[Long Hair]

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Well... same old thing I guess... My 1200 LTD seems to have a charging problem. I started checking things out and someone had already done the elimination of the connectorby the battery and soldered the wires direct. With that being done I thought I would just replace the wires completely. So now I have NEW wire from the stator to the regulator. Very nice... however... I still seem to have a weird problem. The bike starts and the voltmeter reads 14.1. If I let it warm up it stays around there until I start to take off. Then the voltage drops to 12 or below. I have hit the kill switch then started (while driving) and the voltage goes up again and may or may not stay there. I may do this several times during a ride or may only have to do it once. If I leave it to stay at the 12 volt or below the battery will be dead the next day when I go to start it. I am wondering if I should be looking toward the rectifier/regulator or ifI should be looking at the starter solenoid (being as all power seems to go through it). All voltage readings are from the built in meter. Also, when I got the bike it seemed to be always at 14 or so volts except when my brake is pressed at idle.

:12ltd:

Marty

 

[RedWinger]

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[airbeat]

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Marty to be fair to Dave Campbell, I have purchased his upgrade harness and installed it with no problems. The directions were simple and easy to follow and the bike has been running flawlessly since the upgrade. And as a bonus I found burnt wires at the starter solinoid which were corrected during the upgrade. A problem very common to the 1200.

So thats my review of the harness. I have not heard any complaints about his harness.



Airbeat

 

[airbeat]

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I forgot to give you Dave's email address. [email protected]

Last I knew his price was around $25 for the harness.

 

[exavid]

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Marty,

Just for laughs it might be worth checking out the fuse link in the holder on the right side of the battery. As Mr.1200 mentioned, check out the connector between the yellow stator wires and the regulator, on my 1200 there was a bit of melting and burning on one of the pins.

 

[twisty]

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Long Hair wrote:

Well... same old thing I guess... My 1200 LTD seems to have a charging problem. I started checking things out and someone had already done the elimination of the connectorby the battery and soldered the wires direct. With that being done I thought I would just replace the wires completely. So now I have NEW wire from the stator to the regulator. Very nice... however... I still seem to have a weird problem. The bike starts and the voltmeter reads 14.1. If I let it warm up it stays around there until I start to take off. Then the voltage drops to 12 or below. I have hit the kill switch then started (while driving) and the voltage goes up again and may or may not stay there. I may do this several times during a ride or may only have to do it once. If I leave it to stay at the 12 volt or below the battery will be dead the next day when I go to start it. I am wondering if I should be looking toward the rectifier/regulator or ifI should be looking at the starter solenoid (being as all power seems to go through it). All voltage readings are from the built in meter. Also, when I got the bike it seemed to be always at 14 or so volts except when my brake is pressed at idle.

Marty, even whencharging that 14.1 is pretty low on the charging voltage.

It sounds like you have covered most of the common areas. That charging system is pretty simple so that doesn't leave many places to look.

Start at the battery's ground cable & make sure it has GOOD clean connections on both ends, then move over to the battery's positive cable & verify it has a good connection at both ends, then try to remove both red wires from the starter relay (look for burnt plastic & black burnt terminals (this is very common place for charging system failure next to the {3}yellow wire connector). If the plastic is melted (a very common problem) remove the red wires from the relay & strip back to good clean wire showing, then solder those red wires together along with one pig tail from an automotive sealed fuse holder, then solder a ring terminal on the other pig tail of that sealed fuse holder & fasten under the positive battery cable's screw along with the positive battery cable. Then install a 30 amp automotive fuse in the fuse holder. (plug the 2 open cavities in the starter relay with silicone sealer)

If the above is in good shape, or isn't the problem then move up to the voltage regulator. Make sure it's connector isn't burnt or the terminals aren't burnt, then make sure the voltage regulator has a good clean ground.

If you couldn't find any problems in the above, then disconnect the (3) yellow wires coming from the stator (just make sure they are not hooked to the voltage regulator), then use an ohm meter & verify none of the 3 yellow wires going to the stator have any connection to ground (if you show any continuity to ground you have a failed stator), then measure the resistance between each of the 3 wires (use a piece oftape or colors & mark the yellow wires A,B,C or 1,2,3) then measure the resistance between 1&2, then 2&3, then 1&3. Ifthe stator is OK the resistance should beabout the sameon all 3 circuits.

Then use a small digital voltmeter (even a $9.99 one) & place it on the AC 100 volt scale (or any scale over 75 volts), then start the engine & warm it up, then measure the AC voltagebetween thestator's (3) yellow wires between 1&2, 2&3, 1&3, with the engine rpm at 3-4,000 rpm's, the AC voltage needs to be well over 50 volts on each leg on that SEI. If the ACvoltage is in the 50 volt or higher range & close to being even on all legs your stator is probably good to go.

If after doing all the above, a problem still exists then you probably have a failed voltage regulator.

Any questions on the above just post back.

Twisty

 

[JOHNO]

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Hi long hair, just athought,

is your volt meter working correctly?

Try temporarily connecting a digital voltmeter straight across the battery, strap the voltmeter somewhere you can see it and go for a ride, compare the readings with your fitted voltmeter.

 

[twisty]

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JOHNO wrote:

Hi long hair, just athought,

is your volt meter working correctly?

Try temporarily connecting a digital voltmeter straight across the battery, strap the voltmeter somewhere you can see it and go for a ride, compare the readings with your fitted voltmeter.

JOHNO, he says the battery goes dead if the voltmeter reads low. So his problem isn't just a voltmeter reading.

Long Hair, wrote:

If I leave it to stay at the 12 volt or below the battery will be dead the next day when I go to start it

Twisty

 

[wing nut]

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try looking at the stator it might have dead short in one leg of the on the stator. on mine 86 1200i i lost my stator the same way when it goes it goes, also i replaced the recifer also and the staterwere the 30 amp fuse holder i would not by pass that areareplace thewhole system the 30 amp fuse holder runs about $65.00 and the recifer runs about $179.00.

 

[JOHNO]

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It does look like your stator is only firing on two coils, if the revs are above 1600rpm you get feed back from the ignition pulse coils that will give a charging voltage but no current.(used for ignition obviously)

I ran with mine for about 4 months, lights off the battery was fine, with lights on the battery would slowly fade awayand die when the brakes applied butthe charging system was still reading between 12.2 and 14v.

In the end I took the plunge, dropped the engine out and changed the stator for a high power version the old stator didn't look too bad but one off the coil packs was dark brown with a burnt smell through overheating

The battery, which was new at the time had to be replaced(all the heavy use buckled the plates)

The stator change took about 1 1/2 days over a weekend to do. That was September last year and (apart from a failed coil) haven't had anymore electrical problems in the 6000 miles I've driven since