doorgunner Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 MY '99 vstar 1100--35,000 miles has been getting harder to start for the last 2 months. Unless I charge the battery every couple days, it barely cranks. Diconnected the neg. cable at the battery and found a 10 volt drain (I don't know the milli-volt reading). I left the volt meter connected to the battery and disconnected EVERY connector one at a time. The 10 volt drain stopped when I disconnected the starter relay! I opened all the wiring bundles that the relay connector fed, but didn't find any damaged wires. I plugged the starter relay back in--10 volt drain again! Finally I realized that the voltage reulator/rectifier was still connected! I unplugged it and the 10 volt drain disappeared. ANYONE EVER HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM-COULD IT BE THE REGULATOR-CAN ANYONE PROVIDE STEPS IN TESTING THE CONTACT PINS ON THE REGULATOR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Welch Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 MY '99 vstar 1100--35,000 miles has been getting harder to start for the last 2 months. Unless I charge the battery every couple days, it barely cranks. Diconnected the neg. cable at the battery and found a 10 volt drain (I don't know the milli-volt reading). I left the volt meter connected to the battery and disconnected EVERY connector one at a time. The 10 volt drain stopped when I disconnected the starter relay! I opened all the wiring bundles that the relay connector fed, but didn't find any damaged wires. I plugged the starter relay back in--10 volt drain again! Finally I realized that the voltage reulator/rectifier was still connected! I unplugged it and the 10 volt drain disappeared. ANYONE EVER HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM-COULD IT BE THE REGULATOR-CAN ANYONE PROVIDE STEPS IN TESTING THE CONTACT PINS ON THE REGULATOR? The problems described sound like a charging problem. Check voltage with the bike running (hold the RPMs up a ways to insure max voltage from the charging system) and you should get around 14.2-14.5 volts at the battery (this is pretty much universal of all lead acid battery systems) if it's working properly. If it's not, you will need either a shop manual or schematics to be able to fix it yourself. Also you should NOT be getting a drain from the charging system, that right there says there is a problem, very likely the rectifier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doorgunner Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 The problems described sound like a charging problem. Check voltage with the bike running (hold the RPMs up a ways to insure max voltage from the charging system) and you should get around 14.2-14.5 volts at the battery (this is pretty much universal of all lead acid battery systems) if it's working properly. If it's not, you will need either a shop manual or schematics to be able to fix it yourself. Also you should NOT be getting a drain from the charging system, that right there says there is a problem, very likely the rectifier. Thanks for the advice--I re-connected the reg./rectfier a couple times just to make sure--It caused a battery drain each time it was re-connected. (the auto store cycle repair manuals don't provide the details, but you get what you pay for). I know I need a shop manual, but because the rectifier is sealed and not repairable, I'm going to buy a new rect./regulator since the manual cost almost as much as the regulator.(maybe my wife will check up on me and read this--then I'm guaranteed a shop manual for father's day!) thanks C.W.,doorgunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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