Bizarre charging issue, 2005 model

[Ghostmoner]

Hi guys,

I'm hoping someone with experience especially in electrical may be able to help me troubleshoot an issue with my bike.

It's recently developed an issue where the battery is not being charged adequately and will eventually run flat. Initially I thought it was an issue with a loose wire however I checked all wiring under the seat and the rec/reg was still outputting into the system. However the output measured is only roughly 0.8v even with the engine revving ~4000RPM. The output from the alternator/stator was roughly 40-65VAC from idle to 4000-5000RPM so I just assumed it was an issue with the rec/reg, however I just bought a new one to test it and I'm still having the same issue, although the new one is showing around 1.2v instead of 0.8v.

I've pulled off the stator case and checked, nothing seems overheated or black.

I've double-checked all the voltages, the alternator is doing up to 60-65VAC from all three pins, the diodes in the rectifier all check out, and as far as I can tell there are no short-outs, though that's still a distinct possibility at this stage.

Bike is a Suzuki GS500 2005 model, bought second-hand a couple months ago as my first bike. It has been working fine for the first few months and a mechanic mate checked it when I first purchased it.
NOTE: The bike was dropped right when the charging issue started so I imagine it's likely had something to do with it! However it was literally less than 10kph into soft garden soil so no sudden crashes on concrete etc. The issue has been a bit intermittent too so it may be a loose wire somewhere in the engine area. Also, when the rec/reg is hooked up, the system does show a more decent charge, around 12-12.5v when idling, however it'll drop to around 11.5-11.8v when the engine revs up to 5000rpm and will slowly increase from there, depending on whether highbeam is on or other lights. Also when I just checked it yesterday with the new rec/reg there was a contact noise in the engine while starting and something started smoking after a couple mins. I'm thinking maybe something is loose in the stator area or the insulation is giving up the ghost. Any ideas?

Hope this is plenty of info to help you sort it out. If there's another thread with the answer please link as I can't find anything. Let me know if you need any more details, I can check most things out.

Cheers,
David

[sledge]

You have not mentioned the battery, are sure its OK? The drop could have shorted out a cell or two preventing it from accepting and holding charge.

I would get it load tested and ruled out.

[Ghostmoner]

Yeah 99% sure the battery is not the issue. I'll see if I can get it load tested sometime but a mate is sending up a spare stator now so I'll see if that makes a difference. After having a closer look at the current stator it looks whatever is insulating it has a couple of cracks in it, so it may be shorting/leaking through there. I'm just getting too many funny results from the charging system to think it's only the battery at fault.