Well, I finally caught my regulator/rectifier cheating on me, with 14.5v @idle and 18v at 8k RPM. I'm checking using postings here (mostly Kerry and Srinath), Haynes manual and Electrex's generic testing chart.
The three "yellow" stator wires have 20v A/C to one-another @1200 RPM, but 85v A/C @5k RPM (above Haynes' 75v and Electrex 50v requirements). None of the three have continuity to earth (good), but they have resistance of 0.8 ohms to one-another. I couldn't find any spec for this in either the Haynes manual or the Electrex chart, but Srinath has posted that they should have 2 or even 2.5 ohms? What would a reading below 2 ohms indicate? Is this an omission in the testing manuals?
On the Y1, Y2, Y3, Black, Red wires at the R/R, Black had 2.4 ohms to each yellow wire, but Red had no connectivity to any yellow wire (bad). Black and Red had 4.53 ohms between them (should be 40 per Haynes, but Electrex says between 4 and 6 ohms... is Suzuki that unusual, or is this a Haynes typo?)
Regardless, I think that the no continuity between Red and any Yellow means bad R/R. Is this a part I should really buy new, or is a junkyard R/R a good option? If I have to buy it new, is there anyplace which sells them for less than $100? And if not, (if I can use a junkyard R/R), then is there anything magic about the GS500 R/R, or can I use any R/R with 3 yellow wires, a 12v and an earth?
I'm using a regulator from something else (? probably Honda GL1000) on one of mine. Not sure what it came off of. Any shunt type 5-wire regulator should work. Electrex claims theirs are designed differently and are more efficient than the oem regulators. Back in the eighties, their 'different design' was known as crap. They may have improved. There is another company called Ricks that makes an exact copy of oem regulators that are a little cheaper than Electrex. Dennis Kirk carries them.
Ok the stator got me stumped too... why... not the GS but I recently measured 2 nitehawks both are good (atleast not known to be bad) and both made .6 ohms between each of the wires and both had no continuity to ground. My Vulcan was the only bike I measured a bad stator in... and it started out at 1.5 ohms, and fell all the way to .5 over a few thousand miles, and the battery quit getting charged unless you had over 6K rpm... and that on a vulcan is near impossible... Then I bought a new stator from Ricks stator and it measured 2.3 ohms. Stators surprisingly die a slow death in normal course of things. Of course you have a dead short in it, it will die fast enough... But in normal useage... slow death. Now what is the significance of the .8 ohms... no idea... Try a digital meter, or another meter or take out the stator and see if you have black spots in it. A bad stator will be burnt black and crispy, and a good one will be sorta whisky colored. Regulator OTOH... should only let the voltage go to ~14-15 volts DC and should have no AC. And regulator/stator from Ricky's stator is available probably cheapest through Parts depot (800 245 3101 - Ask for Robert).
Cool.
Srinath.
BTW Electrex says .5 to 2 ohms for coil resistance... that's a rather wide range... and My vulcan made 2.2 with a brand new stator... never mind... your GS's .8 isn't too far off the mark in any case. And neither is my nitehawk...
Cool.
Srinath.
And from another location in the electrex site... "G1: 0.8 ohm (screwed up the symbol) in between phases" and G1 is the one for the GS... so looks like your GS is right on spec.
Cool.
Srinath.
Quote from: Rema1000Black had 2.4 ohms to each yellow wire....
I found a better guide for testing the diode pack at
http://www.electrexusa.com/Images/WORLDS_BEST_DIODE_TEST.pdf . The Haynes manual lists "ohms" to test the diodes, but the Electrex guide implies that the numbers given may be only accurate for an analog multimeter; and what you're really testing is diodes... so if you're using a digital multimeter with a diode function, then ignore the ohms between yellow wires and either red, or black, and use the diode test instead.
For reference (blueknyt!), my diodes have the following:
(-)yellow-to-black(+): 0.525v, 0.501v, 0.531v
(-)red-to-yellow(+): 0.525v, 0.523v, 0.526v
All 6 of the above measurements produced a single beep, which my Fluke manual says means "good diode". The black-to-yellow and yellow-to-red measurements all showed OL, so it looks like all my diodes are OK.
I have a theory that my battery has been chronically undercharged due to short trips. The high voltages I saw maybe were just my bike attempting to charge the battery too fast due to very flat battery (I'm assuming that the R/R cranks-out a higher charging voltage when battery voltage is really low?).
Also, I have a general question about using the AutoRange on the multimeter. While testing yellow-to-black, or red-to-yellow, using manual ranges, I got three separate numbers: with the range set to "60 Kohm", I got 40 Kohms. With range "600 Kohm", I got 270 Kohms. And with range 6 Mohm or 60Mohm, I got 1.5Mohms. I got no readings at all in the 6 ohm, 60 ohm or 600 ohm ranges. These three separate readings are confusing.
Also, the Haynes manual says I should get "40 ohms" between black(-) and red(+) on the regulator; but what I measure is 35 Mohms! If I set the range manually, I get no readings at the 60 ohm or 60 Kohm ranges. I wonder if the Haynes manual forgot to mention the proper scale?
I've never done any measurement on the GS, but my BMW has a voltmeter, which is interesting to watch sometimes.
Around town, it is pretty questionable if the battery charges at all. When the revs drop below 1800 or so, the charging voltage falls off rapidly, so sitting at lights and things you are actually draining your battery.
If you only do short trips with stop and go, I think you could easily drain your battery right flat. But, the chargin voltage on my BMW at least, never goes past the 14.8V max output of the regulator.
I'm not sure if the Japanese system would be different, but I don't think you'd want the charging voltage to go past the 14.8 level, or the charging current would be huge, and the battery could over-heat or be damaged.
My GS makes 13.5 at idle. When revved up it drops... so I think its a bad regulator. But I idle it 5-8 mins before shutting it off. Most jap bikes make charging volts at idle. The other thing Rema1000 is that a low battery makes the measured voltage lower not higher. So a low battery wont make more volts... make less.
Cool.
Srinath.
Quote from: seshadri_srinathat a low battery makes the measured voltage lower not higher. So a low battery wont make more volts... make less..
I'd wondered about that: when I charge the bike with a 12v charger, I see the voltage start low (like 11.5v) and slowly climb up as it charges. But the Battery Tender FAQ says that it bulk-charges batteries at 14.4v until amperage drops below 0.1A, then it drops to charging at 13.2v. But with my charger, the voltage climbs during charge, not drops. Maybe when Battery Tender says they charge at 14.4v, they mean they _try_ to, but being connected to the battery makes it impossible to see this voltage with a meter.
The no draw voltage of the charger is probably 14.4. Put in a dead batter... it will draw enough current to make the charger never register 14.4. as the battery gets more and more charged... its internal resistance increases, and the charger probably has internal circuitry to check the resistance and turn the charging voltage to 13.5. So with a fully charged battery you'd see 13.5, and with a dead one you'll see 11 - 12. Its near impossible to charge a fully charged battery. Sometimes the battery starts sulpahting and that causes the electrolyte to bubble up and evaporate. The battery also gets hotter and it swells up and most of the internals warp. That pretty much means your battery is dead. However a good charger will have the circuitry to check resistance and turn down the charging voltage before it happens.
Cool.
Srinath.