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Erratic Voltage


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A few weeks ago I noticed my voltage was low, around 11.5 volts. I checked the wiring and found one of the wires coming from stator had a loose crimp, wire just pulled out. I replaced all the connections with solder joints. The voltage came back up to around 13.0-13.5 on the highway. I have an digital volt meter installed so I can see the exact voltage and not rely on the gauge.

Today while riding I saw the gauge go up to 16 volts and noticed the digital was at 16.2. It came back down to 13.2 for awhile and then did it again. it would go up and down. When I got home it was at the 13.2 volts with engine rev'd to 3K rpm. The regulator was hot to touch, but not extreme. The battery is only 1 year old.

A few years ago I put in a Rick's stator and got a regulator from Skydoc_17.

I am running a LED headlight and a pair of LED driving lights. The driving lights are the only extras I have.

Any ideas?

Edited by jdross440
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I installed a shindegon rectifier from ROADSTERCYCLE.COM, it doesn't cause unnecessary heat like the original shunt style rectifier's do. My bike charges more consistant than ever 14.2 volts.

 

Ron

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I'm with WIZ, I installed a Shindegen FH20AA R/R and it charges at 14.2 volts (even at idle) and never had a problem. It's a great unit. I soldered the three wires to the the harness and then wired the R/R direct to the battery and not thru the wire harness to the bike. No waste of power thru the long complicated wire harness on 30 year old wiring.

 

Jim

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The only thing that can cause over voltage is the regulator/rectifier. So unless you've got two bad gauges that is your issue.
Not quite true. If there is a bad sense wire connection between the battery and the regulator, the regulator may sense a low voltage condition when there is none and in turn cause the battery to be overcharged. Check your wire connections before condemning the regulator/rectifier. If the wiring all checks out then I would agree that the reg/rec is at fault.
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The only thing that can cause over voltage is the regulator/rectifier. So unless you've got two bad gauges that is your issue.

 

Not quite true. If there is a bad sense wire connection between the battery and the regulator, the regulator may sense a low voltage condition when there is none and in turn cause the battery to be overcharged. Check your wire connections before condemning the regulator/rectifier. If the wiring all checks out then I would agree that the reg/rec is at fault.

 

Hmmm,, this is interesting.. My extremely limited and backyard wrench spinning electronics/electrical gut tells me to lean toward MiCarl's thought on this one.. It seems to me like the Regulator/Rectifier would be hard wired to do its job of changing AC to DC and then regulating the DC Voltage output to limit it to a given amount of voltage no matter what the external wiring condition was.. It seems like 14.5 volts DC should be the max amount of voltage available (if that is the RR designed output) as demand for output has no effect on the max level and any change on input would actually only be able effect output in a negative was (dropping the output voltage).. Now if something happened internally to the RR,, thats a differenct story but that is what MiCarl is pointing out when he states the RR has to be the culprit..

It does seem possible for uncontrolled high voltage to be present beyond the RR in my mine if one of the Stator wires had somehow got past the RR,, like thru a shorting to an exposed wire in a harness somewhere but this,, it seems, would show up as AC voltage as the voltage path would not be thru the RR which changes the voltage from AC to DC...

Yeahhh,, this is an interesting on IMHO..

Lets get @Flyinfool and Patch involved here, two lop eared varmints who usually aint skeerd to electrafy the masses :big-grin-emoticon:

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I'm fairly confident the R/R on a Venture senses the voltage (+) on the same wire that charges the battery. So a poor connection would result in voltage at the R/R to be higher than the battery, in other words it under charges.

 

It is possible though that the R/R senses the voltage (-) to its case, rather than the pigtail to the harness. If so, a poor connection between the chassis and R/R case might cause over voltage. Wouldn't hurt to make sure the case and chassis are clean and the mounting screws are good and tight.

 

For that matter, it never hurts to check all the connections. Solid state gizmos can do weird things with poor connections.

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Hmmm,, this is interesting.. My extremely limited and backyard wrench spinning electronics/electrical gut tells me to lean toward MiCarl's thought on this one.. It seems to me like the Regulator/Rectifier would be hard wired to do its job of changing AC to DC and then regulating the DC Voltage output to limit it to a given amount of voltage no matter what the external wiring condition was.. It seems like 14.5 volts DC should be the max amount of voltage available (if that is the RR designed output) as demand for output has no effect on the max level and any change on input would actually only be able effect output in a negative was (dropping the output voltage).. Now if something happened internally to the RR,, thats a differenct story but that is what MiCarl is pointing out when he states the RR has to be the culprit..

It does seem possible for uncontrolled high voltage to be present beyond the RR in my mine if one of the Stator wires had somehow got past the RR,, like thru a shorting to an exposed wire in a harness somewhere but this,, it seems, would show up as AC voltage as the voltage path would not be thru the RR which changes the voltage from AC to DC...

Yeahhh,, this is an interesting on IMHO..

Lets get Flyinfool and Patch involved here, two lop eared varmints who usually aint skeerd to electrafy the masses :big-grin-emoticon:

I am not saying that MiCarl is wrong and I agree that most likely the Reg/rec would probably be at fault. I am Just saying that if there is resistance due to a poor connection or a bad spot in the wire somewhere, The voltage signal which the reg/rec receives to monitor battery condition would mislead the regulator into overcharging the battery and that I suggest a simple check of the possibility of this condition would be prudent before replacing an expensive part. My theory is if your going to be wrong pick the cheapest thing to be wrong about first. In 50 years as a Mechanic I have seen numerous mechanics constantly jump to conclusions, replace alternators with built in regulators or external regulators (even engine control modules which in a big rig is easily $6,000.00) only to end up with the same issue. Then go back and do a proper diag to find the problem was a 10 cent terminal gone bad or a section of wiring gone green. All I am saying is take the extra 20 minutes or so to make sure. Chances are it will be the reg/rec but suppose you did find a wiring fault you just saved yourself a pretty penny. Edited by saddlebum
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