Charging question, VT750C Honda

Hi guys;

I've let my Honda shadow sit for a while (been riding the sportster), and
I've come up on some charging trouble...

The first time I rode it, after a long sit, the three stator-to-rectifier
connections got hot enough the melt the plastic plugs that hold them in
place. I fixed those connections, put some heat-shrink tube around them to
keep them separate since the plugs are toast, charged the battery for a bit
and started the bike.

It starts kind of hard after a long sit, and I don't know the battery's
actual state of charge - after running in the garage for a while, I turned
it off. The contacts got hot enough to tighten up the heat-shrink by
themselves, and the battery was heard to have a good sizzling going on
inside after the run.

So I am unsure what to do next. Is the battery discharged to a point where
the system was trying hard to get a charge into it, or has the regulator
blown and allowing voltage to flow unfettered to the battery? Don't know
wether to replace the battery, RR, or both at this point. In the meantime,
I'm going to go home, put a fuller charge on the battery, and test again.

Thanks,
Dan.

 

I'd head over to the Electrexusa website and get ahold of their
troubleshooting diagram. I would also probably replace the battery,
unless you could determine for certain that it is in good shape. If it's
more than a year or two old, don't even mess with it. At the very least,
make sure that the battery is fully charged before putting it back in
the bike. The RR is fairly easy to test with a diode tester (was on my
VFR, anyway), so do that too.

I wouldn't ride it with just a new RR or just a new battery, as either
can cause enough charging system trouble when faulty to blow away the
other one. That cycle gets expensive quickly.

--
Later,
John



'indiana' is a noun. Leave only the noun between @ and .edu to reply

 

Thanks everybody -

I put a more solid charge on the battery last night took it out for another
short ride, while checking the connections from time to time - they still
became warm, but were not so alarmingly hot this time. I'm thinking a new
battery may be the ticket, as this one is approaching three or four years of
age, and hasn't had much regular use.

I did measure the voltage early on, having just started the bike, with a
fairly decent charge - I barely saw the needle move around at all throughout
the 1-4.5K RMP range; it stayed at a very constant 13V.

I do have the Clymer manual, but I think before I even do more testing, a
good battery is in order.

Thanks,
Dan.