Topic: regulator... rectifier... again! :)

[Fritz]

i'll give this a try and will report back, either later tonight or early next week (time this friday to sunday belongs already to my beloved  )

The summer has just begun plenty of time to make a good looking bike a good running one.

I'm starting my weekend today. The bike will stay in the garage too as we go sailing in Friesland.

Cheers

[auro]

so, I've done the test on the male connector as described by Fritz, and I get the same result as on the other one: one combination with some values, the others with "1"

 

[TwoTired]

Next step is get the sprocket cover off, and follow it to alternator cover.  If you can't find a break in the wires, then the Alternator cover has to come off, an the stator wire examined/measured at the connections inside.

[auro]

I have not had any chance to work on the bike yet, but found this, which explains what you described to me and might be useful to somebody (not sure if it's been posted already)

1980 Honda motorcycle cb900 cb 900 650 750 1000 alternator stator test

[auro]

getting this thread out of the past century to tell you that I  still have not had any time to check the alternator (family first  )

but

I used the bike yesterday for a 105 kms ride to a vintage expo, and I made it back safely with the battery... almost full?



I used the meter to check how much juice was on it once I got back (I left the garage with the battery fully charged), and it was showing 12.8!

The only differences with the last ride where it left me on the road are:
- I did not turn on the lights
- I mostly did highways (high rpms)

Would this suggest that the lighting system somehow sucks out my battery's power more than the bike can provide to recharge it?

 

[Fritz]

I used the meter to check how much juice was on it once I got back (I left the garage with the battery fully charged), and it was showing 12.8!

The only differences with the last ride where it left me on the road are:
- I did not turn on the lights
- I mostly did highways (high rpms)

Would this suggest that the lighting system somehow sucks out my battery's power more than the bike can provide to recharge it?

 

Yes, it looks like your alternator puts out just enough juice to sustain power for ingition and field coil.
Reading through the thread again, it looks to me like one of the yellow wires of the alternator is broken. If so, this can be easily fixed by soldering a new wire to the stator. Also, it might be possible that the solder connection between that yellow wire and the coil winding is bad. The fix would be simply to resolder that connection.
It's a matter of half an hour of wrenching and costs next to nothing - a good used stator with harness would cost you about 30-50€...

Did you ever take the left engine cover off to examine those yellow wires? Get yourself an impact driver to break the old screws on that cover loose, clean up the grime and take some pictures.

Cheers
Carsten

[auro]

Did you ever take the left engine cover off to examine those yellow wires? Get yourself an impact driver to brake the old screws on that cover loose, clean up the grime and take some pictures.

thanks Carsten, my fellow 550F German friend!

I did not yet open the engine cover, but you're right in that this seems to be clearly the next step, to check the wiring (it was already suggested)

I'll wait for that before getting a new stator...

[auro]

Next step is get the sprocket cover off, and follow it to alternator cover.  If you can't find a break in the wires, then the Alternator cover has to come off, an the stator wire examined/measured at the connections inside.

so, time for work

i opened, here's what i found















i don't see any broken or disconnected wire...

any advice on what to check now?

please?

[Bodi]

In the first and third picture the two bullet connectors near the oil pump are to the field coil. The bullets look fairly good (not burnt black at least) but you should clean the connectors and maybe tighten the female ends gently with pliers while the cover is off.
The other pics show the points, not the alternator. The alternator is in the cover the wires above lead to. In a 750 it is wet (oily) but I can't recall for sure if the 550 is dry - I think so. If it's wet then you need the gasket to be good on reassembly.
First I would follow the alternator wires to the engine connector - the engine plugs into the harness so you can take it out. Disconnect it and measure between the 3 yellow wires at the engine side of the connector to confirm you have a problem with the stator coils. Don't bother with removing the alternator coils and cover, disturbing the wiring, unless you really have to. If the coils check out OK at this connector, the problem is elsewhere.