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FXR4 Not charging

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rappidtrac

Member
I have 12.6v battery voltage with engine off and engine running at idle.I checked the stator and it checked out fine no ground & .03 ohms across .I then checked the stator plug from the regulator and got 5.1v from one of the pins.Does this mean the regulator is fried ? What should the battery voltage be at idle ? 13-14 volts or does it only charge at a higher RPM. Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks
Gregg

2000 FXR4
Tangerine Pearl
All original with dealer installed SE stage 1 pipes when new
5300 mi. Very Clean
 
Of course the regulator may be bad but...
Need more info. What is the voltage across the battery when at 1500 RPM and also at 2500 RPM. Is your idle RPM under a thousand? Voltage at idle may be near battery voltage because of several factors. A few are having a single phase charging system and possibly aged rotor magnets. Single phase systems just don't have enough sine wave peaks to carry you over to the next revolution at slow speeds and rotor magnets will weaken over time. Also an aged or old battery won't store those sine wave peaks like a new battery can and will strip off a fraction of the charging voltage. It won't be much, maybe a 1/10 or 2/10's but it will steal a little bit from the charging system.
 
You have:
12.2 volts at idle,
12.2 volts at 1500 RPM
12.2 volts at 2500 RPM.

You have .03 ohms across the stator windings with the regulator disconnected.
That is awful low. Sounds like a dead shorted stator.
It would have to be more than that.
Take a smell of primary fluid to see if it is burnt.
 
Check this out:

Testing The Charging System - Harley Davidson Community

From what you said above, it sounds like your VR is shot. But I agree that you should try the sniff test on the primary fluid. If your stator coils are fried, you WILL smell it. Just take off the derby cover and get your nose near that fluid. Burnt? If so, probably Stator. I would replace both the Stator and the VR if the sniff test indicates.

TQ
 
I read the meter again across the stator pins and the reading is the same when you put the leads together from the meter. No ground from either stator pin.
Thanks and sorry for any confusion
Gregg
 
If your meter was set on the lowest ohm scale when measuring, it sure does point to you having a dead shorted stator.

It is really difficult to accurately measure a resistive value that low. You would never see a few shorted turns within the stator. Only if you had a completely dead shorted melt down .
 
rappidtrac said:
I read the meter again across the stator pins and the reading is the same when you put the leads together from the meter. No ground from either stator pin.
Thanks and sorry for any confusion
Gregg
Click to expand...

Gregg,

So across the pins on the Stator you got VERY low resistance, right?

Step 3. On the other part of the disconnected regulator plug. Set the multimeter for Ohms x1 scale and measure for resistance across the pins of the stator. You should read something around 0.1 to 0.2 ohms for the TC88 32 amp system.

If you had less than the .1-.2 ohms, it does sound like a short.

And I think you are saying that from each pin to ground you had INFINITE resistance? That would be good in that you are not shorted to ground.

Step 4. Then check for continuity between each pin on the plug and frame/engine ground. The meter needle should not move (infinite resistance)(digitals will show infinite resistance) if the meter needle does move (indicating continuity)(digitals will show some resistance), recheck very carefully. If the meter still shows continuity to ground the stator is shorted (bad).

What did you find on the bleed-back test of the VR?

Step 2. To check the regulator unplug it from the stator. Take the black lead to battery ground, red lead to each pin on the plug, start with the voltage scale higher than 12vdc and move voltage scale down in steps for each pin. Any voltage is a bad regulator. You may get battery voltage on all three pins on the newer 3 phase regulators. The no voltage is for older type regulators with diode indicating the diode is bad and the regulator needs replacing.

Finally, you should be getting Vac out of the Stator (actually you can get Vac out of the Stator even if shorted, but no Vac is bad).

Step 5. Set the meter to read A/C volts higher than 30 volts (the scale setting for voltage should always be higher than the highest voltage you expect or you may fry the meter). Start the bike, and measure from one pin to the other on the plug (DO NOT cross the multimeter probes! - i.e., do NOT touch them to each other). You should read roughly 16-20 vac per 1,000 rpm.

Generally the following is true:
Check your owners/service manual for the system amp output for your bike.
22 amp system produces about 19-26 vac per 1,000 rpm, stator resistance is about 0.2 to 0.4 ohms.
32 amp system produces about 16-20 vac per 1,000 rpm, stator resistance is about 0.1 to 0.2 ohms.
45 amp system produces about 19-26 vac per 1,000 rpm, stator resistance is about 0.1 to 0.2 ohms.

TQ
 
I removed the regulator from the bike.I connected the hot lead to the pos. side of the battery and the ground to the neg. side of battery.I have 5.2 volts on one pin of the connector to the stator.This bike is different it's an evo with 2 pin stator plug.Thanks
 
rappidtrac said:
I removed the regulator from the bike.I connected the hot lead to the pos. side of the battery and the ground to the neg. side of battery.I have 5.2 volts on one pin of the connector to the stator.This bike is different it's an evo with 2 pin stator plug.Thanks
Click to expand...

Right. I have a '91 Dyna. EVO. So in the instructions above, what you are doing with the "bleed-back" test is checking the VR to make sure it is not shot. If you unplug the VR connector that goes to the Stator, and then check for voltage on the VR connector side from each pin to ground, you should have 0 volts. Any voltage on either pin means your VR is shot. Pretty common. I have been through 3 VRs and a couple of stators on my little bike since '96.

TQ
 
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