| Author |
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Froggy
| | Posted on Monday, June 29, 2015 - 11:37 pm: | 
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It can fail in either direction. Mine would fluctuate both ways when it was on the way out.
Think of the stator as a river, the voltage regulator as a dam, and the battery would be the lake that forms behind it, and the rest of the bike as the town below it.
If the stator fails and the river dries up, battery lake would slowly deplete until there is no water to the village.
If the voltage regulating dam fails, it can either flood the village or cut off the water supply, depending on how it failed.
The voltage regulator is there to regulate the charging system and keep the batter at a happy 14.2V, and then shunt off excess power. If the valve gets stuck one way, too much voltage gets to the bike (blown headlights), if it gets stuck another way not enough voltage gets to the bike (FI system shutdown).
Not a perfect analogy, but should help. |
Trevd
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 01, 2015 - 11:15 am: |
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Froggy, is the voltage at the battery supposed to be 14.2V?
The most I'm getting is about 13.6, sometimes up to 13.9... never into the 14s.
I'm wondering if that is a symptom of my VR slowly kicking the bucket.
Trevor |
Froggy
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 01, 2015 - 12:24 pm: |
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Voltage will vary based on load, RPM, temperature and so on, but while cruising you should be maintaining about 14.2V. |
Biffdotorg
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 01, 2015 - 09:05 pm: |
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That was the perfect analogy Froggy and I am happy to say the new VR installed tonight has been the cure so far.
As with Trevor was explaining, we were both experiencing low voltage. I would sit between 12.1 and 13 and spike to 15. But when it dropped below 12, then the CEL would go and shut off my 12v outlet.
Now that the new VR is installed (CAKE INSTALL TOO, 2 beers) I am sitting between 13.4 and 14.8 fairly constant. It did spike above 15, but never below 13.4 at highway or idle speeds.
Upon initial start, it may hover below 13, but slowly climb up to 13.4 while warming up. Then hold in that range while operating.
It could be me, but the bike seems to be running really well with constant voltage. I won't get overly excited quite yet. I will wait until I have a few days of no CEL. But it looks good so far.
Trevor, get on American Sportbike and order up a new VR. $135 shipped. I was able to even re-use my zip ties other than the one up front. The other two were special ones that had push pins into the air scoop to hold the wiring harness in place. A small flat screwdriver and I was able to save the zip tie.
I did put some blue loctite on the 3 VR mounting screws as the original ones did not and one was almost backed out fully.
Good luck guys, I hope we all learned something. I have a nice 600+ road trip for work next week, and I am taking my bike! Nothing like some central Wisconsin back roads on the clock!! |
Twisteduly
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 01, 2015 - 09:40 pm: |
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Mark, I spent some cash while you were typing.
Mine finally bit the farm on the way home tonight. I lost a headlight too.
Regarding your experience with it running better, that is very understandable. Injectors and the fuel pump work off parameters in the ecm based on voltage. Low voltage = lower fuel pressure
(Message edited by twisteduly on July 01, 2015) |
Trevd
| | Posted on Thursday, July 02, 2015 - 10:20 am: |
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Biff, thanks for the update. I've already ordered a voltage meter to keep a closer eye on things. I'm also going to order a new VR, just to have it ready if needed, which based on your experience, will be soon. Rather be safe than be stranded...
The fact that Twisted's also just crashed, makes me pretty certain that mine is on the way out.
If you're able, can you give us an update in a few days to let us know how it's going? |
Biffdotorg
| | Posted on Thursday, July 02, 2015 - 10:49 am: |
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Will do.
I rode into the office this morning with no issues. I did notice that it cranked more than normal to start. I'm not sure if that is related, or another issue coming up. I hope not.
If I can go through a few days of riding with constant voltage and no CEL's then I know it was a success. As the CEL's were getting more consistent before the VR swap. |
Fltwistygirl
| | Posted on Saturday, July 04, 2015 - 03:24 pm: |
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Good luck sorting it out, biff. Thought I'd chime in while waiting for my holiday porketta from "da range" to cook (nomnomnom).
We went thru this with both ulys. The most important piece of advice we gleaned from the experience was to test the stator before you replace the v.r.
Hope you get it sorted out soon. Happy independence day, y'all! |
Trevd
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 07, 2015 - 06:44 pm: |
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Biff,
Any updates? Has the CEL come on at all? |
Biffdotorg
| | Posted on Thursday, July 09, 2015 - 11:53 am: |
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No CEL since the install, and the bike is running great. I just did a 6 hour run to central Wisconsin on Tuesday and will make the trip home tomorrow.
It starts and runs normal again. I did note a couple times that it cranked over longer than usual to start. I do believe that is totally unrelated. And far to intermittent to narrow down at this time.
It was nice being able to trust the bike again for my road trip. I hope I get on the road early enough to enjoy this weather for my 6hr ride home. I love getting to ride my bike to customer sites!!
Good luck all with your VR installs. |
Uly_man
| | Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2015 - 07:39 pm: |
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"One used a logger, and actually showed ranges from 7v to 17v spikes before his VR failed. Upon install of the new VR it cleaned it up to 13-15v consistently". This would be the way to do it if you can.
The problem with the CEL system is that it is a "common alarm" system IE It flags many potential faults and you will not know what that fault may be unless you know how to access it via the pins or a computer. I think it is a near useless system.
The other thing to know is that the CEL system fault parameters can be changed and even TURNED OFF if you want. Something that could hide potential problems on used bikes.
The ECM has a low and a high battery detection voltage value on code 16 and is measured directly from the fused 10 amp supply. Low is 9.5v on my 10 bike (8v on my 06 bike) and 16v high on both. The ECM is not able to measure the output from the stator. Also it can not detect the condition of your battery IE The VR is pumping in volts but the battery, because it is bad, is not able to store them.
A good "standing" battery charge for a modern EFI car/ bike is about 12.8v and even if this bikes battery is fully charged (about 13.5v) it should be charging the battery at an average of about 14.4v with the engine running at any RPM. Bike NOT alternator system of course.
(Message edited by uly_man on July 12, 2015) |
Biffdotorg
| | Posted on Monday, July 13, 2015 - 02:26 pm: |
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"The problem with the CEL system is that it is a "common alarm" system IE It flags many potential faults and you will not know what that fault may be unless you know how to access it via the pins or a computer. I think it is a near useless system. "
With the help of the guys here, I was able to short the correct pins and produce the fault code on the dash. It read the 16 code. Not super specific, but much better than useless. At least I knew it was power issue and I could start my process of elimination.
Based on all the shared experiences, I think this thread has probably solved the issue for at least 3 of us '08 Uly owners this summer now.
And yes I did have an amazing 6.5hr ride back home on Friday afternoon. 755 miles round trip. Sunny skies, warm weather and the traffic was moving!
By the time I got off the 2 lane of Wisconsin and Eastern MN, the pre-lake traffic on I-94 was on a mission to be sitting on the sandbar. I think flow was between 85-90mph!! Holy crap that was fast super-slab action! Totally different traffic than what most expect leaving MSP on a Friday afternoon. |
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