have a 2004 yamaha roadstar 1700. it will not keep a charge, have changed the stator, and rectifier, AND battery, no luck. had all the wiring changed, and rechecked, still no luck. had the stator sent out to see if it was a bad one, still no luck. any ideas on what i can do next?
Optional Information: Year: 2004 Make: yamaha Model: roadstar Engine: 1700
Hello, my name is XXXXX XXX I would be happy to give you a hand with this issue.
First off let me know if you have a multimeter available to do some testing with?
Also if you can get one, a test light will be very helpful.
First question I would like to ask is if you could let me know what accessories your bike has (i.e. running lights, GPS, Stereo, Etc.) It looks like your offline, I will be standing by to answer you, when you get back on I will get back to you as soon as it notifies me of the answer.
yes, i have used the multimeter, and test light. accessories are daytime running lights, passing lights, and a gps, and a decorative nightime access light. i turned everything off, but still no charge.
With the bike at idle and the meter set at DC Voltage put your leads Red to positive terminal on battery, Black to negitive terminal and let me know what you get, also rev engine to around 5000 rpm and do same test. Then what is the battery voltage just sitting in the bike everything off?
I got a blank reply. I dont want you to think I am ignoring you.
tried that ....the reading is 12.1 to 12.3 at idle, all the way up to 12.6 at approximately 2000 rpm. when bike is off. the voltage is 12.7.
Okay, with the everything off on the bike, disconnect your ground wire at the battery and switch your meter to 10 amp setting (usually have to move the red lead also) and hook your positive lead to the battery terminal and your negative lead to the ground wire. Let me know what you get.
Also with the meter on AC Voltage check the battery terminals at idle and at rev, and let me know what you get.
already did that too, but going outside to do it again, forgot reading.
checked it again it is zero
with the meter on AC, it is 27 to 27.9 , at idle, and revved up. tiny little spark when reconnecting ground cable...?
That is interesting (the spark), the AC test should have been red to positive black to negative battery hooked up and bike running (exact test from the DC just meter on different setting) Since you saw a spark I am willing to bet your Amperage fuse in your meter is blown, that is why your not seeing a reading. If it sparked you should have at least a half a amp or so. Put your test light between your negative cable and the battery post (in line) and see if it lights up with the bike off. I am going to bet it does. Let me know what you get.
I did not mean to confuse the issue by mentioning the spark. This spark happened when I reconnected the ground wire of the bike following the 10amp test. I went back to the bike and removed ground wire. A tinny spark happens when touching the wire to the post. Then no spark for a while then a tinny spark then no spark. A self resetting circuit breaker somewhere?
The spark is a definite sign of a current draw on the bike. There is no self resetting circuit breakers on that bike, and while there is a chance that it is a capacitor in the CDI discharging, generally the power surge from one of those is so small you cannot see it. I would double check your fused link on your meter. Did you try the test light between the cable and battery post?
FYI ...I tried all you said but the draw was not enough to light the test light. I cut off all the ground wires for the L E D accent lights and that did not do it until I cut off the power wires to these lights and all of a sudden it started to charge.( finally as I have had this bike all apart about 5 times since April)The only thing that I Can figure out is that the transformer/controller must have been leaking back to ground when the bike was running, as the unit has a setting where the controller is activated by sound. the small spark when connecting the ground cable I think was caused by the gauge cluster as I finally heard a "click" and saw the speedometer and gas gauge cycle as I touched the ground wire to the ground post. Thanks for the advice.
Experience: 11 years as lead tech, performance and race team exp.