Lost Electrical Power this Morning 6/14

[Snowman]

This morning my bike started fine. All the gauges worked and the headlights were bright. After about 20 minutes riding it to work I noticed the gauges were not working. I looked up front and the headlight wasn’t as bright as it should be. I revved the motor but the power didn’t come back to the lights. I made it to work fine, but now of course it will not turn over.
It sounds like the alternator.

Do you think it would work if I try to charge the battery to get it started to lip it over to Fay? (Just down the street from there.)

[The GECCO]

yup, sounds like the charging system. you should be fine to charge the battery and then ride it over.

don't use a trickle charger, they are designed to maintain a charged battery, not charge a dead battery.

[Snowman]

I called up Fay (being that they are just down the road) and thirty minutes later they just swung by with a trailer and picked my bike up from work. That’s a cool idea to just have a guy running around with a trailer picking up bikes for them to work on. Saved me allot in tow truck fees.

Thanks for the response.

[Snowman]

I just heard back from Fay. They want to replace the battery, regulator rectifier and the wiring harness. Some 700 dollars worth of stuff plus another 200 for labor.

All I want to know is how do you fry an entire electrical system?

All I have on the bike is an alarm system and an integrator kit for my taillights. Any ideas on what I did wrong here, or how I can prevent this in the future?

[yakuza]

Uhhh, wiring harness? Did it actually destroy the wiring harness?

[Dysco]

Wouldn't let them touch the harness without you SEEING what the PHYSICAL issue is with it. If it needs replacing, it'll be all messed up... I doubt it is.

[Snowman]

This is what Lars at Fay is telling me. I never saw any fire or smoke from the bike when I stopped it. What exactly should I be looking for when I go see the Harness? Melted spots, chard marks etc…?

[The GECCO]

This is what Lars at Fay is telling me. I never saw any fire or smoke from the bike when I stopped it. What exactly should I be looking for when I go see the Harness? Melted spots, chard marks etc…?

pretty much, otherwise I would want to know EXACTLY why they want to replace it

what year/make/model/mileage are we talking about here again?

[Mr. Turbo]

Melted wires, broken wires, stripped insulation. Can't see how the wiring would just go "bad".. From your original post, it does sound like a dead voltage regulator, but i'm not understanding why they'd want to replace all the wiring..

[Feathered upstart!]

but i'm not understanding why they'd want to replace all the wiring..

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$

[Dysco]

...but i'm not understanding why they'd want to replace all the wiring..

It's for step 3: Profit

[Anonymous]

You know, just go to www.ronayers.com and look up the parts you need on the Microfiche. Call up Chip and tell him I sent you, order the stuff (will be a shitload cheaper) and put it in yourself.

It's cool that Fay came to get the bike, don't get me wrong ... but this isn't sounding right to any of us. If wiring melted you'd at least smell something burning.

[Mr. Turbo]

Damn guys i'm gonna have to toss that idea of running a business, i don't think of expoiting people enough!

[Snowman]

1997 Honda CBR1100xx Blackbird, Approx 33,000 miles

Thanks for the website rforsythe I’ll look them up to see what it will cost. But I have really bad mojo when comes to engine work. I race karts and have learned the hard way to just let someone else deal with it and just drive.

I’ll drop by Fay after work today to see myself. I don’t think they are screwing me, but it’s always best to be sure. Hate to think a business like them would screw their clientele since word like that would get around so fast in this community.

[Anonymous]

Assuming the harness is ok, the rest of that stuff should cost you a LOT less than $700. And once you get the tail section off (where the regulator usually sits) you're talking like 5 minutes to replace that and the battery, it just unplugs.

I can see the battery going bad maybe, and the regulator sure (they do that from time to time) - but unless it pumped so much voltage into the wiring that it melted (in which case fuses should have blown long before wires went *poof*) your harness is fine.

See for yourself and let us know, but I'd be careful about authorizing those repairs, especially for the BS rate they want to charge you. TK can sell you a battery for under a hundred (good battery) and if you get a regulator on ebay for probably about $50 ... well, you do the math.

[Snowman]

Ok, went down to Fay yesterday and got to see the damage. The connections to the rectifier are defiantly toast. They hadn’t pulled the entire wire harness out but because they cannot replace the connection they said I would have to replace the whole thing.

I did ask how something like this could happen and they said they didn’t know. Maybe a broken wire someplace or a voltage overload of some type. They wouldn’t know unless they pulled the entire harness and cut it open to see.

It just spooks me that this could happen out of the blue like this. I keep looking for any precursor signs that this was coming up. The bike had been fowling plugs and the tach, on occasion, would jump around a bit when I accelerated hard. The alarm always seem to be working fine and so did the tail lights. Just strange.

[The GECCO]

Ok, went down to Fay yesterday and got to see the damage. The connections to the rectifier are defiantly toast. They hadn’t pulled the entire wire harness out but because they cannot replace the connection they said I would have to replace the whole thing.

I did ask how something like this could happen and they said they didn’t know. Maybe a broken wire someplace or a voltage overload of some type. They wouldn’t know unless they pulled the entire harness and cut it open to see.

It just spooks me that this could happen out of the blue like this. I keep looking for any precursor signs that this was coming up. The bike had been fowling plugs and the tach, on occasion, would jump around a bit when I accelerated hard. The alarm always seem to be working fine and so did the tail lights. Just strange.

If the rectifier went bad the additional current it will draw from the stator will fry that connector, this happened on my GSXR. They are right (sort of) that they cannot replace just that connector. If you can find the connector itself with leads on it you can rewire that section.

Of course, the connector isn't necessary at all, you can just make a note of which wires go to which wires, cut the bad connector off the bike and cut the the connector off the new rectifier and hardwire them together. the connector is just there to make it easier to replace the component. This is how I solved the same problem on the GSXR and it works fine (in fact, probably better than the connector, because there is inherent resistance in the connector itself).

Ask them for a price quote for the battery and rectifier and if the prices are reasonable buy those parts from them and replace them yourself.

[Anonymous]

Read this:

http://www.vlc.com.au/~justin/about/...g_replace.html

and this...

http://www.vlc.com.au/~justin/about/.../dead_reg.html

Ron Ayers' price on that regulator is $156. I doubt Fay will be cheaper but it can't hurt to ask.

EDIT: check ebay for one of those R1 regs, would take about half an hour (well, an hour with beer) to install and you can get one cheap probably.

[The GECCO]

damn....two VERY good articles...

[Snowman]

GOD I LOVE THE INTERNET!

Ask any question and someone somewhere has a webpage about it.
Thanks rforsythe you’re the google search guru from hell…

[Anonymous]

Yeah I gotta do something to keep busy at work! ... (hopes the boss hasn't found this site yet. )