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'96 Honda VT1100 Charging Problem

jaxrider

jaxrider

Scooter
I'm helping a friend with this bike, and it was not charging. He had one melted wire under the seat, one of the wires from his stator. The stator test out with an ohm meter, with 2 legs good and one shorted. I tested the regulator/rectifier by the Honda manual but it showed ok. We replaced the stator which is surprisingly more of a hassle than any Suzuki or Kawasaki I've worked on before. The bike showed 14v charge off idle and everything was great for about a week, then his battery started going bad. He had an independent shop look at it and they said it was the rectifier/regulator. He got one and installed it himself with no improvement. I am looking at it tonight and will perform the same checks I have done before. Is there anything else I can check? He had the battery tested and it showed good. thanks David David in Jax, FL COG# 7898 CDA # 2002 ZZR-1200 "Magic Carpet" 2004 Suzuki Intruder 1500 LC "Luxury Couch"
 
What was the original cause of the melted wire? Also, what condition is the battery? It may have been overcooked once too often.
 
He said that a battery store checked it and said it was ok, but that the bike was not charging. I'll test voltage with it shut off, which will be low, and look for an uptick in voltage with it running at idle and off-idle. If there is no uptick then I'll check the coils in the stator (3x yellow wires showing less than 2 ohms between each other and no conductivity to ground). If the stator fails the test, I wonder if the rectifier/regulator could have caused it to go bad? David in Jax, FL COG# 7898 CDA # 2002 ZZR-1200 "Magic Carpet" 2004 Suzuki Intruder 1500 LC "Luxury Couch"
 
Honda charging problems are numerous and legendary. Ask and Viffer or Goldwing owner. It sound like you are approaching this by the numbers, so have at it. Although, my eyebrows arched slightly at "battery store." Never seen one of those up round these parts. Got lots of car parts stores, tire stores, mosickle stores and accessory stores, but never a store dedicated to batteries. You may want to check with your firend exactly how the bettery was checked. If he took it in and they did a load test, OK, fine.
 
Rich, I did some online searching and indeed, Honda charging problems with the VT1100 are well-known. The stator was shorting to ground. I advised my friend to call Dennis Kirk to warranty the unit and they are doing that, with shipment coming in Friday. So, as a good friend, I"ll be in the garage in the 90-degree heat swapping stators Saturday. My Suzuki Intruder 1500LC has the rectifier/regulator mounted under the left side bevel gear cover. It's actually inside a metal cover, and there is a tapered port where air can flow in to cool it and exit the cover. Some on the Intruder board complain about this but I like it better than being behind the front tire where debris and gravel could hit it. Thanks for all the advice to all who posted. David in Jax, FL COG# 7898 CDA # 2002 ZZR-1200 "Magic Carpet" 2004 Suzuki Intruder 1500 LC "Luxury Couch"
 
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