xj1000 not charging with lights on

[turbopete]

Had a bit of electrical trouble the other day - the battery went flat driving to work. I had to remove the headlight fuse and bump start the beast. Had no more trouble that day but today I re-fitted the fuse, and the charging voltage is only 12.4v. Remove the fuse for the headlight and it jumps right up to 13.7v.

Any ideas on why this might be?

Pete

[turbopete]

Another question: I have a non-standard battery, so i don't have the battery sensor probe that the stock one has. Is there anything I can do to disable the battery indicator on the dashboard indicator panel? If I connect the wire to earth it does nothing, If I connect it to +12 it draws current.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there TurboPete,

Sounds like you may be in need of some new brushes for your alternator....available from a few sources, and relatively cheap thing to try before the volt/reg/rect!? Check all of your connections, the plugs for the 3 white wires for the charging system, the VRR ground connections to the frame, etc.. I've seen a battery NOT be able to take a charge due to a badly corroded GROUND cable and contact.

If you check the tech tips, I believe there is one regarding getting rid of the the warning light for the battery sensor!
T.C.

[turbopete]

Cheers TC.

The problem started last week. I have been going over all the earth connections etc. I don't think I could have worn alternator brushes after just 8000 miles but I'll check them tomorrow. I'm actually beginning to suspect the battery, since the battery voltage slowly increases with the lights on and the engine running, but if I kill the lights it jumps up, then slowly decreases if I put the lights on again. Weird.....
I've managed to completely junk the Reserve lighting unit, and I've re-labelled the hazard switch and converted it to be a lights on/off switch, just incase my charging problem turns out to be some kind of intermittent fault I cannot solve, at least I can then cut the lights to keep the system charging and get me home.

[chevy45412001]

prices

36 dollars each at yamarobber,just checked two weeks ago for the brushes.as for the dash light I think it was jerry has the fix. Invovles a 2 ohm resistor an xstra pieace of wire and a hot wire feed (taillight i used.) do a search or Jerry help signal.it's in the moddification sec below ?????

[fredintoon]

What brushes?

Hi TC,
you advise Turbopete to check his alternator brushes.
My XS11SG has the inner coil stationary and a pole piece whizzin' around inside the stator and ain't got no alternator brushes that I can see.
WTF?
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[Jerry]

Fred:

The XJ has a brush-type alternator. All the XS11s use a brushless design. Next time you see an XJ, look at the right-hand engine cover...it is longer than the XS to cover the difference in alternator design.

The LCD display that the XJ uses requires more power than the XS systems, so Yamaha came up with the alternator mod to provide the difference.

[Jerry]

Should have added this to previous post....

The XJ OEM battery has a fluid level sensor in it. If you use a non-sensor battery, a warning light comes on in the instrument panel. There is a mod to bypass the sensor and make the light go out at:

Battery Sensor Mod

One slight correction...the dialog calls for a 2,000 (2K) Ohm resistor. I actually used a 2.2K Ohm (2,200) unit, so don't sweat the exact value.

[TopCatGr58]

Thanks Jerry,

Yeah, Fred, I'm the first one to admit that I don't know everything, and I do make mistakes Ain't it a pain having to keep track of all the differences between the models, the years, XS and XJ, Standard and Special! I thought he said he had an XJ1100!

Hey Chevy, your poor shopping skills are showing again!
Partsnmore has brushes for only $5.00ea, you'll need 2,
see below:

ALTERNATOR BRUSH
For 3-phase alternator systems Must reuse old terminals Fits XJ1100


$5.00US EA.

Part#24-2050

BikeBandit has them close to Yamarobber's prices :

5: BRUSH 1 43649-001 $29.03
6: BRUSH 2 47357-001 $29.03

I try to post accurate info, but I'm open to corrections!
T.C. ....GURU of Nothing!

[turbopete]

You're correct TC, I do have an XJ1100

[Geezer]

Can some one tell me the mm size of the cross section on these brushes? I have a box of new brushes I can't use that if they'll work, I'll dole them out a pair at a time to club members until they're gone.

I'll dig them out and mesure them later.

Geezer

[turbopete]

Damn, forgot to measure those brushes

I've found out where my problem lies. The insulation resin has broken up a bit on the rotor and the whole winding as an assembly can vibrate to& fro slightly, causing the ends of the windings to weaken and snap. I guess they were just touching causing erratic charging but today I lost the charging alltogether.

I've soldered the windings back to the posts using some heavy gague copper wire and dribbled some studlock alongside the windings to hold it in place for now, but I need an XJ1100 generator rotor pretty sharpish or I'll have to take the bike off the road.

[trbig]

Geezer,

I couldn't get an acurate cross section because a couple of the corners were a little rounded, but they measure 4.4 x 4.9mm.


Tod

[Geezer]

The brushes I have are 5mm square and a little over 12mm long.

Geezer