + This could cause some problems due to lack of power when you start using a lot of accessories and the voltage will continue to drop. You need to get the regulators / rectifiers checked and hopefully that will give you a answer.

DC

[tomm]

Don't recall your other thread, but if you're measuring 12.3 volts at 2000 - 2400 rpm, something is definitely wrong. That is not low enough to shut down the ECU, but something in the 11 volt range will. At that RPM, you should be measuring in the 14 - 15 range, assuming you don't have a ton of accessories. Need at least 13.8 to keep the battery from discharging. A battery that is sitting not connected to anything and measuring 12.6 volts or higher is considered to be fully charged. At 12.6 volts, it is at about 75% of capacity.

First thing to check is the battery itself. If you have a bad battery and run the bike, you risk some pretty expensive repairs to your charging system. Remove the battery from the bike, put it on a charger at 1.5 - 2 amps for 10 hours, then remove the charger and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Finally, check the voltage. Should be around 12.8 or 12.9, and should hold steady. If that is OK, take it to a shop like Autozone and have them load test it (roughly equivalent to hooking up a dozen headlights for 15 seconds).

If the battery checks out good, check your battery connections, both at the battery, and at the ground connection to the engine.

Next would be to check the rectifiers.
Take off the left side cover and unplug the rectifiers from the stators. There should be six pins in the plug. Hold the plug so that the locking tab is facing up. There will be three pins along the top and three along the bottom. Use your ohm meter to measure the resistance (10K scale) from each of the bottom pins to each of the two corner pins on the top. For each measurement, measure in both directions (switch the meter leads between the two pins that you are measuring). So twelve measurements in total for each rectifier. In one direction, the reading should be infinite. In the other, about mid-scale for each set of pins. If one set doesn't measure out like that, the rectifier is bad.

Note: Some meters don't have enough voltage to forward-bias a diode, and therefore the measurement will be infinite in both directions. Those meters usually have a diode test mode.

Also, measure between each of the bottom pins on the stator side plug. Three measurements total. Each should be between 0.33 and 0.49 ohms.

Finally, measure between each of the bottom pins on the stator side plug and ground. Should be infinite for all three.

While you're at it, check those plugs between the stators and the rectifiers very carefully for signs of heat.

If all of that checks out and you are still seeing 12.3 volts, increase the RPM and see what happens. Also, disconnect the headlight.

Lastly, it could be the voltage regulator side of the rectifiers, but not likely. I suspect you'll find a problem long before you hit this point.

[Jllm02199]

My nomad is showing 13.7 at the battery with the bike running. Stators good and new rectifiers. never a problem starting. The old rectifiers were only doing about 13 volts.

[Puddlejumper]

My stator is putting out 90+ at about 3000 rpm. Regulators ordered today for replacement. Hopefully that will take care of my starting then shutting down problem. Thanks for the replys, and the information.

[Idaho]

Originally Posted by Puddlejumper

My stator is putting out 90+ at about 3000 rpm. Regulators ordered today for replacement. Hopefully that will take care of my starting then shutting down problem. Thanks for the replys, and the information.

Did this fix your bike?

[Top Cat]

I don't think he is going to answer you Bud.
This post is a year old and he hasn't been signed on to this site since 1-2-15
I wish guys would come back on here and let us know if our suggestions solved their problems

[Idaho]

You are probably right. I was hoping though. This was a tough problem for him and it would be REAL nice to know what the solution was.

[blowndodge]

The solution is getting a new motorcycle!

[Top Cat]

Originally Posted by blowndodge

The solution is getting a new motorcycle!

Everyone does not have the vast amount of disposable income you enjoy moneybags

[Idaho]

I got this reply from him today;

Sorry it took me so long to reply, had forgotten my login password. (Old age). Yes the bike has been fixed. Turned out to be the charging system. I was getting a bad trouble code, which had me running other things. One of the stators and both regulators were bad. Had fixed and bike has been sold.

At least we know.

No moneybags here. I have three adult daughters sucking at my financial straws.