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Started the bike at work last night, cranked a little slow & thought wtf. Looked at the volt gauge & it was around 8 volts, now the gauge has not been accurate for years & 8 volts is were it is when you have the key on engine off. But it goes up to 12 v after you start it & settles around 10 v at an idle. But not today, so I shut everything off, aux lights, radio ect. I live about 11 miles away & in stop & go traffic. I did make it home so now I have to see why. I replaced the stator years ago, so hopefully it's not that.
Start by diagnosing what is actually wrong. There are two Charging System stickies over in the Tech Electrical section, which will help you identify the culprit.
smell the area where the stator is. If it smells like burnt wires or like a clutch that is slipping. It is the stator. mine was very apparent by the smell. hopefully it is not a difficult or expensive fix. good luck
Could be stator, could be voltage regulator, or may luck out with it something easy like a loose wire/connector isntead.
As for why you burn stators and voltage regulators out, battery going bad to begin with.
So with the price of an AGM battery on the cheap side, and so easy to change out in a few mins, no reason to not change it out every 4th year like clockwork.
As for if you do need to change out the stator again, now would be the time to upgrade to a 3 pole system, over the oem 2 pole system that where always lacking to being with. It not that the 2 pole systems did not put out full amperage with enough RPM's, it just that the 3 pole system puts out more voltage lower in the RPM's instead. So with most of the 2 pole systems, they don't start putting out 14 volts until you are at 1500rmps or above (voltage needed to start charging back up the AGM battery), while the 3 pole system, at 14 volts output at idle instead.
Note, Evo motor, so his idle RPM's should be 1K.
First off, mine is a twin cam. I have replaced the stator @ 75K back in 2009. Has 132K now so there is a possibility it could have gone bad again. Replaced the battery 2 yrs ago. (I know it does not mean it's good). I do run my idle around 650, during the summer on hot pavement it is a lot cooler & 1k up just vibrates too much. Have had it idle that way for 90k miles. I did bottom out on a speed bump the other day so I am hoping that it tagged a wiire or shook it loose. Will check it out this weekend.
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