Charging system gremlins

[Wrench Twister]

Hey guys, wondering if anyone can help me. My 81 1100H charge rate is all over the place going from around 12.3 to well over 16v. I get between .4 to .6 ohms at the stater white wires to each other and open to ground. The R/R tests as follows. Rd to Brn 14 m ohm, Rd to Grn 29 m ohm Rd to Wht's between 4 and 8 m ohm Rd to Blk 14 m ohm. With test leads reversed all open. The field coil Grn to Brn 5 m ohm. Are there any other tests i should do as cash is a little tight to be guessing and throwing parts at it. Dont know how long the P.O. rode it like this without blowing bulbs and fuses. Thanks in advance. Vic.

[TopCatGr58]

Disclaimer: I'm no electrical guru......

Hey there Wrench,

Okay, the FSM just states that the reg/rect readings will not have any actual measurable values per sae`, just that it should show readings in one direction, and open in the opposite direction, and yours shows that!

The readings for the Field Coil is troubling, I just checked the FSM for the XJ..I know not your bike, but only manual readily available, and it says only 4 ohms...not Megohms!! That is a red flag to me!

The Reg/Rect has a lot of grounding wires connected to it at it's mounting bolts, etc, you'll want to take it off and clean up all of the raw exposed metal contact points so you get nice shiny clean metal to metal contact for the bolt, R/R housing, and the wires connected there. Then AFTER you put it all together, THEN slather dielectric grease AROUND the wires/exposed metal. This is so you have good contact of metal to metal, and then the grease insualtes it from atmosphere/humidity to prevent rust/corrosion. Dielectric grease is NON-conductive so putting it on the connectors BEFORE you put them all together could actually CAUSE poor continuity!

Pull apart and clean all of the connetors for the charging system, the large white plugs behind the FusePanel, as well as at the RR and such, especially the field coil wires/connectors! If you have one, connect the battery to a charger and give it a full charge...a weak battery can also cause problems with the charging system.

After all of this, then restart and retest the charging, should be close to only 12 volts at idle, and only up to ~14.5 volts at 2500 + rpm. If it still then goes to 16 volts, and you're sure you've cleaned ALL of the connectors, then you can be fairly sure that the R/R is on it's way out and can be more confident in putting $$ on replacing that component.

T.C.

[CaptonZap]

Hey guys, wondering if anyone can help me. My 81 1100H charge rate is all over the place going from around 12.3 to well over 16v. I get between .4 to .6 ohms at the stater white wires to each other and open to ground. The R/R tests as follows. Rd to Brn 14 m ohm, Rd to Grn 29 m ohm Rd to Wht's between 4 and 8 m ohm Rd to Blk 14 m ohm. With test leads reversed all open. The field coil Grn to Brn 5 m ohm. Are there any other tests i should do as cash is a little tight to be guessing and throwing parts at it. Dont know how long the P.O. rode it like this without blowing bulbs and fuses. Thanks in advance. Vic.

Go here,http://www.ringler.us/xs1100/
Find the manual that covers your bike.
Find the electrical chapter, and it will have a method for testing the rectifier/ regulator.
By the way, what brand of ohm meter do you have, and how old is it?
Years ago, if I recall correctly, some things that were counted in thousands had an M used to denote a thousand. (Roman numerals?)
Electrical meters use a K(ilo) as the thousand multiplier, with M used for Mega, meaning one million.
Since the values you should be getting will be in Kilo ohms, (except for the stator wires, the three white ones), the values you give don't look right.
CZ

[650mark]

charging system gremlins

my '80 special had some charging issues when i bought it. all electrical parts worked but no charging, intermittantly. i worked on it for 2 weeks and could nottrack the problem down. then i tried another reg/rec unit and thought i had found it but soon the problem returned. i took the bike to the local shop here in mesa and luckily they have an older tech with a lot of experience with xs's. he hooked up a v.o.m. to the alternator output and another v.o.m. to the reg/rec input and spent 3 hours testing. turned out to be a break in one of the stator windings that only opened up when it warmed up. i got the stator rebuilt at rick's($125.00) and it's been working great now for over 1,000 miles. btw, the shop only charged me $50.00 for his labor, a really great guy and they'll get my business in the future.

[Wrench Twister]

thanks guys, i think its the R/R thats the problem, 16v one time and 12.3v the next. im going to change it this weekend. If it was the stator i would probably only be getting only a low charge all the time. Thanks again. Vic.

[crazy steve]

Make sure all your connections are good (particularly the grounds) because if you have one that's poor, the regulator can have trouble 'seeing' the battery and cause your charging rate to fluctuate...

[IanDMacDonald]

Keep in-mind basic electrical fundamentals regarding what part does what function on our bike (or any bike). The stator is one "half" of an alternator. The rotor is the other piece. The stator is the stationary windings which have an AC voltage induced into them by the rotation of the rotor. That AC voltage then goes to the r/r where it is converted to DC and the voltage controlled for use in the rest of the bike. If the bike was not charging, then it would be your stator going bad. If the bike was over-charging such as your bike's 16v, it's obviously the r/r, specifically the regulator. However, the regulator/rectifier has been combined. My experience with the GS's is that once the R/R goes, the stator was not far behind it, as they almost always went together due to the strain it placed on the stator. Don't be surprised if your stator goes soon as well.

Also, it's always a good idea to run a ground from the r/r straight to the battery.

[650mark]

when it was confirmed that my stator was bad i opted for a new(rebuilt) one instead of a used unit. most of the used ones i found were about $75 and, of course, no guaranty that it would be good. all of the sellers simply stated that "it came off a running bike". so what? my bike also ran but the stator did not charge. and when checked with a v.o.m. it showed good, until it warmed up and then one of the windings opened up. if you end up replacing your stator at rick's they most likely won't have one already to go since they are somewhat uncommon and they probably will have to rebuild yours. may take several weeks but well worth it.

[CaptonZap]

As a point of interest, or maybe not, , the alternator of the XS11 is not the standard type, in that there is not a "rotor", in the strictest sense of the word.
The two coils are mounted stationary, both in the cover, and they are connected magnetically by a cage that is mounted on, and rotated by, the crank shaft. They do, however, operate on the same principle as all "normal" alternators.
One of the coils in the cover is the one that serves the same function as the rotor in a normal alternator, but does not use slip rings to transfer the current from the regulator to the coil. Since it is mounted solidly, it can be wired directly, and that feature gets rid of the brushes and associated brush wear that causes a lot of alternator failures.
The XJ's do, however, have a conventional slip ring alternator set up, so if you have electrical problems with an XJ, the first order of business is to check the brushes.
CZ

[IanDMacDonald]

VERY interesting!!! After I typed that response last night, I started thinking about it and doubted what I said. Thanks for the knowledge.

[MPittma100]

Grounds

T.C. mentioned checking grounds in his post. Pay particular attention to all of the grounds to the chassis. Improve them by making new grounds that go directly to the battery. Eliminate "chassis" grounds as they are poor grounds at best.

MP