Ole Yeller dies a spectacular (but temporary?) death...

[dgyver]

I was thinking Step 19 but Step 16 is not a problem.

[Kerry]

You're absolutely right - I did mean step 19.   

Modified the post.

[Dan02GS]

Kerry sorry to hear about your misfortune,  I am sure a lot of people will benefit from your post on How to test the charging system. Hope all is going well

[beRto]

Hi Kerry,

As requested, here are the results of electrical testing on my 1995 GS500E (that is in good running condition). The bike was warmed for 5-10 minutes prior to measurements:

1) Between battery terminals (~5000 rpm) = 14.0 Vdc

2) Between each alternator wire and ground (battery neg.), bike "off":
yellow = 15 M-Ohm
white/green = 15 M-Ohm
white/blue = 15 M-Ohm

3) Between each wire pair, bike "off" = 0 Ohm

4) Betweeen each pair of alternator wires (~5000 rpm):
yellow - white/green = 82 Vac
yellow - white/blue = 83 Vac
white/green - white/blue = 81 Vac

Hope this helps! Good luck with your bike.

[Kerry]

Thanks for the feedback, beRto ... it looks like you have a healthy bike! 

Mine on the other hand, seems to relatively "anemic".     Oh, and I goofed royally on my regulator/rectifier tests, so it looks like my alternator is the main suspect after all.  (More on that later.)

[GeeP]

Aww crap!

I hope you don't have Starwalt's.   

[Kerry]

I hope you don't have Starwalt's.   

Actually, I received starwalt's R/R unit yesterday.  But that's what helped me figure out my problem. 

I decided to perform the resistance tests on starwalt's unit before I put it in my bike.  Surprisingly, the results were pretty similar to the ones for MY unit!

As I said, I'll post a full-blown report fairly soon.  But here's a teaser: Trust Clymer on this one! 

[yamahonkawazuki]

YAY for GSTwin members, too!!!

starwalt is my hero. Hi starwalt!!!!! 

(Shameless temporary threadjack from a desperate women: vote here!!!) 

anyhoo, least you got her well will be getting her goin, i had stumbled across a rr from a parts collection, i would have sent, ( free of ocurse  ) but you got her covered. btw this will amke it into your site, or perhaps another one of your masterful youtube vids?

[yamahonkawazuki]

[threadjack] btw pandy, you can NEVER have too many tools [/threadjack]

[Jared]

Thanks for the feedback, beRto ... it looks like you have a healthy bike! 

Mine on the other hand, seems to relatively "anemic".     Oh, and I goofed royally on my regulator/rectifier tests, so it looks like my alternator is the main suspect after all.  (More on that later.)

So was it the stator or the rotor......?     Or Maybe it was Your Flux Capacitor....

[Kasumi]

Thanks for the feedback, beRto ... it looks like you have a healthy bike! 

Mine on the other hand, seems to relatively "anemic".     Oh, and I goofed royally on my regulator/rectifier tests, so it looks like my alternator is the main suspect after all.  (More on that later.)

So was it the stator or the rotor......?     Or Maybe it was Your Flux Capacitor....

It was the hyperdrive generator. Hes picking one up on Tatooine this Sunday

[Kerry]

So was it the stator or the rotor......?     Or Maybe it was Your Flux Capacitor....

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.  I haven't gotten to the bottom of the whole problem yet -- I've only done an extended analysis on the regulator/rectifier.

Once I've written that up, I'll get back to diagnosing the low output from the alternator.

[John Bates]

................. the alternator only put out ~62 volts AC compared to the 75V minimum listed in the Haynes manual.  .......................

Kerry, the trouble shooting pdf at electrosport.com suggests that a minimum of 50V is ok.

[Kerry]

John, thanks for reminding me about that troubleshooting flow chart.    I'll be sure to use it as I wade through the process.

Speaking of which ... my charging voltage (at 13.49V) seems pretty borderline.  On the other hand, the whole thing could turn out to be a temporarily bad connection.  But I'd rather not say "whatever!" and just ride the bike before I'm sure.  There's nothing like being in the middle of nowhere when you find out that you guessed wrong! 

[John Bates]

John, thanks for reminding me about that troubleshooting flow chart.    I'll be sure to use it as I wade through the process.

Speaking of which ... my charging voltage (at 13.49V) seems pretty borderline.  On the other hand, the whole thing could turn out to be a temporarily bad connection.  But I'd rather not say "whatever!" and just ride the bike before I'm sure.  There's nothing like being in the middle of nowhere when you find out that you guessed wrong! 

Are all three AC voltages at the stator equally low?

Just for reference, I'll PM a copy of the flow chart that I tailored for the GS500.

[Kerry]

Are all three AC voltages at the stator equally low?

Yep ... within a few volts of each other.

Just for reference, I'll PM a copy of the flow chart that I tailored for the GS500.

Thanks John!  I appreciate it.

[Kerry]

OK guys (and pandy ) ... you are not gonna believe this.  Well, maybe you will. 

In my first post, I skipped the part about how the bike had been sitting for 3 weeks ... how my friend and I had ridden through some rain on our 200+ mile daytrip right before that 3-week period ... and how when I opened my toolbag to work on this problem, all of my tools had some rust on them. 

Anyway ... so tonight I print out the Electrosport troubleshooting flowchart and take it out to my bike - along with my original regulator/rectifier.  Before bolting the R/R back on, I notice the slightest layer of oxidation on some of the connector prongs.

"Hmmm ... Clymer (I think) says something about how these high-voltage connections all need to be in GOOD shape.  I wonder what will happen if I clean those connections up a bit and put some dielectric grease on 'em?"

I cut some tiny strips from a piece of 240-grit wet/dry sandpaper, and use my jeweler's screwdriver to push them back and forth along all of the connector blades until they're nice and shiny.  Then I apply little dabs of dielectric grease to the blades with the same screwdriver, click the connections together, and bolt the R/R back on.

"I need to check the battery connections too ... but let's see what voltage I get so far."

I start up the bike, rev it to about 3,000 RPM and measure ... 13.81 volts!     (That's up from 13.49 volts, in case anybody lost track.)

I went ahead and cleaned up the connections at the negative battery post (the positive side was fine) and applied more dielectric grease.  But my measurements never really went up from there ... they hovered around 13.75 at various RPMs.  Which is good enough for me!     

Thanks to everyone who helped me out (and/or indulged me by reading these long posts).

John Bates ... I guess Electrosport may right after all -- about 50VAC being sufficient output for the alternator. 

starwalt ... does this mean you're gonna want your R/R unit back?

[pandy]

OK guys (and pandy ) ...

I went ahead and cleaned up the connections at the negative battery post (the positive side was fine) and applied more dielectric grease ... Which is good enough for me! 

AWESOME news!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[starwalt]

starwalt ... does this mean you're gonna want your R/R unit back?

Absolutely not. I think our karmic balance is zero. You now have a spare and I can say that I traded one for a Kodak.   

It is gratifying to know your system seems to be running well.

Every connection adds resistance, even if slight. I cannot tell you how many bad connections I have troubleshot over the years. The best ones are the bad fuse holders. Especially if they are on the incoming power. Man they just about have to totally burn up before they are discovered.

[DLW]

Awesome news Kerry!!!

DLW