Another alternator hits the dust and not under warranty

Interesting, I dont really know what happened other than total failure outside Lake Powell, but I know it wasnt charging or running accessories like it used to for 1500 miles preceeding that.

Im not really that bothered by this issue, other than I have lost a week on the road travelling and seeing friends.

I think I am going to overnight a Rick's stator tomorrow if I dont hear something. Money comes and goes, but time is finite and it sucks just sitting around.

dbh ... bring on the good ideas!
Thanks for suggestions so far!

Speaking of transients

One thing which has not been discussed which came to mind is the effect of a lithium battery, it strikes me that since the Lithiums are a lower impedance battery they should be better at absorbing any high frequency transients than a conventional lead acid battery, this would mean they are a better choice if using a series pass VR

Would be interested in Joel's thoughts on it and perhaps stand corrected

The GS single is known to have some noise problems when there are poor battery connections, have not heard comments on the twin

Well... Reaver came by yesterday and forced me into drinking beer and shooting the shit with him and got me all distracted ...

He headed out this morning and I managed to stay focused long enough to get the Cycle Electrics Regulator all wired up using the plugs from the dead R/R that imintman sent me (thanks again imintman!) which will allow me to do quick swaps between the OEM and the series R/R to capture data...

A brief functional test showed no issues, am hoping to go do some detailed side-by-side testing (per Joel & DBH's suggestions) at my EE buddie's house over the weekend.

Watch out I see more beer drinking in your future

If I've got a future ... there's beer drinking in it that's for sure ....

Is connecting a carbon pile load tester (http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-BT-100-Battery-Load-Tester/product-reviews/B000AMBOI0) across the battery terminals while the bike is running a sane way of testing the capacity of the stator? Or is that just looking for trouble?

Our batteries are rated at something like 220 Cold Cranking amps, but obviously can't sustain that for very long .... IMHO, the 100A tester would be ok for a quick test of the battery's reserve capacity ...
If you wanted to test R/R & stator I think I would use one of the more expensive testers that allows the load to be adjusted down to match our charging system max. output (~30A) would be better .....

Random example:

http://www.harborfreight.com/500-amp-carbon-pile-load-tester-91129.html

Ok ... I'll have to wait till tomorrow evening to post the pictures ... I'm a tad outta control...
but I got the scope measurements done today, and the Cycle Electrics unit I got from Jack (a hellova guy I might add) here:

http://roadstercycle.com/Roadstercycle%20Series%20Regulators.htm

is actually quieter (less electrical noise) than the OEM unit.

In addition, while the OEM R/R was too hot to touch after 10 minutes or so of testing the Roadster unit was barely above room temperature at the end of our testing ... I'm really quite impressed.



My EE buddy is not surprised by the results, being the hyper-brilliant EE that he is, he pretty much expected it would turn out as it did...

I still have to make an adapter bracket to get the thing permanently bolted to the bike and then will do some ABS testing (at various levels of battery state-of-charge as Joel suggested) ... but based on the OScope traces we reviewed I am pretty sure there will not be any issues.

May I suggest, you start a new thread, and post it all up, as this might be the ticket. I am ready to try one, I think.

Sounds promising JR, may make a few people over at F650.com rather happy as the single instrument panel is a little prone to electrical noise and we have not really identified all the sources, perhaps the VR is one

Thanks, JR.

Someone suggested, and I agree, that it would be a good idea to start a new thread specifically for the R/R series to shunt comparison....

So ... here it is ...

www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21507537

Had a weird issue today. Starting riding to work at 2 pm and it's hot mid 80s' I have a Sparkbright voltage reading LED. Been working perfect. I stop in traffic for a bit and get amber 12.45V reading. I accelerate away and normally this would turn green for charging voltage. Its stays amber. Go a little further more traffic stopped. Slow red flashing indicating 12.25 V. I start moving and back to amber the rest of the way to work. Like I said it was hot, close to 90.

Fast forward, I leave at 11PM. Temp in high 60's. Bike fires up fine and has no voltage issues, stays green the whole ride home.

Now my question is this something that would be R/R issue. It started while it was hot so thinking an overheat. Or could this be something else. Looking for a place to start. Thanks

Fan come on, maybe?

fan never came on

Could be a lot of things, including overheating electronics. They do act strangely when they get too hot! Kind of like me.
Electrosport (and others) specifically state not to mount it where it is shielded from the cool air flow. Probably for a reason.
As for the failure modes, hard to predict but I have seen FETs and other semiconducter devices fail open and shorted, which causes the opposite result in each case.

Maybe watching the voltage too closely is like watching the stock price every minute - leads to rapid swings in stress levels.


Hope it doesn't act up again. Good luck!

IIRC imintman had a temperature related failure of a OEM R/R ....
The dead part is in my garage having been relieved of it's harness connectors...

We rode our 2007 F650GS machines (singles) to Sedalia from Florida last summer. Plenty of heat for sure. No problems until this spring when the VRR on my wife’s bike began to fail. It was intermittent in the beginning but got worse. Finally it would zoom to nearly 18 volts upon warm up. I replaced it with a new OEM unit last month.

I have an '09 with about 48,000 miles on it. I have had a voltage indicator on it almost since I've had it. The indicator has always worked fine. Yesterday I went riding and about 80 miles out the voltage went from 13.7 to 11.8 so I turned around and made my way the 60 miles back to the highway with it indicating between 11.8 and 11.5. When I got back to the highway I opened it up in 4th, maybe 7500 rpm and it started showing 13.7 again. I have a ce series regulator to put on it but I haven't gotten it done yet but if the stator was burnt it wouldn't go in and out, would it? I suppose I will get another stator just in case but this seems weird. The temp was in the mid 80's so I don't think it was heat related