How do you check if the alternator is functioning properly.

I figured you'd want to be the wife Loutre. And stop manufacturing quotes, I said no such thing.

BACK ON TOPIC:

Knowing your bike's faults gives you time to prepare for eventual failure. I think I'm covered with two spare clutches, a complete starting and charging systems. I managed to find a new, new design rotor for cheap and three stators. The burnt looking stator belonged to Emmbeedee which was working when replaced. The light tan stator is from a 650 Single and is identical except for the shorter leads. Same connector tho. The cover with stator installed is a spare from a 2012 with 8K miles on it, along with it's RR and clutch. I have the tool to remove the old rotor but I'm missing the gasket and Loc-tite 648 which has proven elusive. I only need a few drops.

So if any of you FF's get stuck out my way, I'm sure to have enough parts to get you going. You bring the beer.

:eek1

OK. Let's say you bring the spares and I'll get the beers.

Doce imperial por favor, para empezar!

How'd you make out on that stator?

I did a two week tour of CR on a R1200GS........Where you at?

Black lead goes to com port.....

Doce imperial por favor, para empezar!

How'd you make out on that stator?

Local shop. I hope it works. I let you know once I reinstall the stator, so far it looks...different. They seemed to know the trick of their trade: they mentioned the temperature/cable issue as the cause of the death. Besides, I consulted several local bike shops andthey all recommended the same place.

I did a two week tour of CR on a R1200GS........Where you at?

UP North: Atenas, Alajuela. People here say it is the perfect climate, but I have my doubts about it.

Cheers

Let's see some pics of that stator!

Maybe the weather isn't "perfect" there but you can come shovel my snow anytime.

Sure... Sorry about the late reply. I was visiting Nicaragua for the weekend. It was hot there Reaver, around 80 F°...man, what a sick weather!!!!!
I agree though, shoveling snow is not my thing, last time I did that I almost freezed to death.

Here it is "before":


"after":



What do you guys think??

Looks good, do you know what the temperature rating is of the insulation is for the wire they used?

Looks like heavier wires.

Thanks for the pic. I'm trying to see if you can "look" at a stator to see what state it's in. Sure, multimeter data is the deciding factor but say you were planning a big trip and wanted to guage the stator's condition?

I was thinking colour but it seems more like the crusty flakes is what snowball's the failure gradually but a one time cooking may do it as well. Just thinking out loud really.

The pic I posted above shows a new stator but from a single 650, one at 8K miles which is darker and the one with cut wires is toasty looking with crusties bridging some of the gaps between the poles but was working fine when removed.

This one below is mine at 65k kms and was working perfectly when removed. It doesn't have any crusties and still has a lot of life left in it and with my new vented rotor, probably would have gone on for years more.

Guess what I'm sayin' is, if yours is all old and crusty like Grandpa, best change it before it fails.





Oh, and chinchinete......I had to cut a few acres of my lawn yesterday so . I'm not throwing in the towel yet. It's a nice day for a ride if you're not a pussy!

Here is mine:


It would generate enough juice to keep the battery charged.

With a multimeter hooked up to the battery, I got low 12v reading at idle. If I revved it up, it sloooowly increased voltage. Once in a while even hitting the 14v range.

Readings at the stator showed 1 phase that was in the high 50voltage and the other 2 never got above high 20's. Dying but not dead yet.
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They told me over 200 C. In fact, they complained because they consider the problem is due to that, that is, weak wires.

Without wanting to start a BS discussion on BMW Engineers and Corporate greed, I would think it would be cheaper for BMW to re-spec the wires than to redesign the rotor. German Engineers do tend to look at things differently tho......

The aftermarket can supply a better stator but I doubt there's any interest in an aftermarket rotor.

I've just finished reinstalling the stator. Everything back to normal: 14.20 at idle . Sparkbright Volt monitor is happy again.
Well, if you happen to have a bad stator on your way to South America, now you know you can limp to San Jose, Costa Rica, and get it done for $70 and some beers on me. Otherwise beers will be on me.

Drawback is that I checked valves to discover the chain is almost gone. It seems I am the first in the country to have a BMW-Ducati-like. I'll stop missing my dry clutch rattle for the next 10K kmts.

Seriously, thanks a lot dudes!!!

Great info

Glad you got the stator fixed ........

To get off-topic for a second.... On the chain:
How many miles do you have on the bike?
How did you check/measure the wear?

There is rumor of a wear gauge tool that can be inserted into the tensioner bore to asses the condition, but I'll be damned if I can track it down...

Thanks JRWooden, here it is:

How many miles do you have on the bike? 42300
How did you check/measure the wear? Joelishly:

"3: A stretched chain is easy to hear as initially it won't happen when the engine is cold after the first few seconds. It will not be present at idle for the first 10 minutes or so but will then become apparent. If you are real concerned, start up your bike and let it idle till the cooling fan cycles on and off several times. If you start hearing a rattle towards the latter fan cycles, your cam chain is stretched. It is the only component that rattles only once the engine is hot hot but initially at no other time. The rattle is completely unmistakeable, anything short of a deaf guy will hear it and know it can't be right." from http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18098775&postcount=161

and I also notice a slight TDC chain slack. I wish I had one of those devices to check it for real.

Cheers

Thanks! I have that post saved ...

I really miss Joel ...

If anyone ever gets a P/N or sees this mystery wear gauge let the rest of the gang know ...

Okay, I know this thread is a bit stale, but I have to try. I've been questioning my charging system since the bike began to hesitate when starting a few days ago (it has never failed to start).

I think my stator might be going, AGAIN. I had it re-wound around 30,000 km back with high-temp epoxy in Ontario, Canada from a guy who's known as StatorKev and he did a great job. Bike's a 2009 (800GS) and has almost 78000 km on it.

I read about the test that Joel spoke of where I could check the AC voltage on the alternator pins with the regulator disconnected, and confirm that the stator is BAD by reading less than 18V between any of the three pins. I would love to perform this test, but I'm apprehensive of running the motor with the regulator disconnected. I think this would only cause the battery to discharge slowly, but I'd like to get the OK from somebody experienced first.

My battery has a 12.5 V charge alone and a varying 12.5-13.5V across the terminals when idling. I measured this on my crappy multimeter that I just bought down the street.

The AC voltage across the battery terminals is around 30 volts when idling. I have no idea what the significance of that is, but it doesn't seem right to me.

I measured the resistance between each pin on the alternator with the engine off and regulator disconnected and found 1.2 Ohms on each. Now, knowing shitty multimeters, I'm happy that all the readings are the same and I'm not worried that it should be lower: these cheap meters just aren't accurate enough to know that.

The grounding tests worked perfectly, not a hint of an open or short where there shouldn't be.

What I want to happen here is to discover that my alternator doesn't need re-winding and then I'll drive to the nearest dealership in Barranquilla and purchase a new regulator, install it and hope that the problem disappears like Rob Ford.

EDIT: The significance of purchasing a new regulator is because I'm hoping that that is the problem. I didn't replace it after the stator went the first time. Can I test for this?

Comments? Please? Anybody? Bueller?