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Buell Forum » Big, Bad & Dirty (Buell XB12X Ulysses Adventure Board) » Archive through July 20, 2015 » Voltage Regulator or false alarn? « Previous Next »

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Archive through May 30, 2015Twisteduly30 05-30-15  02:49 pm
         

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Uly_man
Posted on Sunday, May 31, 2015 - 09:46 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

"Spirited riding with near max rpm shifts, idiot light came on, still running good, stopped for gas and wouldnt restart, dead battery symptoms. Got a jump and made it almost 10 miles before it started cutting out and running like crap, died and coasted to the shoulder and pushed it home (1/4 mile). I put a meter on the battery and it was 11.3vdc. It went up to 11.6 after a few minutes and also removing the ground cable. The battery was new last fall (HD) so I charged it up. 12.8vdc I fired it up and was getting 14.2 at idle/cold idle. Ran for 5 minutes and shut it down. I put it on the battery tender for a couple of days".

This bikes ECM will die if it sees a voltage of less than 11.1v and most meters are at least +/- 0.5v, or more, as well. The most accurate way of determining the voltage is from the diagnostic port using ECM-SPY or TunerPro. At 1500+ RPM you should be seeing a charge of about 14.5v but it will fluctuate upto around 15v, on a single phase system, but is not a problem as long as it does NOT stay there for any length of time. If it does then you have a VR problem and this will show up on a logged run.
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Phelan
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - 11:18 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

FWIW, I just bought one of these from Rick's Motorsports through Dan, and it's plug and play, other than figuring out how to mount it. It looks similar to the mosfet setup above except this one is 3-phase for my '06. They make single phase for the later models as well. I believe retail about $150.

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Arry
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - 02:01 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

I Haven't had a V.R. die, yet. But I know this is a common problem. I keep wondering about the stock location, right next to the head, cylinder, and header flange. Heat has to be a factor in the short life of these. Has anyone relocated their V.R. to a cooler location?
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Phelan
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - 02:40 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Only if you sit at lights idling all the time. The VR is in front with plenty of airflow, so while moving it doesn't feel much, if any, of the heat from the motor and pipes.
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Natexlh1000
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - 04:51 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

Yeah and if you're idling all the time, the stator is barely able to break even.

I have on occasion touched my regulator and it didn't seem to be actually hot.
My original regulator got weak but not all the way dead and got me home from a long trip without issue. when I swapped it out, I dug out all of the potting compound looking for any sort of clue as to what went wrong in there but it all looked fine with no explodey-looking stuff.

I took pictures of the depotting process in order to post them on this site but they came out too boring to bother : )

"Oh boy! it's some idiot tearing out chunks of rubber with an exacto knife. How exciting!"
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Hughlysses
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - 05:26 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

My VR still seems to be holding up 3 months later. I haven't seen another low voltage indication since I separated the connectors to do the voltage checks and then reassembled them.

Fingers crossed.
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Uly_man
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - 06:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

"I separated the connectors to do the voltage checks". This has possibly fixed the problem as a bad connection will cause a higher resistance and thus a lower voltage. A common problem on bikes, including the Earthing points, from time immemorial.

The environment a bike has to work in is a lot harsher than a car has to deal with and its electrics will suffer more over time. Apart from the Military grade connections, that have seals, all the other connectors have connecting surfaces that are open to air and will, as they are not gold plated, oxidize and cause bad connections.

Even with the best will in the world and best build practice you WILL eventually suffer problems at some point on any bike. It is part of the biking "thing". Car as well come to think of it.
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Hughlysses
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 - 10:23 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

This has possibly fixed the problem as a bad connection will cause a higher resistance and thus a lower voltage.

That's what I'm thinking, Marc. It seems that the typical failure mode of a failing voltage regulator would result in HIGH voltage, not low. I do need to go back and apply a little dielectric grease to the connectors so that hopefully my problem will not return for a long time.
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Twisteduly
Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2015 - 08:03 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

I had the same result as Hugh, not much more than cleaning the leads at the 77/46 and greasing them up.
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Reedo
Posted on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 - 10:17 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

If I have a good strong new battery fully charged, shouldn't the be able to run longer than 40 minutes even if the VR or stator are bad? Since I don't have a load tester, I pulled the battery and took it back to O'Reilly's and it load tested fine. Since I don't have a load tester I decided to do the stator check. I checked the continuity across all stator sockets and ground and got no continuity on them. check. Resistance across the stator sockets however showed no resistance when the test said it should be 0.1-0.3 ohms. I did verify I get 0 ohms when my probes are shorted together.
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Reedo
Posted on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 - 10:19 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Custodian/Admin only)

AC Output test also passed. I was getting about 35-36 volts at 2000 RPM.
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