Electrical Problem

[Sgt.Keele]

I am having a hard time tracking down what is draining my battery. After driving at speeds aroung 70mph for about 50 miles, while sitting at a red light, the bike just died. Can anyone please help me figure out what it could possibly be. Thanks a bunch.

[Yammer Dan]

Clean & grease connections. Need more info. Did it start back up? How old is battery?

[Eck]

I am having a hard time tracking down what is draining my battery. After driving at speeds aroung 70mph for about 50 miles, while sitting at a red light, the bike just died. Can anyone please help me figure out what it could possibly be. Thanks a bunch.

 

 

For those wanting to help... he owns a 1990 Venture Royale XVZ13DA

 

Are you sure the battery is GOOD...?

 

If so, I suggest you connect a voltage tester to the battery and start removing fuses one at a time to find the effected circuit. If you have a clock remove that fuse and leave it out until you find the circuit causing the drain.

 

Start it and make sure your charging system is working.. while running turn on your lights, and radio and other options to see what may be the source of voltage drainage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sgt.Keele]

Had it tested, battery is good. Used a meter to test stator, it's good. Is there anyone out there have a schematic for the electrical which will give me a better idea of what goes where and does what? I have a 90 Venture Royale.

[Eck]

Try this..

Ill keep looking for more for you if this is not it.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42358

 

[skydoc_17]

Hey Sarge,

Welcome to the VR.ORG site! Now, Lets talk about that battery. If you remove the false tank cover and put a volt meter on the battery, you are wanting to see 13.5 volts. If you don't then lets try to figure out what's going on. Is the battery a "wet cell" battery?

(little yellow or red plugs across the top of the battery, with a "water line" on the side of the battery) Is this bike, "new to you"? Do you know how old the battery is? If you start the bike, then rev it above 2500 RPMs, does the amp gage needle move upward towards the high end of the scale? If it is a wet cell battery, when you look at the side of it, is the water level low? If it is, then use distilled water only, fill the cells by removing the yellow plugs and adding water to each cell, ONLY to the fill line on the side of the battery. DO NOT over fill. Right after you do that, charge the battery with a REAL (10 amp) battery charger, NOT a battery tender, for a day and do the voltage test again. If you would take the time to answer these questions, and try a few of the checks, we sould be able to tell if the battery is bad, or the stator is malfunctioning, or both.

Great to have you with us,

Earl

[Sgt.Keele]

Thanks Earl, Yes the bike is pretty new to me, about 2 months. Yes, wet cell, but bought about a month after buying the bike. Already tested the stator from the instruction from another member, all good there. While running and reving, yes the meter went towards the upper end of the scale.

[Sgt.Keele]

Eck thanks for the link to Dingy's schematics. Dingy, thanks for taking the time, they should help out a bunch.

[Condor]

I am having a hard time tracking down what is draining my battery. After driving at speeds aroung 70mph for about 50 miles, while sitting at a red light, the bike just died. Can anyone please help me figure out what it could possibly be. Thanks a bunch.

 

Need more info. Did the bike die and you couldn't restart it, and had to jump it, or did it die and then you could restart it? Also were you running your tape deck at low rpm?? Those tape decks eat amps like a horse eating oats, and the stator will not charge unless over 2000rpm. If it isn't a loose ignition wire, I'd still suspect the battery... Wet cells don't provide a lot of cc amps, and can be drained quickly if all systems are on and running under 2Krpm.

[heatonmt]

I just went through this and it was a hard one to find. Mine was a wire with a bad connection at the rectifier, regulator. It could be your rectifier, regulator. They charged every thing in the charging system be for they found it. Are you getting 14 volts at the battery with the bike running?

[bkuhr]

First need to determine if you have electrical load/overload problem vs. charging problem.

 

Suggest first get digital multimeter that will read amps, up to 20 amps prefered but 10 amps may work.

 

Then with key off, disconnect + cable from battery and place meter set up for max amps scale (and meter leads in proper amps ports) between disconnected + cable(-meter lead), and + terminal of battery(+meter lead). Scale down meter until you have a reading (may have to move + meter lead to different meter port for lower readings, but always start at max scale!!!). A proper reading with key off should be probably about 100mA(clock and radio memory). A reading very much above this and start pulling fuses until reading drops to isolate to overloaded circuit.

 

Then do same check again with key on and every thing else off. I think your head and tail lights are on now and reading probably around 5 amps. Come back with answer and maybe someone can compare to another simular model.

 

The last amp check is a little more dangerious and should only be for last resort when every other check/test is inconclusive. That is to start and run bike with meter set up as above. The problem is the starter probably draws more than 50A and will blow your meter. To get past this leave meter hooked up as before, on highest scale, but also apply a heavy auto jumper cable from the disconnected + wire and the + battery terminal. Start the bike, then remove the jumper cable to read the meter as before. If the battery is charging (as it should be after a start) meter should have a + reading. If battery is discharging(keeping bike running) meter will have a - reading. The actual numbers will mean little unless then are very excessive.

 

FWIW.. I had a problem on my xj750 that kicked my butt, but it turns out the the ohm difference between a good and bad stator can be very small. I had .1 ohm on 1 winding and book called for .4ohm. Even though I had 13+- volts charging, the shorted winding was draining my system and it was the stator as the problem. Before I had figured it out I had gotten so worried I permemently installed an amp meter and could keep the rpms up to keep the charge up. After I replaced stator, I had no more problems.

 

Whatever you find come back and let us know, and we can help narrow it down more if necessary.

 

Brian

[KarlS]

Food For Thought. I was always having electrical problems of one type or another until skydoc installed his fuse box upgrade on my bike. Since then I have had no electrical problems of any kind. Be sure your fuse block is good first.

[frankd]

Sarge,

 

Charge the battery, and start up the bike. Run it about 3K and measure the voltage across the battery. If you are charging correctly, it'll be between 14 and 15 volts. Most Ventures are just a little over 14 volts. If you are reading way less than 14 then make the following tests.

 

The procedure given in the Yamaha manual doesn't mention this, but you need to dig out the ohmeter again and check from one of the stator leads to ground......It should be open (infinity). All of the bad Venture stators that I've seen have read good phase to phase, but read a couple of tenths of an ohm to ground. The stator should NOT be grounded at all.

 

If the stator isn't grounded, inspect the stator to regulator plug for burnt wires or terminals. If they are burnt you can eliminate the connector by connecting the stator directly to the regulator (the 3 white wires). I twisted one of the wires from the stator to one from the regulator ( it doesn't matter which stator wire you connect to which regulator white wire), soldered them and then carefully taped the connection with good electrical tape (Scotch 33 or 88).

 

If your connector isn't burnt up, you probably have a bad regulator. You can check the diodes by testing from each white wire to ground and also the battery positive connector. Test all 6 diodes and verify that they still conduct in one direction and are open in the other direction.

 

Frank D..

[Dano]

My theory is electrical is OK, we're looking at a carb or ignition system problem here. Mine would do that with a good stator/reg-rec. Ended up being a vacuum leak that didn't happen till the bike was good and warm.

 

JMHO

[Zane]

Is there a way to test a stator without the motor running? I am in the middle of a new tire install and have the bike disassembled (exhaust removed) and as much as I like loud pipes, it would be a bit much and probably get me in trouble in my neighborhood!

It read about 12.5 volts when running and the lights brighten and dim when revving the motor. I.m guessing the rectifier, but would like to be sure before spending the money. I'm going to check the plug contacts and see if they might be bad. Appreciate any help.

 

Edit

 

Went out and checked AC voltage across to ground on each terminal and at 2000 RPM's all were reading around 20 volts AC +/- a couple. Also with the stator disconnected the lights did not flicker as before. Assuming it is running only on the battery? Did not read any resistance to ground on all three white wires from the stator either

 

Is this okay that I posted this on this post or should I have created my own post? I'm not to bright when it comes to forum decorum!

Edited December 20, 2010 by Zane
Added info

[frankd]

Zane, it sounds like your stator is still OK. Check the plug that connects the stator to the voltage regulator for burnt pins. You could check the diodes in the regulator as I've described above, but I've only seen one go bad and I bought my first Venture in april of '83.

 

BTW, don't trust the on board voltmeter to be super accurate. You need to take an accurate voltmeter and measure the voltage across the battery terminals with the motor running about 3K. You should read between 14.0 and 15 volts....most Ventures read on the low side of this. If you can see the headlights get a little brighter as you rev up the motor everything is probably working fine.

 

Frank D.