Charge Range

[jimvette999]

Hello guys,

After reading and reading and reading to no avail, I hoping you can answer this:

With an on board volt meter, what range should I expect to see while riding the bike?

My 98 from startup will range from 14.3 and over time go down to 12.7 and then go back up to 14+ again or somewhere in between. This is after rewiring stock R/R and even adding a ground wire directly to R/R case to frame ground. Prior to this, it would go well below 12.7. Is it "regulating"? Or is it supposed to stay above a certain value. I could NOT find an answer to this question. Also, FWIW, I rewired the stock red/black wires from R/R, ran red through 30 amp spare fuse holder and daisy chained the black from R/R to battery negative, then to frame ground at right rear of faux tank, then down to engine ground by oil fill cap. Also eliminated connector of three white from R/R to stator. Please advise.

Thank you,
Jim

 

[Fire-medic]

Did you solder the crimp connector inside the wire harness, behind the rear coils? It helps, along w/what you've already done.

I believe you are where you should be with the output.

A helpful thread:
https://www.vmaxforum.net/threads/h...or-charging-problems.19108/page-5#post-357299

 

[jimvette999]

Did you solder the crimp connector inside the wire harness, behind the rear coils? It helps, along w/what you've already done.

I believe you are where you should be with the output.

A helpful thread:
https://www.vmaxforum.net/threads/h...or-charging-problems.19108/page-5#post-357299

Thank you. Yes I did solder that years ago but that appeared to be the factory splice/feed to the R/R that I now am not using. And thank you for that thread link. I hadn't read that. From all the ones I did read, it appeared everyone reported charging voltage at steady states as though there was no drop and rise of voltage. I did read too where guys were saying don't wire negative form RR directly to battery yet some people were. If the battery is already grounded to frame and RR is grounded to frame, it is actually already grounded to battery anyway. ..... no?
Jim

 

[Fire-medic]

My wife is the E.E. in the family, so I'll leave the grounding question to others more-knowledgeable than I.

The voltage should rise with revs, then plateau as the R/R kicks-in, to prevent over-charging, if it didn't do its job, your battery would soon boil over.

 

[jimvette999]

My wife is the E.E. in the family, so I'll leave the grounding question to others more-knowledgeable than I.

The voltage should rise with revs, then plateau as the R/R kicks-in, to prevent over-charging, if it didn't do its job, your battery would soon boil over.

My charge rate rises and falls at steady speed, not RPM's as you describe.
I actually just replaced a flooded acid with AGM. The acid was boiled down to 1/4 level on each end of battery with two center cells being about 3/4 full....like a bell curve. And I did check the water periodically. That's why I put a volt meter on to see what the charging system was doing while riding.
Thank you for your replies.

 

[Fire-medic]

It sounds as-though your R/R is cutting in & out, which sounds like a bad R/R, or have you checked the AC voltage from the alternator/generator? That should be producing AC voltage, I think the output from it should be something like 50-60 VAC, going TO the R/R. From the R/R, it should be converted to DC and 12.7 to probably 14+ volts, you need to check the factory specs, which are available on here. If you saw the alternator/generator output fluctuating similarly to the pattern you see for the DC voltage FROM the R/R, then maybe there is something going-on with your fields from the alternator/generator. If two wires from the alternator/generator were giving you readings of 50-60 VAC, but one wire was only giving you say, 10 VDC, you have a bad stator winding.

If someone has a better explanation, have at-it.

 

[jimvette999]

It sounds as-though your R/R is cutting in & out, which sounds like a bad R/R, or have you checked the AC voltage from the alternator/generator? That should be producing AC voltage, I think the output from it should be something like 50-60 VAC, going TO the R/R. From the R/R, it should be converted to DC and 12.7 to probably 14+ volts, you need to check the factory specs, which are available on here. If you saw the alternator/generator output fluctuating similarly to the pattern you see for the DC voltage FROM the R/R, then maybe there is something going-on with your fields from the alternator/generator. If two wires from the alternator/generator were giving you readings of 50-60 VAC, but one wire was only giving you say, 10 VDC, you have a bad stator winding.

If someone has a better explanation, have at-it.

Very nice summary, thank you kindly. I did not check it but I need to. It sounds like R/R charges (outputs) based on load & RPM and not the state of charge at the battery (like a car does). That's what I needed to know. I can be going 60 MPH and look down and see the volts at 12.7 and minutes later it will be at 14.2 going the same speed, same accessories on. Again, I appreciate your time and information.
Jim