Condensed "WTF is wrong with my charging system?"

abacall

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I had some issues with my charging system and asked for the forum's help. This is the condensed version of the most relevant replies:


How can I test if the charging system is operating at spec?

a voltage meter... could possibly be the stator thats is the major part of the charging system, if you dont know what your doing best to have a shop look at it. dont just go buying electrical parts on a wim they are way too expensive for that and no dealer will let you return them....
We need to move in a specific order to get to the answer.
Steve is quite right as trouble shooting requires specific testing as there is a symbiosis between components in the system. Charging a battery is fine but how does that battery hold up under test. Also, a battery that is not up to par will require a good charging system to work harder than it needs to to maintain a charge. This is where load testing comes into play and to be more specific, you can test the cells of a battery individually.
Have you downloaded the FZ manual?
If not, do it, and go to page 8-25 troubleshooting charging problem.
This will allow you to proceed logically and isolate your problem.
I suspect it is something simple, it usually is after mods. You will at least need to pull the inner faring, seat and tank, and get an inexpensive volt/ohm meter.
After you open it up so you can see most of the wiring, look for loose or disconnected connectors. Easy visual stuff first, then start down the troubleshooting list in the manual.

We can help you man.

Back to the first question.
You replaced the battery with a new battery. The bike continues to behave in exactly the same manner as before?

If this is so. I would like you to take your voltage meter and read across the new battery. It should read 12.7vdc.
If it reads less I would like you to trickle charge it over night and read it in the morning. Please post the exact voltage.

The light system is more than likely not the culprit. The headlamps are on a relay and unless the relay is failing, (sometimes they sorta melt inside and draw hella juice but still sorta work RARE) it is not your issue.

Do you have a alarm system?
Do you turn off and remove the key everytime you park the bike? (this is a dumb question I know, but I see them all the time parked with the lights still on)

Ok in order what is the most likely cause.
Bad battery. Check VDC and if its good, we need to have it load tested. Autozone/Advance such and the like does it for free.
Have you ever load tested a battery before?

It could be a bad ground. This is common. Follow the ground wire from the battery to the frame. Try to twist it on its bolt. Look for a green or white corrosion. If present remove bolt, clean with wire brush, wipe on coke or lemon juice. Wipe on baking soda and then rinse with plain water. Dry and reinstall. This corrosion is a very good sign that a poor ground is your problem if you find it.

Do you have any other electrical accesories? Heated grips. Extra lights, Radar?

You could actually have a bad stator. Again not likely but it could be.

Most likely the new battery was never fully charged.
Next most likely the new battery is bad. It happens pretty often.
Next most likely grounds.

These are assuming the system is not being drained out by leaving on lights or having some accesory that is direct wired to 12v. (not switched)

Tell us about any accesories wired up.
The stator is inside the engine cover. Its a bunch of wires insulated from each other with varnish (sorta) and as the engine turns it spins a magnet it crosses the lines (fields) and creates a potential voltage. The rectofier (sp?) makes it into a useful voltage. This is how your battery is charged and what operates the electrical systems when the engine is spinning fast enough.
Like an alternator?
Similar in that they both produce AC voltage which must be converted to DC through the rectifier or it won't work. Unlike a cage, the motorcycles battery powers everything so you can not take the leads off the battery and expect the bike to run where a cage would. Also, the cage alternator will give a full charge from the time it begins turning where the bikes system won't until it hits around 5,000 rpm on most sportbikes.


Wrightme43 has great ideas. Here's more:

1)Battery cables making poor contact. Make sure they're tight.

2)Load excessive - Too much drainage from the dual headlight mod. Check by disabling it and running the FZ6 without it.

3)Wiring Faulty - Check grounds (earths) and wires. Look for corrosion, frays and disconnections.

4)Worn Fuse - Check all fuses, make sure none are blown.

LEAST LIKELY PROBLEMS

5)ALT. STATOR COIL OPENED or SHORTENED

6)Defective Switch ignition switch (ask sportriderFZ6 about this)
I didn't see that anyone had posted this yet, so here's how you test your charging system.

1. Set your multimeter to DC volts and clip the leads to the battery terminals. With everything off, you should see about 12.6 volts or more on a charged battery.

2. Start the bike and watch the volts. They should increase once the engine is running.

3. Rev the engine up to 5000 RPM. Volts should now be around 14. The key here is that you're looking for an increase in voltage over what you saw when the bike was shut off. If voltage increases, then your charging system is working.

4. If you don't see a voltage gain, move to the next step. Locate the wire bundle going from the stator to the voltage regulator. Disconnect the connector between the two. This will be a three pin connector.

5. Set your multimeter to AC volts. Connect it to two of the pins on the connector that leads to the stator/engine. Start the bike and read the voltage. Then move the meter so it's testing another set ot two wires. You want to try all three combinations. You should see a high voltage, perhaps 60 volts. There's no specification for this voltage, so just make sure that you get the same high voltage with each wire pair that you test. Try this with each set of two wires until you've tried all three possible combinations. If any of the combinations does not produce voltage, you have a stator problem.

6. Instead of step 5, you can measure the resistance of the stator with the engine off. Set your meter to Ohms and, as above, try each possible combination of two wires. So test wires 1 and 2, then 1 and 3, and finally 2 and 3. From the service manual, resistance should be 0.22–0.34 Ω at 20°C (68°F).

If the stator checks out, then you either have a broken wire in your wiring harness, or the voltage regulator is bad.

Hope this helps.
 

Motogiro

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I was an auto electric tech. There has been some good and not so good info shared. I was also a medical electronics tech which required some additional electronics theory and knowledge.
I admire so many folks wanting to help and so many have great ideas and knowledge that can help.
I'll assume the battery connections are clean and secure.
What I found out when I started doing auto electric is that most mechanics are really not that savvy when it comes to auto electric. Some are the very best. Most are great at the general automotive electrical but don't have the component understanding needed to form there own theory on why something functions properly or doesn't. Those are the first tools you need. then comes the other tools and meters.
We can generally say that when the static voltage of the battery shows 12-13 vdc and you start the bike and the voltage rises to 13.8-14 vdc the system is charging and okay BUT we really need to know if the battery is also worthy of producing the current needed at the voltage. Here we should get the battery LOAD tested. The battery should produce a specific amount of current under a specific load. You can't say what this data is until you have it properly load tested.
Next.... Although you see that rise in the charging system voltage to say 13-14 VDC, is the charging unit passing the proper amount of current? Again there is a device you use called a shunt that can be attached in series between the battery terminal and lead. This shunt with it's meter can tell you if the charging system is delivering the current needed to keep up with what's being drawn in current such as computer, radiator fan, all lights,etc.
Okay if you turn everything on and the voltage stays pretty high like 13 plus VDC it's probably a healthy charging system but to be sure....?
Next.... I haven't searched out what the original post was on this, but, Is there a current leak? By leak I mean possible something that is discharging your system. It can be a bad diode in the rectifying system where current is being used when everything is off. Then it could be a device/component that was added to the system that is drawing current because it is defective or wired incorrectly. Nothing should be drawing current form your battery accept basically what runs your clock and that is very very small.
A couple of cautions. Wear safety eyeware when working around batteries (I found this out when I was fourteen)
Don't lift the cable off the battery while the engine is running! This was a test left over from the time cars used GENERATORS. ALTERNATORS are different and can produce voltages much higher than many electronic component in a vehicle can withstand causing damage or failure. This can also create spikes in the system that will cause other component failure. Someone said this system is symbionic. That is correct! All of the component are dependent on each other to do their part correctly and operate in a healthy manner.
If I was in the same situation and scratching my head, I would take it to a person who knows this stuff inside and out.

Most harness fires I saw were new stereo installs.
A lot of dead batteries were incorrect stereo installs.
A lot of bad tail lamps were surprizingly improperly installed replacement lamps by gas station attendants.
I knew it was cheaper for the customer to bring it to us in the first place because I saw how we knew that a certain set of years GM used an aluminum wire it the trunk harness that would oxidize and cause the fuel guage to fail. I mean how cheap for the customer is that? It was the minimum bucks to fix for a fuel guage problem, just because we had that collective experience!
It always made me feel good to help someone that didn't have bucks and had nowhere to turn and we could find the solution and get them on their way to work or school.
If a customer asked what we thought it was that caused a problem we said it could be this or that but we really don't know till we test it. We would tell them we don't guess what's wrong we test for what's wrong.
If you still have this problem I hope I've helped you to channel your energy in a direction that will help resolve this issue you are having. I also would like to thank everyone who has cared enough to participated in trying to help.

Cliff
 
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FZ1inNH

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Great stuff! I stickied this thread... should I un-stick the other thread then?

Thanks all! Excellent infor for all members. :thumbup:
 
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