On the road - inconsistent voltage, help diagnosing please!

[jconly]

Originally Posted by gefr

During a trip, the lights could be on, the fan start working, lights turned on or heated equipment. People that see voltage fluctuations have all consumption equipment unchanged?
Cheers.

Yes, during all of these readings, there is always the same load on the bike... with the obvious variable of the fan.

[GZERO]

Originally Posted by jconly

Yes, during all of these readings, there is always the same load on the bike... with the obvious variable of the fan.

from the top of my head, i tested a 990 that had the ridgid led lights, and with the bike at idle and led lights the voltage was around 14 volts, but when the fan kicked in it went down to 12.6 volts, mind you this battery wasn't that good at around 12.5 static.

[SS in Vzla.]

Originally Posted by Sumi

Using my GPSMAP 276c as a voltmeter would give me strange voltages as well..
Anything from 11.9V-14V.. (fluctuating between 12.9-13.4 is the most common readout on my unit while cruising at let's say.. 4500 rpm)

I've been using the bike like this for almost a year now, and there is not a problem with it..

I guess it's only the GPS's voltmeter, that's not that accurate ( I guess it under-measures the correct voltage by a 0.5V minimum).

I wouldn't be scared if the volts stay between ~12.0-~14.5V (when engine is running at any rpm)

just my $0.02:)

I seem to have the same behavior from my voltage on the 276C. I've tested with a "proper" voltmeter and the variations of voltage where still present but not that large. The bike works with no problems, so maybe it is normal?

[jconly]

Ok so, a little update.

I installed the Shindengen the other day. Sorry no pictures, should have done a write up but was in a hurry,

It's a simple install though, especially with the right crimp tool. I bought mine a while back from VintageConnections.com. Got the Shindengen from roadster cycles, as recommended above. It bolts right up, perfect fit.

Pulled the old connector from the stator off, and crimped the wires directly to the connector for the VR. One less connection is always good, so I also took the VR + & - right to the battery.

This left the old connector on the harness for the VR + open. I've read some reports of people taping over it, but I wasn't happy with this.

It's a very simple style connector, the terminals inside are just non-latching blade style male and female. Just depress the tangs inside and they slide right out.. So that's what I did. Pulled the connector off the harness side, and replaced the old ones with new, less corroded terminals (not that it was that bad before). Pulled the connector off the original VR side, took a piece of wire and crimes new terminals on each end, and stuck em in. I then packed the connector with di-electric and pushed it all together, effectively connecting the two + wires harness side and closing the circuit.

So, did it work? Kinda.


My voltage has risen across the board, so this is good.

14.2 - 14.3 V resting and cool.
14.1 with the fan on.
Looks perfect in the garage.

But on the road, different story.
14.3 under throttle. Good.
14.2 - 14.3 idling. Good.
Fan on, 14.1 idling, even while HOT. Good.

But if I pull that brake lever, while relatively cool, about a .2 V drop. While hot, a full .5 V. Seems high. I'm going to go pull my ABS fuse now and see how it acts. I figure it's got to be the ABS system and not the LED brake light. The 55W high beam only drops the system .1V

Anybody else experiencing a drop from ABS like this? I definitively have a little air in my line, I wonder if this could be a culprit as well?

[GZERO]

It seems pretty good, those numbers are very good.
Remember that the stock stator doesn't put that much out (450 watts).
I would leave it as it is, make sure the batery is charged and that's it.

[GoNOW]

Originally Posted by SS in Vzla.

I seem to have the same behavior from my voltage on the 276C. I've tested with a "proper" voltmeter and the variations of voltage where still present but not that large. The bike works with no problems, so maybe it is normal?

My 276C does the same thing. To the point it will warn me about it switching over to it's own battery power because the bike voltage is too low. But it's only for a second or two.

[jconly]

Originally Posted by GZERO

It seems pretty good, those numbers are very good.
Remember that the stock stator doesn't put that much out (450 watts).
I would leave it as it is, make sure the batery is charged and that's it.

Well, interestingly, pulling the ABS fuse didn't lead to any conclusive results.
At first, it helped. I didn't have the .5V drops. Then, they started to appear, seemingly randomly.

I haven't had the bike in the garage to check voltage with the multimeter in a few days (trying to use the damn thing as a commuter) but letting it sit outside has definitely resulted in a weakening battery. Went from a quick turn over, to a bit of a struggle in two days.

I feel a lot of it can be the city riding I do around here.
It's one thing when I'm on a road trip and the bike is running for hours at a time, but NYC is a little different. Lots of stop and go, and that fan is ALWAYS on. It doesn't really give the battery much of a chance to charge I suppose.

And I'd let it go if it weren't for this, but I am chasing the best performance possible. Getting stranded in the city is EXPENSIVE.

I'll admit though, maybe I a digging too far into this, but part of this quest is to learn more about my electrical system and the finer details to be prepared for having the bike permanently on the road coming this winter. (Planning to ride, throw it in storage, fly home for work, fly back, keep going etc.) I feel I'm going to need to add a second fan for this, since I'm heading south, and I want to make sure it's going to work fine. It comes scary close to overheating in the city here during the summer! Already has on me on a few occasions.

I'll be headed to the garage tomorrow morning to check the batteries resting voltage.

In the meantime, I wanted to figure out what the actual load is on the bike under normal conditions.
Here's what I calculated, all at 12V of course:


License Plate Light - 0.8333A - 10W
Brake Light - 1.75A - 21W
Running Lights - 0.4167A - 5W
Headlight (Low) - 4.5833A - 55W
Fan (Max A rating) - 4A - 48W
GPS (Assumed) - 2A - 24W

So, we're looking at somewhere around 163W of usage.
Not including the load of the ECU, ABS system, and what else is there? Dash lights..

The stator is rated @ 450W, 27.5A @ 12V. But that's at 6000 RPM.
I'll test to see what it puts out W wise at 1500 RPM.

I suppose the one other factor I really need to learn about is resistance though, and how that factors into the equation.

[GZERO]

try taking the light fuse out when riding in the city.
but yeah, city driving in heavy traffic kills these bikes.
You should get the second fan.

[gefr]

The plastic radiator guard should also be removed. Too restrictive.
Xenon lights should bing down consumption if you install 33W. Rear brake lights and running lights and front running lights could be replaced with leds. I think the front position light could be 1W and the rear position lights 1W X 2 and brake light -I couldn't find specs-.
On the other hand your voltage readings are excellent. The only things that could get you in trouble would be weak battery, a short or fuel pump dying in very hot conditions.
Cheers.

[jconly]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
I will say I sure am pleased with my numbers now.

Removing the radiator fins does seem like a good solution for around the city (especially the crawling long tunnel I have to cross to enter it after a ride.. this is where it always overheats!)

I'm off to the garage now to play.
Going to hit the road in a few days here actually, so we'll see how it all REALLY goes.
Anxious to see where the battery sits though. After another night of sitting.

[Gustavo.Ramos]

My 990Adv suddendly started acting similar...

At rest 12,7v,
Engine started 13,4v
At revs >2,5k 12,9 - 13,1v

Hard to start, a few weeks ago, a freeway stretch at >100mph, stoped at fuel station, battery dead. After jump starting with cables from a car, returned home and when arrived at garage hit the start again and fired fairly well. A few other rides and it seems the faster i go, the less charge it get...which is consistent with voltages above. This may be good to avoid speeding tickets but adds alot of stress about having the big-twin not cranking properly when necessary..

battery is brand new. I'm either leaning to bad VR or faulty battery.

Coincidence it start acting like this when battery was replaced

[AdvGa]

Originally Posted by Gustavo.Ramos

My 990Adv suddendly started acting similar... ...

Hate to hear you are having these problems... here is a link to some options for you:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=820432

[Gustavo.Ramos]

Did a few try this try that.

Using 3 different batteries, 2 YTZ14S and one YT9... whatever from my 690, all crank the engine, fire up and idle correctly. All return the same results, 13 to 13,3 idling, and less that 13 while reving the engine. All 3 batteries faulty!? possible but not likely..

Verified the stator charge output, all 3 combinations return >60 VAC @ 5k rpm.

Guess the stator is doing its job.

Verified regulator connections, a bit dirty but nothing serious, and the result was the same. I'm more and more inclined to a faulty regulator... Tomorrow i'm borrowing one.

[Gustavo.Ramos]

To the OP i'm not trying hijacking the thread, although it sure looks like!

So today i got a few more piece on my puzzled head. A friend borrowed me his '06 990S voltage regulator so i could test on my bike.

Usually these test are followed by a big grin, cause we're almost sure what is the cause. Well...not this time! The voltage was slightly different

engine off: 12,8v
engine idling: 13,9v
pushing the revs: 13v ~ 13,2v

WTF!?

Put the regulator back on friends bike, started the engine, same results. WTFFFF????

Just to complicate a bit more, there was a brand new Dakar at the shop, tested the voltage and it showed:

engine off: 12,9v
idling 13,9v
at revs 14v

Shouldn't it be at 14,5 or something?

[AdvGa]

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=18

In a nutshell, a Good Voltage Regulator should Output about 13.5V - 15V.
Anything Below or Above these numbers indicate a weak or failing Voltage Regulator.

My OEM VR idled at about 14.2v according to my Escort Solo screen and about 14.3- 14.4v with my Mosfet VR.