electrical question

[kiawrench]

 did my pre-ride, ,all good, fired up started off to work , about a mile into ride, lost all power, pulled over, raised seat checked fuses first,  main fuse is open.
  replaced fuse and it popped right away.
  ran back into my little brain, remember looking at volt meter, was about 13.7, 3000 rpm ,just went to third when lost the fuse.

   if circuit opens when key is out, only thing i see in diagram with power is r/r and stator... or am i just chasing my tail?
have a spare r/r ,  kawasaki, donor  will have to spend all night
dogging the wiring . darn it .

  oh, if anyone saw national news,, bike shop in chesnee s.c was scene of shooting yesterday, owner, 2 mechanics and owners mother . no suspect, ,no visible motive. whoever did it didnt even check cash box, or on top of desk,,, bank deposit and days till still accounted for .  all 4 dead on scene , .
   was only reliable place around for help on my bike, owner was well experienced with vision and vision problems .

[RussD]

When mine just cut out on me like that, the first summer my r/r was smoking & the back of it was bubbling up. This year I haven't been able to figure the culprit yet, but (knock on wood here) I don't seem to be blowing fuses. Having just said that of course, I've now jinxed myself!!    ::)

Sorry to hear about your shop guy & his family/crew. If it wasn't a completely random act of violence, sounds like someone had some issues with his shop &/or work, as they obviously weren't doing it for the $. Some really tacky jokes about you being a Vision owner come to mind here, but I'm going to keep my mouth shut!!   :-X

[kiawrench]

dont worry about tackiness of jokes,, hell,, i work on kia cars,,, biggest joke in auto history other than yugo

[Walt_M.]

It sure points to the R/R. If the key is off, and I am assuming it was since you needed it to unlock the seat, there isn't anything else in the circuit. Also, unless your battery was low, 13.7 volts at 3000 rpm is a little low. I just put one of those 6 LED Radio Shack battery/alternator checkers on mine and already like it. You can tell pretty quickly of all is ok and it would have indicated a problem for you at 13.7V. If it isn't your R/R, you might want to check the red wire running to it.

[RussD]

Some really tacky jokes about you being a Vision owner come to mind here, but I'm going to keep my mouth shut!! ? :-X

No.......I meant jokes about you being the police's primary suspect by being a disgruntled Vision owner, but I didn't know if they were friends of yours, & didn't want to be disrespectful or offend you. Guess I'm still kinda being disrespectful to them though ? :-/

I know this is another one of my simpleton suggestions, but don't forget to check your plastic connector from the r/r to the stator if you still have it. Was it smoking at all when it cut out on you? When my r/r fried, I thought my a$$ was on fire, 'cause all this smoke was coming out from directly under the seat. Also....like I said.....check the back of your r/r where that gel like substance is. Mine was all bubbled up in the one corner......you could tell it had overheated.

Besides........I thought Kia's had that super duper long 10 year warranty or something. How could they do that if they're junk? Not that I'd buy one.......but that's because I think the world has figured out they can't beat us militarily, so now they're just using their wallets & trying to buy us up like a cheap ho ?:o ?Fortunately my Vision is SO old, none of the money went back to Mother Japan ? ;)

[kiawrench]

NO RUSS,,, those were the kind of folks that only knew customers. wouldnt even talk weather, or answer a question without a work order. ?they just werent friendly folks at all. but they could fix any bike built, for a price
as for kia cars/trucks-- they have a long warranty just to get you to buy it. doesnt pay squat to fix them ,and the warranty thing only applies to first owner, second owner lucky to get courtesy oil change
. reason i said tell away on jokes,,, i am only person in days drive to fix kia, so being in chevy dealership,,, i get a lot of grief all day, so any additonal joking after work is just more fun,,, have real thick skin,,, lol
 i did check for connector, it was first thing i dealt with when bought bike,, am going to do full tear down tonight,, see what is wrong and where. was all ok until i mounted my radio shack meter,,, but it is on light circuit,, not main,,,, so i just dont know . yet . ?will drop line let you know later

[kiawrench]

<< this is just not my day >>
  got the bike fixed> two connectors slipped from wire loom supports between r/r and tci , resting on exh mainfolds, melted into one big blob.
    guess am lucky  didnt fry stator, tci or the r/r . finished up an hour or so ago, took for spin. all seems ok, but am going to chart check whole bike  a few times over next week or so ,,, to be sure

[Walt_M.]

What do you mean it's not your day? You found the problem and fixed it without tearing up anything major.

[Lucky]

Kia says the glass is half empty, Walt says it's half full

I say you need a smaller glass, lol

[kiawrench]

walt, you have a real point there. sorry.
and lucky has one too, i just have a lot on mind - still have to go to state police office , prove i own a 1979 kawasaki 1100 police special that was in the shop for repairs at the bike shop where all those people were killed.
  
   anyone interestedcan follow story - www.wspa.com
  scott ponder ,his mother , two mechanics killed .

[rick_nowak]

went to that local tv website and so many "runtime" error pages came up that my right index finger almost fell off from the swatting effort.  seems like no real devlelpments yet on shooting.  we all know shops like this one as described and i can imagine someone got pretty mad.

[RussD]

<< this is just not my day >>
 ?got the bike fixed> two connectors slipped from wire loom supports between r/r and tci , resting on exh mainfolds, melted into one big blob.
 ? ?guess am lucky ?didnt fry stator, tci or the r/r . finished up an hour or so ago, took for spin. all seems ok, but am going to chart check whole bike ?a few times over next week or so ,,, to be sure

Kia.......I had almost the same thing happen to me the other day.....did you read my post? My wire harness from the stator to the r/r was glued to my manifold. I literally had to peel it off. Now I get to practice my soldering, which I SUCK at!! ? ;)

[Walt_M.]

Russ, get yourself a proper crimping tool and use solderless connectors. They do work, the only bad crimp will occur if you try to use pliers or something else. I have seen soldered connections come loose after repeated heating and cooling of the conductor, even if you did it right!

[Rick G]

Sorry Walt , but I can't agree . crimp connectiors are fine for non critical connections but in the charging circuit I'd solder them . he just needs to practice a little . lucky gave him an on line tutorial on soldering and I'll bet he will do just fine.

[RussD]

OK guys.......What if I used those solderless connectors like Walt's talking about, and then soldered them on as well as crimping, similar to what I did with my r/r stator connector?

lucky gave him an on line tutorial on soldering and I'll bet he will do just fine.

P.S....Thanx for the faith Rick!! ?Hopefully it's not misplaced ? ;)

[Walt_M.]

If you use the correct crimping tool, solderless connectors work great. Putting solder on them is like using a belt and suspenders. The solder is susceptable to heat, the crimp type connectors main problem is corrosion and, if you do not mix metals, aluminum/copper, you will be fine. I have 33 years of experience with these connectors and I trust them more than I do solder.

[kiawrench]

i myself tend to lean towards marine grade solderless, but only the type with heat shrink outer cases. i check the wires, for soundness, ohm out and make sure still good, the route, cut to obtain clean edge, apply stabilant 22a (a car quest item,i can get if anyone wants, is about 32.00 for 2 oz bottle ) and then i crimp with radio shack crimper, and apply heat with a wagner heat gun to shrink outer tubing and seal whole unit . last step is to verify routing and secure with wire ties as needed to prevent any rubbing,high heat locations and pinches. i used to solder everything , but now only solder if connection is internal car wiring, but i do still use heat shrink for sealing and waterproofing . i only use electrical tape to wrap or secure wiring covers,like at base of turn signal stalkes, i buy the black plastic wire covers tape one wrap on wires, 4 wraps around end of cover, and add in any place wires exit that wiring cover. this makes all wiring neat, clean and so easy to access if repair is needed. jc whitney sell everything except the stabilant 22a , i will be sure to get all part numbers for that(its primary purpose used to be computers only, but auto makers now use it to enhance connections at ecm/bcm/radio/and other critical contact points)  i went against my own preference in fixing the charging circuit , i did check,clean and solder all connections made , but i did stay with weatherproof connectors,
 ?now if i could just remember to add wiring checks to my weekly maint schedule, i wont have this fuse ?popping event happen again , i hope

[Rick G]

I've done a little crimping too in 33 years in HVAC, and there standard procedure , but as you say are subject to corrosion , The marine grade sounds fine.  I used a crimper that was required by Southern CAlif. Edison. it has , what we called a "dog tooth"  it does not squash the connector but inserts a tooth that raeally provides a positive crimp . I'm just leary about using them in low voltage situations.

[Walt_M.]

Yep, that is the style crimper I'm talking about, never heard it called a 'dog-tooth', but it puts a deep dimple in the barrel of the connector. I have never had one that has been properly installed come loose. I have seen properly done solder connections that have been through a lot of heat/cool cycles turn into cold high resistance joints and they are h*ll to find.