Is this the final stator solution?

[h2olawyer]

My battery stays on the battery tender jr. all the time it is not being ridden.  I get home, park the bike & hook up the tender.  I have the pigtail atttached to the rear lift handle.  Stays out of sight and still easy to get to.  I've been running an Interstate sealed maintenance free battery for over 5 years - since the first stator died.  It now fails to hold a charge.  I won't complain of 5 years on a battery.

I feel the new style OEM stators may indeed be better quality - but they cost over 4x the cost of a Tim Parrot stator!  If I can start getting at least 5,000 miles out of a cheap stator, I'll be quite pleased!  Once I have the stator eating issue licked, I may try to find an OEM type stator from a newer bike on eBay.

H₂O

[Brian Moffet]

I hate to jinx myself, but I have 42,600 miles on my original stator.

Brian

[supervision]

 Brian, I'm just guessing here, butt maybe, living in a cooler area, and maybe, riding slightly lower engine speeds, shorter rides, with hours to cool in between, could have given your stator more lifespan.  My bike has never been rode my bike in town, I live on the edge of town and I never run below 5,000 rpm. mostly 7,000 rpm.  All rides are at this speed, and usually last for 100, to 200 miles, each time.  I don't know that this makes a difference, but I kinda think it does.

[Brian Moffet]

Could be.  I don't really know what would cause this.  However, slow-speed riding in rush hour traffic isn't really great on engine temps.   But I do seem to do a different type of riding than most members on this forum.  I would be willing to bet over 90 percent of my mileage has been during commute, either in Santa Cruz (highway 1 between Soquel and Santa Cruz, traffic usually is doing under 50) or in San Francisco (you can guess what traffic is like...)

Brian

[Walt_M.]

Frank, I don't know if any of the '83s had the improved stator but a couple of us with '83s do have the original stator. I know none of the '82s did. The problem seems to have been first addressed by Yamaha when the '83 Ventures started having stator problems. They issued a fix which included the improved stator and increased oil flow to help cool the stator.

[GT @ oh.]

Anyone with a original 82 stator with high milage??

[jasonm.]

In the mid-'90s, I had a machine shop drill the rotor bolt to allow splash feed to the stator, ala Venture
http://web.ncf.ca/ag136/bolt.jpg
The results were inconclusive, the third stator still failed after the install.

For the record, the current flowing through the stator (always at max due to the swell regulator design) heats the wires. The heat flows out into the air/oil bath. Which means the temperature of the wires rises until they're hotter than the oil.

you cannot just drill a hole in the flywheel bolt like a Venture or Vmax. There is a splash plate and washer that evenly sprays the oil, along with tight clearances in this design. It was a simple fix in late '83 for the Venture. But there was engineering involved.

[jasonm.]

I have a 60 / 55 watt SilverStar headlight - on all the time.  Also have 2 55w auxilliary lamps that I'm going to bet some 35w bulbs for as they are only for safety - not night riding, which I do very little of.

H₂O

H2O, if you are running the 2 x 55w lights a lot....that's your cause to your failures... I did a simple addition(but lost the paper) of what we have for power available and what these use. Total output is ~250w. power required for all items is approx. 200w. H2O, You have exceeded your limit... ;D  For safety I run the high beam in the day.

[jasonm.]

I installed the oil cooler
ran synthetic oil
extra ground
clean all connectors
etc
etc

9k tops on a stator so far...

none of my new batteries have held a charge more than 12.6~12.7 volts... they do "charge" more than that, but don't hold above the 12.65


I think we need one of those bicycle generators that you would rub against the rear tire to run your headlight  :D

I buy cheapo Wally type batteries. I have had bad ones right out of the box which got HOT when the battery acid was put in. aka internal short. NOW my latest(6/08) Wally battery always shows me 12.8v after sitting for days. It sat for 3 weeks in the bike due to other obligations...still 12.8v on  both my meters just before my ride. So I got a good one right after I returned the defective(HOT) one. Lucky me. My charging is 14.2 to 14.5v while the bike is running. Also a weak battery "they say" makes the charging system work harder.

Was someone saying OE stators are $400+?    As of a year ago I was sure the price of a new OE stator is still ~ $150 . No matter how in the toilet the economy is I know the price has not tripled.

[jasonm.]

Brian, I'm just guessing here, butt maybe, living in a cooler area, and maybe, riding slightly lower engine speeds, shorter rides, with hours to cool in between, could have given your stator more lifespan.  My bike has never been rode my bike in town, I live on the edge of town and I never run below 5,000 rpm. mostly 7,000 rpm.  All rides are at this speed, and usually last for 100, to 200 miles, each time.  I don't know that this makes a difference, but I kinda think it does.

I am just the opposite when I run the rpms. As I run 90% below 5500(euro gears) on the back roads. Only time the rpms are higher for any length is on the interstates.  These are torquey engines with just a sight flat spot @5000. On the hills where I am you know when to put it in forth for the hill. As it won't pull thru 5200 in fifth because the 2 mile hill is steeper than Pike's peak.  I also live on the edge of town. Many back roads to get lost on. 31k on my stator

[Night Vision]

Was someone saying OE stators are $400+?     I was sure the price of a new OE stator is still ~ $150 as of a year ago. No matter how in the toilet the economy is I know the price has not tripled.

sad, but true.... ok, maybe $360+





or http://www.cmsnl.com/products/stator-assy_11h8141010/
€ 349.00

[h2olawyer]

Running the electrics at or past the limit should actually make the stator run COOLER!  It is always putting out full power.  If there is no excess, it is not getting shunted at the R/R - therefore, the stator will not get as hot.  We've been down this road numerous times before.  The stator output is 280 watts - as stated by Yamaha.  The rewinders claim theirs have a higher output.

I've had equal mileage whether or not I'm running the lamps.  I installed them after stator two or three.  It was most likely the replacement R/R I installed with the first stator replacement.  Secondary cause may be an odd vibration, peculiar to my V.  I got 1500 miles on the last R/R & stator - an Electrosport replacement I installed with the last stator.  Then the R/R died & charged @ 17+ volts.  I reinstalled the replacement OEM type R/R and got almost exactly another 1000 miles - just the same as all the previous stators.  In other words, I got 2500 miles out of that stator.  Most since the original!  Only change was the 1500 miles with the replacement R/R - exactly the mileage increase over previous stators.  I installed another Electrosport R/R with this stator.  I won't know if it's successful until I get over 1000 miles - not likely until next riding season.

My local dealer quoted me $425 for a stator earlier this year.   :o  If I can get at least 5,000 miles out of an aftermarket stator and spend under $100 for each one, I'll continue down that road.

H₂O

[Shop Rat]

Frank, I don't know if any of the '83s had the improved stator but a couple of us with '83s do have the original stator. I know none of the '82s did. The problem seems to have been first addressed by Yamaha when the '83 Ventures started having stator problems. They issued a fix which included the improved stator and increased oil flow to help cool the stator.

Maybe this is the answer: http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_prod_id=128,53,363_852&action=product

A shaft extension on one of the camshafts could drive it. Regulator is built in.

Frank

[Brian Moffet]

It is always putting out full power.  If there is no excess, it is not getting shunted at the R/R - therefore, the stator will not get as hot. 

Since it is the R/R that is shunting to ground, the R/R will get hotter, not the stator. Heat is always at the resistance, which in this case is the R/R.  If the resistance is at the stator, then it will always be there.

edit:  Actually, if the R/R dumps the current directly to ground instead of through a resistor (a shunt) then the stator would be hot, and everything else between the stator and the ground.  I haven't looked at the schematic of the R/R, so I don't know details of how it handles that.  But the resistance will always turn current into heat.

Brian

[supervision]

 Maybe we need to get a stator wound with more insulation and fewer turns of what ever wire size, for low performance, for us high speed guys.   I also like the idea of an external, alternator, but they are so huge.  I saw one the other day, a Denso unit, from a tractor, but when I got home and looked for a place to put it on the bike, I couldn't see a place that would be acceptable.   Suzuki, uses a gear-drive for their's, look on ebay, for Katana, you will see em.
   One other idea, would it do any good to add a second R/R, would it lower heat in the stator ?   Probably just make an easier life for the diodes, only

[Night Vision]

I think I see a pattern developing with H₂O's stator woes...

he got 1000, 1500, 2500 miles out of the stators he has replaced....

..... either he needs at least four more replacements, or he needs to unhook his odometer  ::)

sorry!  :P

on a related note... I said my brother's V (CherryBomb) just ate a popular aftermarket stator after around 10k miles...

We Medivac'd CherryBomb to my house this Sunday... took more than one fully charged batterys to go about 100 miles this time, last time he made it on one fully charged battery... anyway,

I haven't pulled the case yet for a visiual inspection, but checking the three wires... I get continuity between the three wires... AND continuity between the three wires and the engine case... this is the first time I've seen all three wires shorted out to the case  ???

[h2olawyer]

Actually, I get 1,000 miles out of each one I use with the new OEM type R/R I installed with the first stator replacement.  I decided to try a different R/R last year.  I got 1500 miles - then the new R/R died!  (Started charging @ 17+V.)  I got an additional 1000 miles out of the stator when I went back to the previous R/R.  Hmmmmmm - looks like a pattern.

That "new" OEM type R/R passes all tests with flying colors, but it seems to be at the heart of my stator issues.  I put another new Electrosport R/R on with the latest Tim Parrott stator.  Only about 100 miles so far and riding season is coming to a close here.  I'll keep tabs on my mileage as it accumulates.

H₂O

[inanecathode]

Actually, I get 1,000 miles out of each one I use with the new OEM type R/R I installed with the first stator replacement.  I decided to try a different R/R last year.  I got 1500 miles - then the new R/R died!  (Started charging @ 17+V.)  I got an additional 1000 miles out of the stator when I went back to the previous R/R.  Hmmmmmm - looks like a pattern.

That "new" OEM type R/R passes all tests with flying colors, but it seems to be at the heart of my stator issues.  I put another new Electrosport R/R on with the latest Tim Parrott stator.  Only about 100 miles so far and riding season is coming to a close here.  I'll keep tabs on my mileage as it accumulates.

H₂O

Let me know when you want to modify a stock stator armature core. Cut down the corners, etc. I think it'll give you a few thousand more miles  ;) :D

[zore]

Actually, I get 1,000 miles out of each one I use with the new OEM type R/R I installed with the first stator replacement.  I decided to try a different R/R last year.  I got 1500 miles - then the new R/R died!  (Started charging @ 17+V.)  I got an additional 1000 miles out of the stator when I went back to the previous R/R.  Hmmmmmm - looks like a pattern.

That "new" OEM type R/R passes all tests with flying colors, but it seems to be at the heart of my stator issues.  I put another new Electrosport R/R on with the latest Tim Parrott stator.  Only about 100 miles so far and riding season is coming to a close here.  I'll keep tabs on my mileage as it accumulates.

H₂O

I hate to say it, but something is up there.  Either your wiring hardness is just littered with resistance or something is up.  I changed the first stator at 6k and am now at 22k on the second.  I ride it 70 miles a clip in 35 to 100 degree weather, rain or shine.  By law, I have to keep the headlamp on so it is, usually with the brights on. 

There is something suspect with something on your bike and you just haven't found it yet. 

[h2olawyer]

You don't think I already know something is up!?!?!?  Reread the last post.  There's a good chance I found the problem.  Won't say its solved until I get at least 5K out of a stator.  I can live with replacing it every 5K miles as I normally ride about 2K miles a year.  I just hate replacing it twice a year!  Once every three years would be fantastic.   ::)

The last R/R (Electrosport) was working great and the stator was going fine for 1500 miles - the most I'd gotten out of a stator since the OEM one died @ 4500 miles.  Then the Electrosport R/R died.  Same stator, but went back to the previous R/R and the stator went an additional 1000 miles.  Thus, I got 2500 miles total out of the stator.  That's an additional 1500 miles out of the stator - the exact same mileage I got with the new R/R.  It fried almost exactly 1000 miles after I went back to the R/R I had been using since I replaced the OEM R/R with the first stator swap.  Tried to use the original R/R once, but it tested bad - overcharging.  Not sure why, because it was working well when I replaced it.  Only swapped as a precautionary measure.

That's what sounds like the problem was - even though that R/R tests good, there is something in it causing the premature stator death.  I am the original owner of my bike and other than the suggested soldering of stator / R/R connections, I have never spliced into anything in the harness.  My original stator died about 150 miles after I soldered all the connections as preventive maintenance.  It was when I was figuring out how to get the carbs set and synched properly.  The bike got hot (almost into the red) once in that period and it was shortly after that when the original stator died.  I haven't done the soldering thing ever since.  Makes testing too much of a PITA!  I have gone through the harness and cleaned all the connections three times.

H₂O