charging fault driving me mad, and broke

[banditv]

i was measuring the stator voltage with the reg/rect still connected and not open circuit.
tried to take the bike to work today but couldnt. so am taking it tomorrow.
will let you all know how i go

[stormi]

i was measuring the stator voltage with the reg/rect still connected and not open circuit.
tried to take the bike to work today but couldnt. so am taking it tomorrow.
will let you all know how i go

Oh yeah,.. I'm pretty sure that the flowchart says to disconnect it before measuring it too. 
Good luck tomorrow then!

[banditv]

i didnt see the flow chart say disconnect the stator from the reg/rect, but i could of missed it.
thats about the only thing left to test now, other than a new rotor.
to sum up
the batt is new
the reg/rect is new
the stator is not to ground, looking like its been hot and has 0.9 ohms resistance between phases
the connections between the stator and reg/rect are new
there is no voltage drop on either + or - sides of the system
when i had the stator off the bike, i checked the magnet strength and all 6 will hold on to a 12 inch cresent no probs.
and even tho the bike has had a low side on the left hand side, the magnets are all intact

[stormi]

In section B (Section D does not apply to us) it says

Stop the engine.  Disconnect the wires coming from the stator.  These are usually 3 YELLOW (or WHITE = Yamaha) wires.  Switch the multimeter to Ohms, the lowest range on the meter.  Measure the resistance between all three wires coming from the stator, so you need to take three readings.

That's where you should have disconnected the RR from the stator.  

Because there's no test for the rotor specifically (in the case of the Bandit 400 anyway - bikes with the "car-type" RRs seem to have that test) on the flowchart, I wonder if it's built into something else... like the stator/ generator / etc.

Section B is going to be very important to you then.  .9 Ohms is within range if I'm reading you right, and you measured where I think you did.

[banditv]

thats how i tested the stator resistance, and have since learned that i should have started the bike and checked the ac voltage while i had it disconnected.
will find out in an hour or so where i stand.
am really hoping its just a reg/rect thats faulty. a stator is way to expensive.
and i'd be able to send the reg/rect back as a warranty job

[stormi]

Correct, that's the test 2 steps below the resistance test.  Still in section B.

It tells you to switch to AC, start the bike, rev to 5000rpm and then how to test.

Switch the multimeter AC-Voltage (Range at least to 100 Vac). Make sure you
DON'T switch it to DC-Voltage (=DCV or Vdc). Connect the multimeter leads
between two of the three YELLOW (or WHITE = Yamaha) wires coming from
the stator. Start the engine and rev it up to app. 5000rpm. Check the reading
on the meter. Switch one of the multimeter leads to another YELLOW (or
WHITE) wire and check the reading again. Switch the other multimeter-lead to
another YELLOW (or WHITE) wire, and check the reading again.

[banditv]

i must of miss read that .
but anyhoo, just checked the ac voltage correctly and its good as. 27volts at idle and ramping up to 70 plus at 5 or 6 k.
am now going to wire the stator directly to the RR and wire the RR outputs directly to the batt to eliminate faulty wiring in the bikes loom, even though i have no voltage drops on either side.
if that fails to make a diff, i can prob throw the brand new RR back at the supplier

[stormi]

Run through the test of the RR in the flowchart?  It should tell you if there's a problem with the RR.

[banditv]

its incredibly hard to say this but...
my name is lyndon, and i'm an alcoholic.

[banditv]

got it sorted today
the RR was a bad one. got the new warranty one today, rewired the whole charging system from stator leads to battery and she's rock solid 14.5 volts from just off idle , only dropping below 14 volts to 13.9 at idle.
sorted 
now i can go for a decent ride in the weekend. sweet!

[Chris H]

I did say it would be the RR, good to hear you got a fix.

[stormi]

Yay!! Congrats!!

[banditv]

I did say it would be the RR, good to hear you got a fix.

i was thinking that since i put a brand new on on it, that much should have been fine. but i was wrong.
having a closer look at the new bad R/R, the three stator lead inputs were looking rather overheated  at the R/R.
must have a short inside, and i'm prob lucky it didnt damage the stator.
now just want to find out if rgv front end and shock fit the thing .

[stormi]

I always test the RRs before I put them on.  I don't trust most electric or electronic devices.  I think that comes from a couple of places:  I'm in IT, so I've seen a multitude of failures out of the box in my career, and I'm probably paranoid, because I was left stranded because of an RR failure.  For a while there, testing the RR (and the rest of the charging system) was part of my regular maintenance.