petethewarrior Posted February 8, 2009 Report Posted February 8, 2009 The head lights are excessively dim. They do get brighter when the engine is revved up but not as bright as they once were. I checked voltage at the stator lighting bullet connectors 4vac @ idle, 10vac @ 3000. Checked the voltage at the tail light bullet connectors 2vac @ idle, 8vac @3000. I checked resistance throughout all the lighting wiring and it's 0ohms. Here's the wierd part I disconnected the voltage regulator and the readings are the same. WTF??? Bad Ricky Stator? Bad voltage regulator? Anyone ever heard of this? Quote
Snopczynski Posted February 8, 2009 Report Posted February 8, 2009 The head lights are excessively dim. They do get brighter when the engine is revved up but not as bright as they once were. I checked voltage at the stator lighting bullet connectors 4vac @ idle, 10vac @ 3000. Checked the voltage at the tail light bullet connectors 2vac @ idle, 8vac @3000. I checked resistance throughout all the lighting wiring and it's 0ohms. Here's the wierd part I disconnected the voltage regulator and the readings are the same. WTF??? Bad Ricky Stator? Bad voltage regulator? Anyone ever heard of this? Probably short to ground. What wattage are the headlight bulbs? Have the bulbs, or any wiring recently been changed or messed with before this happened? Quote
petethewarrior Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Posted February 8, 2009 No changes. Out riding one night in Florence, half way through the ride they quit being their usual 50w brightness. I've had these in for about a year. Originally I thought it was shorted to ground so I checked all wiring to ground with the grounds disconnected and I got nothing. I've read many electrical issue posts here and nothing even comes close. I do have a 200w stator. Engine still runs excellent so I'm leaning toward replacing the shitty Ricky with an electrosport or moose stator but don't want to become a troubleshooting part changer. Quote
Snopczynski Posted February 9, 2009 Report Posted February 9, 2009 What happens if you unplug the regulator and rev the engine up, not just letting it idle? If its not bad bulbs, and the regulator is ok, and there is no shorts, its more than likely a stator issue. What about bad or corroded connections? Quote
vulvafan537240 Posted February 9, 2009 Report Posted February 9, 2009 sounds like the stator dude. a ground fault would make the current go thru the roof but the voltage would remain the same. Quote
blowit Posted February 9, 2009 Report Posted February 9, 2009 Pull the lighting side stator wires out side the engine. The bullet connectors. black and yellow. Check resistance across them. Thanks should get us closer. I agree, probably grounding or lack of contact somewhere. You can have "one strand" left in your harness from a pinched wire that can cause this because of the high dynamic resistance. Brandon Quote
rubberneck Posted February 9, 2009 Report Posted February 9, 2009 Bad ricky stator once again. Mine did the exact same thing. Good lights one minute, looked like candles the next. Quote
petethewarrior Posted February 20, 2009 Author Report Posted February 20, 2009 (edited) Tested everything both disconnected and connected. My meter, a Fluke, unfortunately does not give resistance in fractions so I only get 1ohm across the yellow and black with it disconnected at the bullet connector. Went riding again this last weekend in Florence after duct taping a couple of maglights on, the headlights would come and go. Edited February 20, 2009 by petethewarrior Quote
vulvafan537240 Posted February 20, 2009 Report Posted February 20, 2009 Tested everything both disconnected and connected. My meter, a Fluke, unfortunately does not give resistance in fractions so I only get 1ohm across the yellow and black with it disconnected at the bullet connector. Went riding again this last weekend in Florence after duct taping a couple of maglights on, the headlights would come and go. 1 ohm is a short. no need for fractional resistance. flukes are the best meters btw. Quote
AKheathen Posted February 20, 2009 Report Posted February 20, 2009 1 ohm is a short. no need for fractional resistance. flukes are the best meters btw. 0.01 ohm is a short. 1ohm is 3 times the resistance it should have unless it's a high output. fluke is the best, but i haven't used one that doesn't measure hundredths, even the clip-on my electrician friend uses Quote
vulvafan537240 Posted February 20, 2009 Report Posted February 20, 2009 0.01 ohm is a short. 1ohm is 3 times the resistance it should have unless it's a high output. fluke is the best, but i haven't used one that doesn't measure hundredths, even the clip-on my electrician friend uses i didnt realize he was measuring the stator. i thought he was measuring the light bulbs. but in most cases 1ohm IS a short. touch both leads of your fluke together and see what it reads. probably 0.5-1ohm. Quote
AKheathen Posted February 20, 2009 Report Posted February 20, 2009 i didnt realize he was measuring the stator. i thought he was measuring the light bulbs. but in most cases 1ohm IS a short. touch both leads of your fluke together and see what it reads. probably 0.5-1ohm. oh, lol, i see. they usually read .1-.2, but i calibrated the one at work to read between 0.00-0.01 while i was changing the fuses. i always knew it was b/s when they said it couldn't be done Quote
blowit Posted February 20, 2009 Report Posted February 20, 2009 i didnt realize he was measuring the stator. i thought he was measuring the light bulbs. but in most cases 1ohm IS a short. touch both leads of your fluke together and see what it reads. probably 0.5-1ohm. 1 ohm is not a short. Not by far. That is low resistance but the lighting coils is lower than that. If my Fluke read anything but zeros when I tough the leads together, I would have it recalibrated. The buzzer on most meters is set to go off at 1-2 ohms but that does not ID a short necessarily. brandon Quote
blowit Posted February 21, 2009 Report Posted February 21, 2009 Tested everything both disconnected and connected. My meter, a Fluke, unfortunately does not give resistance in fractions so I only get 1ohm across the yellow and black with it disconnected at the bullet connector. Went riding again this last weekend in Florence after duct taping a couple of maglights on, the headlights would come and go. Your resistance seems close so I would get a better meter on it before getting another stator. You should easily be able to test the VAC volts from those two output leads not connected to a anything when running. If they do not climb upward of 30V, there are issues. I would start with that. If 1ohm IS what you have, you should test again right at the solder joints on the stator to rule out wire problems. Seen it many times. Brandon Quote
vulvafan537240 Posted February 21, 2009 Report Posted February 21, 2009 1 ohm is not a short. Not by far. That is low resistance but the lighting coils is lower than that. If my Fluke read anything but zeros when I tough the leads together, I would have it recalibrated. The buzzer on most meters is set to go off at 1-2 ohms but that does not ID a short necessarily. brandon gimme a break man. i said that i thought he was ohming out the light bulb. and i guess my fluke needs to be recalibrated. Quote
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