XJ1100 Maxim Not Charging - but some Ohm resistance

[xj-wxman]

All-

Still having charging issues on my XJ- I Thought it was ther regulator - out a new one on - still no charge. The Stator coils test at 3.5 Ohm - but just for the outsode pair of white connectors. The Brown/Green connectors test at 1.5 Ohms. I get a battery voltage of 11.8 while running, 12.5 when off. Does this sound like a new generator time? I cleaned all connections - even checked the "hidden one" behind the fuse box - just found a large spider nest in there - pulled out the creepers and still have same readings.

Any more Ideas for plopping down $$$$ on a field coil/stator?

thanks

[trbig]

So what do you get on the middle white wire?

Also... you might read through this link a bit. I had problems with my XJ also...

No charge

[xj-wxman]

Roger - the white connectors the left - middle (0) Ohms , Middle- right (0) Ohms, just outside to outside has 3.5 Ohms. The tach works after @ 200rpm, drops off to 0 below 2000.

Thanks

BTW - I printed out the No Charge thread to try at home too!

Thanks

[xj-wxman]

BTW - the link for the gentleman who rebuilds Coils seems to be old - does anyone know who rebuilds them now - I hate to buy a used generator and find out its fried too!!

Thanks

[TopCatGr58]

Hey XJ-Wxman,

I hate to ask the obvious, but have you check the brushes?? They can wear out/down and may not be making a good contact?

Also, it's a bit rare for the windings to go bad UNLESS something has rubbed against them to remove insulation and such. Whereas, the Reg/Rects are known to fry due to weak components used in them. See the Parts for sale FORUM for Geezer's replacement Reg/Rect. unit.

There are also tests you can do to verify that it's the windings or not that are fried vs. the Reg/Rect that isn't controlling things proplery!
T.C.

[trbig]

Man... I forgot all about that link to that guy. I didn't read all the way through it. Nobody buy ANYTHING from him! He's a crook. Told me a year warranty on the stator and it didn't last 6 months. Said he would return my money since he doesn't rebuild them any more. After about a hundred tries to contact him after that... still no word. That was about a year and a half ago.

Anybody that lives around that area... feel free to swing by there and punch that lying SOB in the mouth for me...




TC made a good call to check the brushes. You just need to take off that right side cover... but DO NOT START THE MOTOR with that sidecover off. It holds a galley plug in place on the bottom side of the case. Oil pressure will cause this to shoot out and spew your oil everywhere.... Wish I couldn't say I know this for a fact. As stated... stators rarely go bad unless rubbed by the rotor.

Tod

[xj-wxman]

The brushes looked good - had@ 1/2 inch left - I'm going to try the good cleaning of all connections with dialetric cleaner and locate some of that dialectric grease with copper - there is some functionality from the tach, just ohms are down.

[ag9123]

Make sure the rotor and stator measure out per the specs and also check to make sure there is no continuity to ground on the three stator leads...The regulator controls the voltage that is applied to the brushes on this model. You should be getting 14.5 volts at the battery at about 2500 RPM or so on a properly working charging system...

[xj-wxman]

ok -
Timr for some expert electrical advice - I cleaned all the connections - fired it up - still not charging, not magnetizing the case "pulling .002 feeler guage". I pulled the stator/field coil, found 33 Ohms between the brushes, Checking the continuity between the posts of the field coil - found one shorted (full conitnuity) the rest at infinity.

Does this mean the field coil is shorted - or is this normal? I emailed a few used bike places - no replies on field coil/stators yet. I'm getting suspicion the field coil is shot - I had put in a new regulator/rectifier and new battery already.
any ideas out there?
thanks

[xj-wxman]

OK - More twists to the charging saga -


I bought an analog tester, as mentioned earlier- this changed my readings! The Grren-brown connection for the field coil now shows (at Ohms setting X10) 3.6 ohms. This sounds like the field coil is perfect. The white stator lugs show 1 ohm on the outside pair, infinity from left to center and right to center. When the ohm meter is set on X1K - the center lug reads 30 ohms to ground, the outside lugs rad 20 ohms to ground. Still not charging - the tach works intemittently at higher RPMS.

Does this mean the stator is fried?

Thanks for any help - XJ electrical problems make me crazy! SWWBO is running out of patinec with all my time in the garage!

[Geezer]

Originally posted by xj-wxman
OK - More twists to the charging saga -

The Green-brown connection for the field coil now shows (at Ohms setting X10) 3.6 ohms. This sounds like the field coil is perfect. Does this mean the stator is fried?

It sounds like the field coil is fried. On the 10x ohms scale that 3.6 reading is really 36 ohms. Try this, remove the cover and clean the surface of the rotor with a Scotchbright pad until the copper rings are nice and clean then check the resistance right at the rotor. I've seen the wiring to the field coil (rotor) build up high resistance and not let enough power through to the field. It wouldn't hurt to check that the resistance from the brushes to the other end of the green and brown wires is zero.

Also you should be doing all your charing tests on the 1x ohm scale. Test the white wires from the stator again with the analog meter. One white wire to the next in all combinations. You should be getting only .7 to about 1.2 ohms here and infinite from any white wire to ground. Also be sure and zero the meter between tests.

Geezer

[xj-wxman]

Ok - I cleaned the rotor rings - had a black powder (brush dust?) , with the cover back on - I'm getting 9 ohms on the green/brown wires. Still only getting 1 Ohm on the outside pair of white wires , infinity on any other combo of white wires. I just sent out payment for a XS11 cover/assemby to try to get the beast charging again!! I had already replaced the regulator and battery - not much else left but he field coil. The brushes look good. sounds like I shorted the field coil. The bike battery was dead after I got back from the desert - used a car charger/jumper that seems to have a bad rocker switch from jumping to charging - may have put too many amps through the system. I notivced my accessory fuse on the fuse box was burned out - replaced that too. Time to wait for replacement parts!

Thanks for the info!

[Geezer]

The 9 ohms at the green and brown wires is good. It should now pass the feeler gage magnetic test.

There should be 3 white wires from the stator and there should be a bit less than 1 ohm resistance between them. If any one of these wires has way more or no resistance, it's bad. Also if any of the white wires have continuity to ground, the stator is bad.

The rotor and field coil are one in the same or to be more precise, the field coil is in the rotor.

Geezer

[ndj7919]

Hi, I'm a newbie here but do like an electrical challenge. Please forgive if I repeat what somebody has already said. I tend to break systems down to isolate the faulty component, this sometimes can be a challenge in feedback systems. As far as I know, again, correct me if I'm wrong, the regulator measures the battery voltage and controls the amount being fed to the field windings to regulate charge. If there is no voltage at the field windings (green & Black) then there will be no output from the main output (any 3 of white wires). if this is the case then suspect rectifier/regulator unit.

It does seem suspicious that the tachometer is failing. I suggests this to test the AC generator. The stator coil (white wires) will be 0.37 ohms +/- 10% and the field coil (Green-black) 4 ohms +/- 10%. No wires from the generator should go to ground, they should be open circuit to ground. If this is the case then the winding or connectivity inside the generator is comprmised. Take the generator off and have a jolly good examine. There lies the problem, measureing 4 ohms between the green and black wires is relativily easy but 0.37 between any white wire, that's really beyond a handheld multimeter. btw, carbon brushes should be changed every 6,000km. I try to explain why this as easy as possible.

Say we want to measure the resistance between any of the white wires. The best method is to connect a known current, say 1 amp, across any white wire, then measure the voltage at the same point. The best instrument for that is a adjustable power supply where the current can be adjusted. 2 Volts @ 1 amp, I would say is a safe level for this test and much higher than the average multimeter can generate. Not every one has a power supply to hand so next best thing, get two multimeters, digital ones is helpful. remove battery completely, connect any old wire from battery+ to a 10w bulb, from the bulb through one multimeters 10A socket, from multimeter's ground terminal to one of the white wires then the other white wire back to battery-. Set this multimeter (dmm 1) onto 10A DC current range. The bulb should light and you'll get a reading of about 1.2A on the multimeter. Now get second multimeter (dmm 2), set to 2V range and measure the voltage across the white terminals that are used. The resistance is the voltage (dmm 2) over the current readings (dmm 1). Basically if you had spot on 1.2 amps (dmm 1) on the one multimeter then you should get 0.444 Volts on (dmm 2). the stator range between any two wires should give you a range of 0.333 to 0.407 ohms. If the lamp doesn't light up then there's an open circuit somewhere. Hopefully that should give you an indication of AC generator status. You can measure the field winding on any multimeter, just set to lowest range.

There's a simple test, again using a multimeter to check out the rectifier / regualtor box. If you have field winding voltage (bike running 2k rpm, everything connected up) then the regulator is asking the generator to supply charging voltage, if that's not getting to the battery then the rectifiers are bad. There's 6 diodes (within the regulator) that turns the AC volts from the generator into DC volts. Chances are if you have field volts (Green & Black) you'll have AC volts, just it's not being turned into DC volts, that means nothing will get through. At this point the regulator is defective, it's a sealed device so replacement is only option.

Hope this helps.. so in a nutshell, you sould only get resistance between the connectors, nothing down to ground (motorcycle earth / Battery -). That low stator resistance is trick to measure on your average digital multimeter, try the bulb and wire trick or if your really lucky use a regulated power supply and don't forget the AC generator wires go straight to the regulator, test continuity between the two devices. Also check continuity between battery + / - to the regualtor. (Remove the battery completely and don't forget to switch ignition on otherwise + line will be open circuit). The regulator will only work if it see's battery volts and it's connected to the AC Generator.!!

I know this is long winded but I hope it helps solve your problem,, chances are you've already solve it but it might help someone else.

just add a bit, there should be no connectivity between the white wires and the green/black, worth a check. If there is then ac generator has a stator winding to field winding short

[natemoen]

Just as long as you realize that the last post in this thread was over 5 years ago