Insane, growing, electrical problem

[OldNTired]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

Have you taken any time investigating why that fuse blew in the first place? No abraded wires/intermittent short anywhere in the wiring? Or are you just going to carry around a supply of extra 20 amp fuses? You may have discovered why the bike had no power but you have not solved your problem.

Of course I found it, I'm not THAT old and tired! At the time I was trying to find the reason why yhe battery wasn't charging, however, I was tired enough to do a current check while I was looking for a short. What happened was I forgot my meter I was using can only handle 10Amps, and we all know that the bike uses a 'bit' more than that. It let all the smoke out of that meter - luckily it was a cheap spare. But that short had to be what blew the fuse.
But, I always carry extra fuses with me, along with a set of tools.
Thanks for asking!

[mrlmd1]

Maybe I missed something here. Where was the short? Was a wire abraded and exposed somewhere?

[alantf]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

Maybe I missed something here. Where was the short? Was a wire abraded and exposed somewhere?

Seems to me he was just testing when his meter blew up (because it couldn't handle the battery current), shorted the circuit out, & blew the fuse. There never was a fault.

[mrlmd1]

That leads back to my original question as to why the fuse blew. The reason for the problem was never found so it may happen again, and having a supply of fuses on hand will not solve the problem. So I wouldn't be that ecstatic about just finding and replacing a blown fuse.

[alantf]

I think you still don't grasp it !!!!!!! THERE NEVER WAS A FAULT. He was doing a routine test on a healthy circuit (although he didn't know, at the time, that it was healthy) He set his meter incorrectly. This caused the meter to explode and short circuit the healthy circuit. This,in turn, caused the fuse to do what it's supposed to do - BLOW.

[OldNTired]

Originally Posted by alantf

I think you still don't grasp it !!!!!!! THERE NEVER WAS A FAULT. He was doing a routine test on a healthy circuit (although he didn't know, at the time, that it was healthy) He set his meter incorrectly. This caused the meter to explode and short circuit the healthy circuit. This,in turn, caused the fuse to do what it's supposed to do - BLOW.

Well said, alantf! Thanks for answering for me. That is exactly what happened. I was so tired at the time I forgot how much current I was playing with. Then when I went to try to start the bike to test the stator output I forgot what happened with the meter. It was a cheap meter that I keep in the car, and it didn't have a fuse.

[mrlmd1]

OK, i reread the whole thread and he blew the fuse by having excess current going through his meter.
So what was the solution to the original problem of erratic voltage measurements as presented in the original post?

[OldNTired]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

OK, i reread the whole thread and he blew the fuse by having excess current going through his meter.
So what was the solution to the original problem of erratic voltage measurements as presented in the original post?

Well, as was said about 10 posts ago, my first guess was right: The rectifier was bad.

[blaine]

Originally Posted by OldNTired

Well, as was said about 10 posts ago, my first guess was right: The rectifier was bad.

Quote:Just for laughs I checked the R/R output: at idle it put out as high as 12.0V, at 3000RPM it only put out 9. Next I checked the stator output; 65+VAC! Then, I took the battery to the local Advance store and had it checked: it was declred to be fine - not bad for a 6 yr old battery.
So, all considered, it seems that the R/R is bad. Must be, everything else is good!
:cool:

[OldNTired]

Originally Posted by blaine

Quote:Just for laughs I checked the R/R output: at idle it put out as high as 12.0V, at 3000RPM it only put out 9. Next I checked the stator output; 65+VAC! Then, I took the battery to the local Advance store and had it checked: it was declred to be fine - not bad for a 6 yr old battery.
So, all considered, it seems that the R/R is bad. Must be, everything else is good!
:cool:

\

Not sure what happened here! I posted this yesterday, but it didn't show up. Hmmm.
Anyway, I got the part in the mail yesterday, installed it, and started riding. When tested, the new R/R was putting out 13.8V at about 3000RPM. Things are good.
Thanks again to all who helped.