doorgunner Posted February 6, 2008 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?
Cy Welch Posted February 7, 2008 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.
doorgunner Posted February 8, 2008 Author 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
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