I finally had it with my crappy charging

[tonyg-5386]

Hi Guys,

I finally had enough of my marginal charging system on my 96 vmax. I cleaned all of the connections and did the crimp fix and it did not do much. Yesterday I got home from work and went to town with a soldering iron and some uninsulated butt connectors. I used a 30amp inline fuse with 10 gauge wire and wired the reg/rec directly to the battery. I then checked the stator plug and the wires looked a bit molten so I snipped out the connector and used uninsulated butt connectors and soldered them together as well. I made sure I disconnected the pos battery connection first before doing any of this and I used heat shrink tubing and electrical tape on all of the connectors. Since I am not that good at soldering I had the electrician at work give me a quick lesson. He showed me how to get the wire and butt connectors heated up so the solder would flow properly and I used flux too. I went from 13v to 14.4v!! I know that some of you guys got this improvement by just doing the crimp fix but this approach definitely yielded positive results. I was not crazy about cutting the connectors out but I bit the bullet and I'm glad I did!! From the looks of the stator wires I think it was the right thing to do. The bike seems to be a bit peppier now and does not want to die when the fan kicks on. Also, after going for long rides before doing this I would get home, connect my battery tender and it would take 1-2 hours for the battery tender light to turn green. After the fix it takes 5-10 minutes for the light to turn green. I heat shrinked each stator wire and then individually wrapped them in electrical tape and then taped them together. I hope that's ok or should I keep the stator wires completely separate like they were? They are protected from each other with heat shrink and electrical tape so I guess they'll be ok? I also installed Johan's heavy duty ground kit. Top quality cables that make the stock ones look like garbage. No more hot starting issue either now. Thanks.

 

[[email protected]]

Sounds like you did a good job, Congrats! Nothing wrong with bundling the stator connectors together as long as they are insulated from each other.

 

[SpecOps13]

It sounds like you did a great job on all of it... Smart thing to do. Congrats on a successful surgery....:biglaugh:

 

[alorio1]

You did the right thing, good move.......

 

[Ridin Dirty]

You might also consider converting the running and tail lights to LED's, with an electronic flasher. It reduces the electrical load quite a bit, gotta use the electronic flasher though, load equalizers each produce a 2.5 amp load- you lose the benefits of the LED's low current demand. The electronic flasher control is only 15 bucks.

This free's up more juice for charging the battery and for when the cooling fan comes on.

I may be crazy but, I swear my bikes runs a lot better since I did the conversion.

 

[gamorg02]

it'd be cool if someone could do a writeup on all those connectors with pics!

 

[ninjaneer]

it'd be cool if someone could do a writeup on all those connectors with pics!

+1 on the pics. i'm a visual learner. :eusa_dance: and would love to understand this mod.

 

[atVMAX99]

Hi Guys,

I finally had enough of my marginal charging system on my 96 vmax. I cleaned all of the connections and did the crimp fix and it did not do much. Yesterday I got home from work and went to town with a soldering iron and some uninsulated butt connectors. I used a 30amp inline fuse with 10 gauge wire and wired the reg/rec directly to the battery. I then checked the stator plug and the wires looked a bit molten so I snipped out the connector and used uninsulated butt connectors and soldered them together as well. I made sure I disconnected the pos battery connection first before doing any of this and I used heat shrink tubing and electrical tape on all of the connectors. Since I am not that good at soldering I had the electrician at work give me a quick lesson. He showed me how to get the wire and butt connectors heated up so the solder would flow properly and I used flux too. I went from 13v to 14.4v!! I know that some of you guys got this improvement by just doing the crimp fix but this approach definitely yielded positive results. I was not crazy about cutting the connectors out but I bit the bullet and I'm glad I did!! From the looks of the stator wires I think it was the right thing to do. The bike seems to be a bit peppier now and does not want to die when the fan kicks on. Also, after going for long rides before doing this I would get home, connect my battery tender and it would take 1-2 hours for the battery tender light to turn green. After the fix it takes 5-10 minutes for the light to turn green. I heat shrinked each stator wire and then individually wrapped them in electrical tape and then taped them together. I hope that's ok or should I keep the stator wires completely separate like they were? They are protected from each other with heat shrink and electrical tape so I guess they'll be ok? I also installed Johan's heavy duty ground kit. Top quality cables that make the stock ones look like garbage. No more hot starting issue either now. Thanks.

This was the exact problem with my friend's 86 Vmax! He did the crimp fix, grounded the regulator, new battery, but when he looked at the stator connector it was corroded and partially melted. He cut the stock one off and replaced it with individual insulated blade connectors and he too got 14.25. He was just about to do the R1 mod until he found the stator plug. It's like a new bike with no issues with the fan on.

 

[firefly]

This was the exact problem with my friend's 86 Vmax! He did the crimp fix, grounded the regulator, new battery, but when he looked at the stator connector it was corroded and partially melted. He cut the stock one off and replaced it with individual insulated blade connectors and he too got 14.25. He was just about to do the R1 mod until he found the stator plug. It's like a new bike with no issues with the fan on.

Any one with charging voltage less than 14 + should try grounding the RR and connecting it to +ve battery terminal, solder the stator to RR connection if corroded or melted.
That R1 RR mod is a wast of money, the stock RR is just fine, I don't know why people who do the R1 mod refuse to admit this, I have a brand new R1 RR and will not use it because the stock RR is very adequate.
it doesn't mean that spending money on a mod makes it worth doing, if a mod is a dud I will say its a dud. especially when the fix is ~ $3.00.

some that have the R1 RR are still getting less than 14 volts and some exaggerate its benefits bottom line its NOT needed at all.

 

[atVMAX99]

Any one with charging voltage less than 14 + should try grounding the RR and connecting it to +ve battery terminal, solder the stator to RR connection if corroded or melted.
That R1 RR mod is a wast of money, the stock RR is just fine, I don't know why people who do the R1 mod refuse to admit this, I have a brand new R1 RR and will not use it because the stock RR is very adequate.
it doesn't mean that spending money on a mod makes it worth doing, if a mod is a dud I will say its a dud. especially when the fix is ~ $3.00.

some that have the R1 RR are still getting less than 14 volts and some exaggerate its benefits bottom line its NOT needed at all.

My buddy's 86 after fixing this stator connector now is 14.25 at idle with fan off and 13.95 with fan running at idle. It used to be 13.2 with no fan and low 12's with fan on. Mine currently is 13.95 at idle fan off and 13.00 with fan on and I did the crimp fix, I'm definately going to look into this stator connector! Who knows, it could be a bigger issue/find then the imfamous crimp fix.:hmmm:

 

[firefly]

My buddy's 86 after fixing this stator connector now is 14.25 at idle with fan off and 13.95 with fan running at idle. It used to be 13.2 with no fan and low 12's with fan on. Mine currently is 13.95 at idle fan off and 13.00 with fan on and I did the crimp fix, I'm definately going to look into this stator connector! Who knows, it could be a bigger issue/find then the imfamous crimp fix.:hmmm:

At idle is NOT how to test it, this depends if you were using the bike previously or starting from cold, the test is at 1500 and above, this is when the stator starts pumping, you should be getting 14 + volts with headlight on & fan on at or above 1500 RPM.
at idle 12.6 and above is considered normal. the crimp fix will not do any good.

 

[jfeagins]

I checked ALL connections on my R/R and stator last evening. All are tight and clean. Stator ohms out correctly and no shorts to ground. My bike is only producing 12.45V at idle (no fan running) and only very slowly climbs to about 13.6V @5000rpms, IF you leave it running at that speed long enough.

I've made arrangements for a new replacement R/R with Sean.

 

[atVMAX99]

I checked ALL connections on my R/R and stator last evening. All are tight and clean. Stator ohms out correctly and no shorts to ground. My bike is only producing 12.45V at idle (no fan running) and only very slowly climbs to about 13.6V @5000rpms, IF you leave it running at that speed long enough.

I've made arrangements for a new replacement R/R with Sean.

I would agree, sounds like the R/R is possibly bad.

 

[carriong]

Any one with charging voltage less than 14 + should try grounding the RR and connecting it to +ve battery terminal, solder the stator to RR connection if corroded or melted.
That R1 RR mod is a wast of money, the stock RR is just fine, I don't know why people who do the R1 mod refuse to admit this, I have a brand new R1 RR and will not use it because the stock RR is very adequate.
it doesn't mean that spending money on a mod makes it worth doing, if a mod is a dud I will say its a dud. especially when the fix is ~ $3.00.

some that have the R1 RR are still getting less than 14 volts and some exaggerate its benefits bottom line its NOT needed at all.

Hello Everyone, I have an 89 Vmax with the same charging problems, its driving me up the wall at this point.
Can someone explain to me the "crimping fix" and what is the best way to ground the regulator?

THanks!

 

[sdt354]

Hello Everyone, I have an 89 Vmax with the same charging problems, its driving me up the wall at this point.
Can someone explain to me the "crimping fix" and what is the best way to ground the regulator?

THanks!

The regulator on the 89 needs a groung wire run from the R/R mounting bolt to a good frame ground or better yet the battery negative side. The later style R/R is superior, and has a ground wire on it ready to be connected. High resistance in the stator plug connection (3 white wires) is a big issue. Clean the plug terninals well if the plug is in good condition, or splice the 3 stator wirers like a lot of guys have done. Don't forget to insulate the wiring on the crimp connection well.
Steve-o

 

[sdt354]

And, welcome to the forum.
Steve-o

 

[alorio1]

#1 on what Steve has said, here is a link to the crimp fix also.........

http://vmaxoutlaw.com/tech/crimp.htm

The regulator on the 89 needs a groung wire run from the R/R mounting bolt to a good frame ground or better yet the battery negative side. The later style R/R is superior, and has a ground wire on it ready to be connected. High resistance in the stator plug connection (3 white wires) is a big issue. Clean the plug terninals well if the plug is in good condition, or splice the 3 stator wirers like a lot of guys have done. Don't forget to insulate the wiring on the crimp connection well.
Steve-o

 

[carriong]

When doing the crimp fix, do you undo the crimp then solder?

I have an 89 Vmax and the charging thing is absolutely killing me right now. The RR is too hot to touch, I just ordered another one but didnt come in yet.

 

[44boyd]

no,
6) Solder the crimped connection making sure adequate solder flows into the 'crimp'

 

[sdt354]

You can just solder the crimps if they are't corroded. Flux is your friend. I've got to ditch my stator wiring plug. I've never been at 14 volts. But, high 13's. Stator A/C voltage is a good way to test the stator health. 50 volts from leg to leg at 2500 rpm's.