Charging Issues

[rpliska]

I've some charging problems and I'm at the end of my rope as far as things to try.  First of all, when I hook the meter up to the battery I can rev the engine as much as I want and the meter doesn't move from ~11.5V.  Obviously my charging system isn't doing anything.  

I've gone through the fault finding checklist on www.xz550.com as well as Electrex's site and the only test that fails is the +12V connection (brown wire).  I get a voltage of about 6.6-7.2V and I cannot seem to change it.  I've cleaned every connection I can find and nothing helps at all.   Any ideas?

[Lucky]

ok, just to be clear, you ran the tests with a FULLY charged battery?
The R/R passed ALL the tests (you tested with the meter set to Diode for tests 1-4, right? Ohms will give you false readings)
Stator is NOT grounded to frame or the wires to each other, correct?

if so, and all that fails the test is the red wire to the R/R, then get a nice piece of 12 ga wire & jump directly from the battery Positive to the R/R red wire. if it still fails then the R/R is toast. if it passes, then check the red wire connector at the battery/starter relay, and the 30A main fuse. Note: our fuse boxes are notoriously bad after 20+ years. replace it with a blade type fusebox by Littlefuse" from Pepboys

--Lucky

[rpliska]

It's the brown wire that fails the test.  Can I do the same thing - jump from the battery + to the brown wire and run the test?

[Lucky]

my bad! sorry, I misread 'brown' for 'red' Doh!

yes, same procedure, just don't leave it hooked up all the time or you'll drain the battery.  also you'd then be looking at the headlight fuse instead of the 30a main, and double check the main (key) switch as well for continuity.

--Lucky

[rpliska]

OK, I tried jumping the brown wire, and obviously now I get 0.00V when I do the brown wire test, but I'm still stuck at ~11.5V at the battery.  I ran every other test again, and now I have another test that is failing.  In the Electrex fault finding chart, the third stator test.  The one where you set the multimeter to AC-Voltage and measure the Voltage between the white wires.

The chart says that you should get 50+ Volts and I am getting around 1V.  Does this mean that I definitely have a stator problem?  The stator passed the other two tests (no white wire has continuity with ground or another white wire).  Is my stator still fried?  Thanks for all your help so far!

[Lucky]

Stator is fried, sorry.. you have an open connection. double & triple check the R/R tests. if they are ok, go ahead and replace the stator, move the R/R to the passenger foot peg & solder ALL the connections on the R/R. you should stay trouble free for quite a while.  

if the starting switches, etc are worn/corroded (any that the charging system passes thru,) such as the key switch will also have to be delt with.

--Lucky

[jasonm.]

you SHOULD HAVE CONTINUITY(less than 1 ohm) between all 3 white wires. Just not from white to ground. Stator is likely fried open.