What to do if Stator Fails

[Glyn]

I'm thinking of taking my bike on a decent ride out of the city limits soon. I've changed the stator already for a good cond s/h Virago unit. I'm still uneasy on heading too far from home however. Since I havn't got a spare stator to take with me, I wondered how far a fully charged up spare battery would get me if the stator failed when I was on the road? I was thinking of carrying a spare battery in my top box as a means of getting home. Would this work?

[Tiger]

 :) I'm into my third season running a used Virago stator and have no worries...they all go sometime ;)

A volt meter will at least give you, virtually, instant knowledge that the stator has gone... :o The last time that mine went, I was only 20 miles from home, so no problem. Between your "V" battery and a spare you should get a couple hundred miles out of them :-\

Its something I just don't worry about... ;)

                      8).......TIGER....... 8)

[treedragon]

Okay then here is my take, I had a new Yuasa gel battery in the "Wobblydog"  when I did a tour of the South Island recently, the one where the stator turned itself into a heater, and I knew it was on it's way out when I left, so it went like this.....

Heavenly riding back and forth across the island then the last day, Gore to Nelson with side trips a tad over 1000k's. Halfway through I noticed the voltage dropping, by Greymouth (350k's from home) it was down to around 12v and it was getting towards sunset. Murchison (180k's from home) 11.something volts. Last 80k's really dark and being assailed by zillions of bugs, lights on "Hmmmm that doesn't look right" I thought, I decided the cheap Chinese volt meter had died Hah!  It hadn't.

Got home and the battery indicator showed it was in less than optimum condition but it still started the bike okay next morning. After a bit of running around I investigated and a short while later it got the CX500 stator transplant. Fully one third of the stator had got so hot it had burnt the shellac off, annealed the wire and barbequed the rest............ the God of Mechanic was smiling on me that day I reckon  8)

Sooooo as Tiger said (paraphrased somewhat) plenty k's particularly in daytime.

[George R. Young]

If you run without lights and bump start, the battery will last quite a while. If you have a charger and can charge the battery overnight, you can keep going almost indefinitely.

I rode from Roanoke VA to Ottawa, ON, about 500 miles over a couple of days, after I noticed that the stator wasn't charging any more. Got to within sight of my house, then had to push the last bit.

If you don't have a voltmeter, just tick the horn every now and then. If it doesn't beep, you'll know the voltage is low. Ever wonder why Vision owners are always beeping their horns as the drive down the road?

I started carrying a spare stator, but never had to install it on the road. I had a fair amount of practice replacing these things. I think if you lean the bike against a tree, you can stick a new one in without even draining the oil.

This reliability issue makes using the Vision as a tourer kind of questionable.

[rhpaw]

Thanks for the tree idea George. My dad is always freaked about the stator and talks about how it will die in the middle of nowhere and we'll have to eat squirrels to survive. I was pretty sure I could do a field swap, but I thought I'd loose the oil in the process.

Your method is way better.

[Rick G]

I've had one failure in 10 years and who knows how many miles.  The failure occurred  after dark , while riding with a friend.  I rode 35 miles home  and went for a 25 mile ride the next day , with no problems. if it was daylight I would have pulled the h/l fuse.

[Glyn]

Thanks all. Sounds like carrying a spare battery in the top box may be a good insurance. I'm an accountant, so of course do not like taking risks..

[Tiger]

I'm an accountant, so of course do not like taking risks..

  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D ...and you own a.......VISION!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[rhpaw]

when out on the open road how far are you from a walmart?

I don't think it's worth it to carry an extra battery... too much weight for such and easily obtainable item.
Stator , VR , TCI? maybe.

[clarence]

curiously my stator has never died, and the bike has done 60,000 kms. I am always wondering when it will die? Am I just lucky or did some visions have better quality stators from the factory?

[Rick G]

You are a very lucky man!!! Be sure to knock on wood!    :D :D :D :D

[Kenny]

Hi Clarence, :)
   The Cdn 83 that my wife rides/borrows has 103,000 kms on the same Stator.
  I do a cross Canada ride each year on the same bike & using the volt meter I can monitor the health of the charging system. A stator gone bad would stop me just long enough to disconnect the headlight-night riding I don't do as the four legged critters move around big time at dusk & dawn. I would then pick up a solar charger for the remainder of the trip.
                My 2 bits.
                                     Cheers Ken S. ;)

[clarence]

I wonder if its anything to do with the fact that I never ride with the headlight on in daytime, and I very rarely ride at night. could this be why my stator keeps going?

[Rick G]

Clarence , you must not be in North America, all visions here have the head light on, when ever the ignition is on. 
I don't believe that the light being off has any bearing on stator longevity. The stator is at full out put all the time , what ever isn't being used to charge the battery, is dissipated as heat.

[clarence]

yes I am from australia, and lights dont come on with ignition. From my limited knowledge of permanent magnet alts, I assume that without any load the copper coils in the stator should stay cooler. I am not sure what sort of load the r/r puts on the stator by itself?
I have noticed a subtle laboring in the engine when the lights are turned on, so I assume the stator is working harder under this condition.
Thats an interesting fact re the lights coming on with ignition, in usa I presume? Is that a legal requirement?

[Walt_M.]

Hi Clarence, what year is your Vision? We got them in the US for only 2 yrs, '82 and '83. Yamaha came out with an upgraded stator later so you may have one. As for the stator output, Rick G. is correct. The output is pretty much constant once you get over 2-3K RPM, lights on or not. What isn't used by the system does get dissipated as heat through the R/R. Many of the guys have relocated the R/R as it lives in a pretty hostile place behind the battery box next to the rear cylinder exhaust. A couple of us have put a 4 inch CPU fan on the R/R and kept it in place. If your's is all standard then you are indeed lucky.

[Jay]

My stator is shot. I charge it overnight, ride it all I want, when my headlight goes out, I know it's time to charge again. Everything else works, horn, etc, just not the headlight if I'm getting close.

[clarence]

mine is an 83, but I have replaced the r/r with one from a rd 350 lc I think it was about 10,000 kms ago. Its possible I do have the better r/r  :)

[Rick G]

Mine is off of a Kwaker KZ1100  , its about 1/3 larger and I have it mounted on the left foot rest /muffler bracket. 

[Glyn]

In New Zealand, it's hard enough to find a bike shop with a battery that will fit your bike, plenty of one horse towns, with even no garages, so I reckon it's best to be prepared for the worse. Having said all of that my replaced (second hand) stator will probably last another 50,000 kms. Now that is tempting fate..
Thanks for the advice guys.