[sbournival]

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After 3 hours of travelling, after refuelling, I turn the ignition all lights are on but nothing to the starter. We tried a boost with no luck. We let the machine cool down for an hour, not enough juice to get the starter running but with a boost the machine was back on the road! We could stop and restart the Aspy 3 or 4 times before having to boost the machine again. So i took the battery (which is a month old) to a garage to have it checked. The voltage was lik 9.7v and the battery won't take any charge! So i bought a new battery and could finish my trip... I put a voltmeter to see if the new battery is operating properly. Readings are as follows: on the battery poles idle 12.15v at 3100 rpm 12.25v and in the fuse box idle 11.56v and 12.25 @ 3100 rpm! Is this normal ...

 

[dean_3326]

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Hey sbournival:waving:I think that voltage is too low, at 3100 it should be 14v or more. Sounds like the stator may be suspect. Have you cut out the connectors for the stator wires and soldered them?



:12red:

 

[goldwingnut]

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IHAVE A 1100 BUT THE VOLTAGE READING ON ALMOST ANY 12 V. SYSTEM BE IT A CYCLE , CAR OR ANYTHING SHOULD READ 13 V. TO 14.5 V. AT A HIGH RPM. COULD BE A STATOR, VOLTAGE REG OR LOOSE WIRE . OTHERS MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN ME WILL SOON REPLY. GOOD LUCK.

 

[sbournival]

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are you talking about the 2 wires that connect at the back of the alternator, if so why should they be cut and solder together ...:?

 

[Speedbird]

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I think he is talking about the 3 wires (yellow) that connect to the battery. If you have an 84-86 GL1200, you could have a stator problem. Very common. What he is referring to is the plastic connector that goes from the stator to the battery. Usually these things overheat and then melt The remedy is to cut out the plastic connector and then hardwire the 3 yellow wires together. Of course, it may be too late to do this as your stator may already be toasted. Thats a $1000 job here in Canada, because it requires the removal of the engine to repair. Not a job for the average Joe.



Speedbird

 

[ccsailor]

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don't panic yet re the last post This is what you do (learned the hard way) Get a digital volt meter A/C and DC as well as resistance

Pull battery cover off and put bike on centre stand

On the left side of the battery you will see three yellow wires either going to a plug or wired straight thru by previous owner Start the bike

Disconnect the plug OR cut the three yellow wires one at a time VERY important ONE at a time mark wires A ; B : C;

put meter on A/C scale across any combination A-B; B-C; A-C rev bike to 3000 RPm you should see 45 to 60 volts A/C across any of above combination

If OK shut bike off measure on resistance scale (50K is good) from each of three wires to ground It should be infinite EG open must not have any shorts to ground

If both measurements are ok(volts and resistance)your stator is good

Next ifyou havethe plug cut it out and solder each of the three yellow wires straight thru cover with heatshrink ( throw the plug at the neighbors cat or some thing piece of crap)

Next have batt load tested at batt shop if OK charge overnight measure DC volts straight across battery after charge should be about 13.5-13.9 VDC Start bike with meter still attached to battery voltage will go down while cranking over but should come back up to 13 plus when you rev bike turn on Hi Beams volt should drop slightly but still be over 13 VDC if not eg 11 to 11.5 dc replace regulator 10 min job (lots on ebay)

good luck Neil

 

[sbournival]

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I see the 3 wires you are talking about! I checked the voltage on these wires and 2 of them are at 4.5v and the other one is barely giving any reading! I checked with my brother's 1100 aspencade and he has almost 7 volts on each of the 3 wires, looks like I'm in for the big job...

 

[twisty]

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sbournival wrote:

I see the 3 wires you are talking about! I checked the voltage on these wires and 2 of them are at 4.5v and the other one is barely giving any reading! I checked with my brother's 1100 aspencade and he has almost 7 volts on each of the 3 wires, looks like I'm in for the big job...

Sbournival, not necessarily so. The 1100 uses a slightly different regulation system.

To test correctly..

"If the charging system ISN'T putting out the required 14-15 volts to the battery, thenlook at the connector in the 3 yellow wires (just in front of the battery). That connector mentioned tends to burn & oxidise therefor limiting charging system output. If that connector is burnt ( a good possibility) just cut the wires on each side of that connector & solder the wires together without the connector. Use splice clips over the bare wire connections then solder, then cover with heat shrink tubing. If that connector is found to be bad post back here for further details on repairing it.

If that connector looks good (pull it apart to have a close look) then disconnect it, then place your voltmeter on the 100 volt AC scale & measure the charging voltage between the 3 yellow wires.. To do that, mark the 3 yellow wires coming from the rear of the engine A, B, C. Then (with it disconnected from the front wiring) run the engine at 3000-4000 RPM's & measure between the A & B,, B & C, C & A wires. You need to see about 50 + AC volts form all 3 wires & about the same from each leg. If you don't have that 50 volts AC from each wire then post back for further details.

A little more info-- That 1200 charging system is a 3 phase ACsystem with no ground at the engine end. You can't get a meaningful measurement from any of those 3 yellow wires to ground as the charging system doesn't use a ground until inside the voltage regulator. It also produces AC current until rectified in the regulator so MUST be measured in AC if measuring on the engine side of the regulator.

Another test is to disconnect the 3 wire connector then measure ohms to ground. There should be no continuity to ground & all 3 legs should be about the same.

Twisty

 

[ccsailor]

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Hey you have to read my post you are NOT checking it right The way you are describing it you still have the wires connected (don't worry it won't hurt any thing to run the bike for a few minutes with these wires off

You have to have the bike running and the three yellow wires disconnected from the regulator ( actually disconnected from everything else) THEN you measure voltage A/C not d/c on these wires 45-60 vac across A-B; B-C; A-C you don't say whether you have a plug or not

then measure the three wires to ground with meter and with the bike turned off should not measure anything



let me know what you find then

Neil

 

[sbournival]

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Thanks for the advice, I unplug the connector and everything looks normal, I ran tests between the three wired and obtain about 25vac on a-b and b-c connection and 10v on a-c. same thing when i cut the 3 wires and ran the tests directly on the naked wires. It is far from the expected 50+ vac

 

[RedWinger]

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[dean_3326]

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Mr.1200 wrote:

Stator must be above 50 vac on all legs for it to pass! your stator failed,time to replace it!

You also have the option of putting the auto alternator on it, a lot less Money,I am not sure which way I would go if it happened to me. The guys have had very good luck withit, but I might just go ahead and pull the engine and change the stator. It is just a decision for each person I suppose. It seems to save a lot of time and money to put the auto alt. on.:stumped:

 

[RedWinger]

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[dean_3326]

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It really does look good, the extra amps would sure be nice too, Considering all the work and money it is really hard not to want to use the auto alt. conversion. My decision might not be so hard after all.



:12red:

 

[sbournival]

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You mean it is not visible from the outside if you put a car starter ... what type of starter do you put there and how is it done ...also besides draining the battery what are the risks of running the bike with the stator not charging th battery, if i decide to not repair the stator right away

 

[RedWinger]

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[ccsailor]

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SO

next question is did you measure the wires individually to ground???

It looks like you have a ground on one of the legsif so the above guys are right you now have to choose

A: replace stator; a long and cumbersome job about 12- 14 hrs is the average new stator $175 to $250 US you can find used ones on Ebay all the time just make sure its for a 1200 and comes with at least some type off warr so you can at least test it before putting in bike

OR B:

do a alt conversion as suggested above. When I had my stator problems I rounded up all the parts I can send more info if you wantand was ready to go with this but at the last min I found the real cause I would do this over replacing the stator for sure

If my stator ever fails I now have all the parts ready to go I rode around with a second battery in my trunk for over a month

If you don't travel over a 130 km roughley and don't start the bike more than 4 times an overnight charged battery will get you by for a while I rode around with a second battery in my trunk for over a month with no charging at all see attached pic for my cause

Neil

 

[sbournival]

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do you think a car alt hooked to the timing belts can put more strain on an engine and is it dangerous to get water and dirt in there, in fact is this safe for the engine and driver, do you know people who had this setup for quite a while now

 

[gb45]

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Mr 1200, from what I can see that is one neat alt. install, wish when I had a stator go out I would have done mine like that. And that is one Great looking GL1200....Gary

 

[RedWinger]

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