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Electrical issue???

Mavagrand

Mavagrand

Senior Member
Other day while riding my check engine and battery light came on. At the same time, I noticed my voltage had dropped to between 10 -11 volts. It stayed this way for about thirty seconds..I was looking for a place to pull over, when the lights suddenly went out and the meter began reading normal for my bike. I rode about 30 mins to the house and had no further issues.
Started the bike the next day and it ran fine, battery seemed to be charging good. Bike is 2008 with 30K, stock with Stage 1.

As my bike is 4.5 yrs old and has the stock battery I took it out and had it load tested at Advance Auto. They tested it at 290CCA and had a reading of 12.6volts. Wanting a second opinion I took it to a local indy who said it tested as "good" but in the "weak" zone.

I checked for loose connections and had none. My hope is this "weak" battery breifly threw some codes and not that the stator or regulator is going bad.

My question, does the stator or regulator normally fail without warning or could this "intermittent" problem be a symptom of something besides a weak battery??
 
I would be replacing the battery. I'm sure some of the others will check in and give you sound electrical advice, but with the age of the battery I would not take any chances. I always try to be proactive and don't like waiting on the side of the road waiting for someone to bring the trailer.
 
HDDon said:
I would be replacing the battery. I'm sure some of the others will check in and give you sound electrical advice, but with the age of the battery I would not take any chances. I always try to be proactive and don't like waiting on the side of the road waiting for someone to bring the trailer.
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Don, I've bought a battery from a local independent dealer. They wanted 98.00...the local dealership wanted 150.00. As you know, I tend to stress and think about worst case scenerio when it comes to my scoot. Looking forward to seeing you in February.
 
I replaced my battery 2 weeks ago. The cold cranking amps on the new battery is 400 cca.
Ken
 
Mavagrand said:
Other day while riding my check engine and battery light came on.
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What was the code. It should still be logged as a historical.

If it happens again, reach down and feel the VR. You should be able to keep your hand on the unit. See if the temp is beyond that.
 
Hoople said:
What was the code. It should still be logged as a historical.

If it happens again, reach down and feel the VR. You should be able to keep your hand on the unit. See if the temp is beyond that.
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Code was the one for battery voltage low..(i think it was 0562). I'll definately check the VR if it happens again. I sure don't want to replace the stator.
 
Mavagrand said:
I sure don't want to replace the stator.
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Since you are 3-phase, I would lean more toward the VR than the stator. To loose all 3 windings at 1 time is possible but pretty remote. If the VR is too hot to touch, it could have thermal protected itself.

You should have two connectors going to your regulator. One has 3 wires, the other has 2 wires. Closely check the 2 wire connector. Remove and inspect. Also one of those 2 wires goes to a ground stud. Clean & check that one also.
 
Get ready. When that happened to me, I had a couple of warning sessions like you have described and then complete failure of the charging system. I managed to get home running on the battery, but these big baggers are power hogs, and without the charging system the battery is draining fast.

In my case I had to replace stator, and VR. Battery was OK at that time, but had to replace that not too long afterwards. But the battery was 4.5 years old by then.

TQ
 
TQuentin1 said:
Get ready. When that happened to me, I had a couple of warning sessions like you have described and then complete failure of the charging system. I managed to get home running on the battery, but these big baggers are power hogs, and without the charging system the battery is draining fast.

In my case I had to replace stator, and VR. Battery was OK at that time, but had to replace that not too long afterwards. But the battery was 4.5 years old by then.

TQ
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I hope not TQ. I've got a trip planned in February and, of course, Bikeweek in March. Can't afford an entire charging system right now.

Is your bike a 3 phase? Seems like the earlier models were single phase.
 
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