Charging issues - help pls?

[Westbeef]

A few months ago the bike died after being stuck at high temp on a hot day. I stalled outside my house and it wouldn’t start again, the bike would then start again when cold. Eventually it wouldn’t start at all as the battery went flat after a few of these cycles, I could get off after a long run and it was dead on the button. I checked the charging voltages and it was all good. I even stripped off the R/R and it passed a diode test.

Bike ran fine after fully charging the battery for a small time then would die again. So I stuck a new battery in and it’s ran fine for 1500+ miles, until it started doing the same crap today. It’s been spot on, no issues at all through all the hot weather and even survived a week on the IOM.

Could this be my R/R with an intermittent fault as it slowly dies? (Honda are known for bad R/R I’m led to believe?) or should I be looking elsewhere?

Is mofset the way to go if I’m gonna swap it out, or are there better options?

[Stu]

reg/recs on hondas are known to breakdown when they get hot! ideally you need to test the charging system as much as possible in all states IE cold and after a long run........if you make it home!

[Tango]

R/R breaking down when it gets hot......

There's a lot of talk on some of the Triumph support forums about using Series regulators instead of Shunt regulators......I think the V-Strom 1000 uses a Series regulator and some folks are offering conversion cables to connect them.......They are meant to be kinder on the Stator windings.....

[Stu]

mosfet rectifier

[Westbeef]

I did test it last time when it was hot with the new battery and it was working. Maybe it's intermittent and just slowly dying, I'd rather it bloody went the other way and over charged so I knew what it was. Slightly annoying as everytime I've tested it, its been fine (even had it off the bike and checked the diodes) and £100ish is a lot for a punt.

[Westbeef]

Didn't touch it after it died last night. Started first-time this morning but a slightly laboured start. Rode it 13 miles to work, mostly at motorway speeds. Got to work and tried to turn it off and on again, very dead indeed. Pushed the button and nothing at all. shame I didn't have a multimeter to check it at work.

[Westbeef]

Another update - tested just now as I got it home. It was playing up anyway the clocks were going off and it was really rough. I was getting 7 V and revving didn't increase them. So that's the R/R then, could it have done anything to my stator?

[Tango]

There's a possibility that it's cooked the Stator.......pull the cover off and have a look at it......you'll soon see if it's been cooked......

[rennie]

When I swapped the R/R on the blade I bought one with a much better heat sink from David Silver

[Westbeef]

I haven’t physically checked the stator but it tested fine on the multimeter. I’ve ordered a mofset from wemoto, an electrex one , Dave Silver didn’t have any . Got the old R/R off and all ready for a new one to go on. I shall update when I’ve got it on .

[Stu]

also get a battery charger and fully charge your battery

[Westbeef]

also get a battery charger and fully charge your battery

 

Already on it been going a few hours.

Interesting development, the R/R I took off is a Shendengen mofset . No idea how long it’s been on though. Could be 30000 miles for all I know.

[Hoggs]

Just trade it in for an R6

[Liveware Problem]

I've had this problem too I think [mention]Westbeef[/mention]

Why is it seemingly such a problem with motorbikes? Cars don't seem to have the same issues.. I mean I know they have significantly larger batteries but there's more to it than that surely?

[Tango]

also get a battery charger and fully charge your battery

 

Already on it been going a few hours.

Interesting development, the R/R I took off is a Shendengen mofset . No idea how long it’s been on though. Could be 30000 miles for all I know.

 

Mosfet ones can die too......I had that with an electreX one on my Sprint ST 1050......kept breaking down when it got hot.....caused the clocks to keep resetting and then blew the main fuse......that's the problem with Shunt regulators.....

[fastbob]

When I worked in the bike accessories trade , nearly every Electrex Rec Reg that we sold was for a Honda . So much so that we actually kept a few on the shelf . Makes you wonder why Honda don't change supplier . Having said that , there was a time long ago when second hand CB250 N Superdream Rec Regs were much sought after because they fitted loads of bikes such as Suzuki GS's and Kawasaki Zeds . I wonder if repositioning a Rec Reg so that it gets more cooling air flow would make any difference ?

Edited July 23, 2018 by fastbob

[Westbeef]

also get a battery charger and fully charge your battery

 

Already on it been going a few hours.

Interesting development, the R/R I took off is a Shendengen mofset . No idea how long it’s been on though. Could be 30000 miles for all I know.

 

Mosfet ones can die too......I had that with an electreX one on my Sprint ST 1050......kept breaking down when it got hot.....caused the clocks to keep resetting and then blew the main fuse......that's the problem with Shunt regulators.....

 

I’ve just banged an electrex on tonight , hopefully it sees me through the life of this bike. I assume yours played up after a while? That sounds like exactly what mine was doing, playing up when hot and not charging so the battery was draining. I’ll see when I give it a run to work tomorrow

[Westbeef]

Absolutely fine today, I'll be happy when it's problem free for 2000 miles

[Stu]

Absolutely fine today, I'll be happy when it's problem free for 2000 miles

 

Maybe see you at the rally then

[Fozzie]

Absolutely fine today, I'll be happy when it's problem free for 2000 miles

 

One easy little mod I did was to build a computer fan onto it so it could stay cool better. And I never had any more problems for 3 years and 20k of mileage per year after