Changing air filter & speedo cable makes stator / rotor fail ?

[pat80flh]

For what it's worth, that is exactly what I'm getting on my 2000 Bassa. The PO had replaced the regulator with aftermarket,and cut the charge light out of the circuit, so none of our wire colors are the same.
   After spending the week chasing lights, preparing for inspection, by Saturday morning the battery was pretty low, down to 11.2. She fired off, but I never saw over 12.2 on the meter. My Shovelhead graciously donated her regulator, which I cobbled in while  I recharged the battery. Simple 3 wire regulator, 2 to the stator, one to the battery. Extra ground attached from mounting lugs to frame.  On a side note, the PO had an extra ground, I'm not sure where it attached, but there were 10 ohms resistance to ground, not great.
    With the Harley regulator installed, and battery charged, 12.5 key on, 13.2 engine at 2500. It's charging some, not as much as I'd like to see, but it kept the battery up on an 80 mile joy/test ride.
    One test I haven't seen from you Norm, is the stator output test. With your meter set to AC volts, and connected to the 2 yellow wires from the stator, engine running at 3-4000 rpm, you should be seeing 70-80 AC volts. The regulators job is to rectify this AC voltage to the DC voltage you see at the battery, and limit(regulate) the voltage to around 14 so your battery doesn't boil over.
   I too am curious about   the warning at euroelectrics about not using a dry cell battery with his products, anybody know why? 

[normzone]

[pat80flh], and others who have been attempting to guide me, your errant student through this exercise, I have new information to report.

........the stator output test. With your meter set to AC volts, and connected to the 2 yellow wires from the stator, engine running at 3-4000 rpm, you should be seeing 70-80 AC volts. The regulators job is to rectify this AC voltage to the DC voltage you see at the battery, and limit(regulate) the voltage to around 14 so your battery doesn't boil over........

So I did this, with the assistance of my wife, who I figured may as well begin learning how to twist a throttle. You know what that can lead to...

With the two yellow wires partially disconnected so that I could access them while still having them in the circuit ( correct practice? ) the amount of AC voltage read across those two yellow wires was...17.

Yes, you read that correctly. The same number as the title of that magazine for fashion, beauty, dating and health tips: http://www.seventeen.com/

This sounds to me like a number that is suspiciously lower than 70 - 80.

[Triple Jim]

I suspect the higher voltage was with the wires disconnected completely.

[pat80flh]

Yes, yellow wires completely disconnected.

[normzone]

Oooooookay...

With the wires disconnected (disco, in the parlance of the locals), the voltage out of the yellow wires is:

Zero.

http://www.aviation-history.com/mitsubishi/zero.html

[Triple Jim]

Are you measuring yellow to yellow, with the meter in the "AC" setting?

[pat80flh]

Maybe a pic of your test set-up will help

[Kiwi_Roy]

The Voltage may be limited to 17 while connected to the regulator, if the regulator is charging the battery it will be clamped to just over the battery Voltage.
Without it connected or when the regulator is not powered by the black wire it will be 60 or 70.

You can also measure the ohms from yellow to yellow without the bike running, less than half an Ohm I think, low anyway.

[normzone]

Just wanted to update this thread so that anybody stumbling into it someday looking for charging system help can get the rest of the story ( tip of the hat to Paul Harvey ).

http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=78784.0

Long story short, apparent damage to battery, but none to the charging system.

Oh, and in reviewing this thread I found this. The time stamp means [zoom zoom] posted this at the exact time I was breaking down on the freeway...

" Though it is not too unusual to see the charge light at idle, I would be concerned if it is on all the time. You may be running on the battery. Is there a chance that while routing the speedo cable somethi8ng came unplugged at the voltage regulator? John Henry "