Charging System Issues

[auhenry]

So about a week ago I was having trouble with my charging system not getting any power (whatsoever) to my battery. I checked the continuity on all of my white stator wires and found that one wire wasn't getting continuity with the other two. I took off the left side/sprocket cover off and found that surely enough I had one of my white stator cover wires pinched in half and another fraying. On top of that I had the green field coil piece clipped too. After soldering all those wires up nice and pretty I threw everything back together and fired her up but still got no charge.

So at this point I am getting continuity between all three white wires, along with the 4 ohms of resistance I should be getting from the green and brown field coil wires. But when I run the bike I am only getting about 1 volt AC from each of the white wires.
On top of this whatever my stator was putting out seems to have fried my new rectifier regulator, this one here Before I got continuity between my white wires and my red when the I placed the black lead on my red wire and tested all of the white ones but now I am not getting anything.

I've seen some people posting about rewireing stators but mine seems to be wired fine, just not putting out proper voltage. Is there anything I can do to fix my stator or do I need to find me a new one? And on top of that is that rectifier a piece that I should buy another of or should I get something else?

 

[rugbywarrior89]

Welcome to the "My bike won't charge club".

Have you tried bypassing your regulator to see if you get voltage that way? Other than that, it sounds like you may be in the same boat as me.

 

[auhenry]

Yeah, going straight from the stator I get a single volt AC from the stator using all three white wires, and thats at 5000 rpm. I have heard that it is "supposed" to read 75 VAC on all three wires. So it looks like I have 74 volts to find

 

[rugbywarrior89]

I would have to say that it is either the stator or the field coil. Since you removed both of them, I would have to place my bet that one of them got damaged during the fix somehow.

I would do the magnet test first to make sure that your field coil is producing enough magnetism to excite the stator. If it weren't fully magnetized, you wouldn't see very high voltage. Otherwise you would have to have a short in the stator. I would bet that a tiny piece of insulation broke off between the wire and the steel of the stator and is now shorting out. It's hard to say.

 

[auhenry]

Well that sucks, I've heard of a couple of different ways to (in theory) fix this. I've heard of a custom rewind site and a permanent magnet charging system swap.

I have looked into the Custom Rewind guys and they look pretty good but I'm wondering about this permanent magnet swap. Does anybody have any experience with a permanent magnet charging system swap out?

 

[rugbywarrior89]

That would be great as long as your willing to get rid of your e-start if you have one. Personally I have back problems and starting with a button is too appealing to me. There is a good write up in the tech section for it. That would be a good start.

btw, you never said what kind of XS400 you have. If you have a DOHC, I don't think the PM charging system would fit. Also, it might be possible you installed the wrong rec/reg as there are two different types depending on the year of your bike.

 

[auhenry]

I think I have a SOHC... not exactly sure

 

[rugbywarrior89]

You would need to look at the VIN on the motor. There is a thread on here that has all the models and VINs. I think it might be in the History of xs400 or maybe it's own dedicated thread. It's not hard to search for it.

 

[auhenry]

Definitely a SOHC. But it looks like my rectifier regulator has gone from 30$ to 500$... WTF
I see a couple of different options online. Does anyone recommend any in particular?

 

[xschris]

Some people have used the combo units with success. There is a thread on this in the forum. Do a search and you should find it.

 

[arfstrom]

I am not see'ing that you have taken off the stator housing and looked inside? I believe that the windings are fine, that perhaps you just need to re-attach the wire to the windings.

So Checking for VAC, on the white lines, your multimeter device, should be on AC, and check the any of the wite lines going to the rectifier. Then like you said, if it is 75vA/C, then you should get it, when motor is running.

Alot of us, would jump a 12vD/C to the field charger, just to see if the magnetism effect kicks up. (Breaks over, I have to go) hope this helps