ANOTHER DEAD STATOR

[dino246]

Yes, my beloved Girly has fallen to the dreaded faulty stator. I thought I did enough to mitigate this known issue, but it died anyway and a 17983 miles.

Some info for the benifit of the community. It is a 2006 Girly that I bought with 6700 miles on June 15th of 2011. So it took 11200 miles to die. I did the upgrade to the regulator buy installing a MOSFET regulator onto the left side of the engine between the stator housing and the cylinder head with insulated mounting points so it would not act as a heat sink and still get plenty of cooling air. With the R/R mounted this close to the stator I cut the three wires shorter and soldered the wires to the new connectors to the R/R and added dielectric grease. Then I added a 2 gauge wire with a 30 AMP Maxi fuse to the battery from the R/R with this terminal also soldered and dielectric grease also.

A New battery installed and always parked with a battery tender connected. To reduce the electrical load on the stator and the R/R I switched all lights to LED except the headlights.

I ordered a Rick's Motorsports Stator, I will have the old stator rebuilt and keep it as a spare.

I absolutly love this bike, it is everything I could want but this is not confidence inspiring.  :(

[robxxxx]

I absolutly love this bike, it is everything I could want but this is not confidence inspiring.  :(

I know that feeling only too well

[HockleyBoy]

Are you sure the Regrec isn't getting hotter in that position?, I have replaced mine with a MOFSET which dosent even get warm and its placed in the original site.

Know the feeling about reliablility, have had months of RR, stator and connection problems myself.

[chinchliffe]

Spotted on ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-Tiger ... 4d033d45fd

Half the price of the ones I've been looking at. Anyone fitted one of these?

[vince]

not fitted it yet but cheap enough to keep as a spare :)
murphy's law :- if anything can go wrong it will.  so like a good boy scout be prepared :lol:  

[dino246]

I checked the stator with a multimeter and got a dead short to ground from either one of the three stator output wires to ground so it is dead. I have a new one coming and I will be taking the bike apart and I will post some pics of what I find.

As to the the mounting of the regulator onto the engine I am using insulating exhaust wrap and teflon to insulate the regulator from the steel that is mounted from the cylinder head down to the stator housing.

I was looking on eBay at various manufacturers stators and alternators and it is obvious that these electrical components need air or somekind of cooling. the new tigers have water cooling to disipate the large amounts of heat that can be generated by the windings.

With this in mind I am going to look into creating some cooling holes into the stator housing. Ill take some pics.

[oxnsox]

The stators get hot when they're loaded (and because they're connected to the donk). Of course the standard rec/reg keeps them loaded all the time, it simply dumps what it can't put in the battery into the heatsink.

A MOSFET rec/reg only uses whats needed to run the bike and charge the battery... so it's not loading up the stator to the max continuously... less heat in the system all-round.

[dino246]

Well I decided against the holes in the cover and I am devising a set of fins to help disipate the heat better. I removed the poweder coating and I will be using a thermally conductive epoxy to help move the heat from the cover to the "fins". pictures will follow.

[Alan Spears]

So is there a consensus as to why the stators go bad?
Connectors?
Wrong R/R?
R/R location?
Wire gauge?
Weak battery?
Combination of these?
Or just an  inherent design flaw?

What mosfet R/R would work best on a 02 Tiger?

[dino246]

I would say yes on all accounts.


Connectors?
I cleaned all power associated connectors and used dielectric grease
Wrong R/R?
I switched to a MOSFET R/R
R/R location?
I moved the R/R to the outside where there would be more cooling air
Wire gauge?
I used 2 gauge power wire to the battery and 8 gauge negative wire to the starter and case
Weak battery?
Brand new battery
Combination of these?
Switched all incandesent bulbs to LED except headlights (HID produces a bad light pattern)
Or just an inherent design flaw?
And it still failed.
Next is adding heatsink to the outside of the cover to try to get some of the heat to disipate.
If it still fails Im selling the bike. I would not be able to trust the bike after all of this reengineering, effort, and money and it still fails.

[cbxtc6]

I did all the above "fixes" on my '03, and after 3 stators, batteries, & RRs - I traded it in on a new '06.  Swapped all the farkels, and haven't thought about it much since.  That was 6 years ago.  My '06 hasn't had any issues, so who knows :?

[Stitch]

Of interest with my newly acquired "Rick's" Rec/Reg is that even though new connectors are installed to "plug"  the unit to the stator instructions in the box specify "connections must be soldered not crimped". Included in the box are 3 barrel connectors and some shrink tube. I planned on soldering all connections anyways and using some adhesive shrink tube for a weather tight seal, but I remember reading several posts of individuals having issues with the connectors. Looks like "Rick"s" has made soldering the standard now.

[Alan Spears]

I just installed a brand new Ricks stator and R/R. I shortened the wires between stator & R/R, soldered the connections, also did the same between R/R and battery (direct connection with fuse). Voltage went from 12.8 pre install to 14-14.3 after install and mods. Also bought new fancy battery. If I have problems in the future I will sell. Its no fun worrying if or when i will be stranded. I do carry an extra battery in my saddle bag.

[jphish]

Geez Alan - you carry an xtra battery ? That IS dedication to "being prepared" ! I Wish I had room - but means I'd have to forgo the clean underware & tools. I see where folks have "used dielectric grease" on connectors - You mean to seal out side mating surfaces, or on pins / blades of plug ?  I was told by electrician (presumably understood these things) not to use on electrical contact points, as it is non-conductive. Just use to seal mating surfaces to reduce moisture intrusion. Any thoughts on that ...?

[Alan Spears]

the first time your stator fails and drains your battery and you end up on the side of the road with no civilization in site, you will wish you had that fresh backup battery that you can switch out. It will be enough to get you to a better place to hold up or maybe even back home. I am considering mounting and wiring my backup battery in such a way that will allow me to switch batteries via a relay. Maybe there is a way to allow it be charged along with my main battery, but in the event of a system failure I could switch over and find a better place to break down. I did an experiment and ran only off my battery, (disconnected the R/R wire) I was able to go 30 miles before the battery died and killed the motor.
If there are any electrical guru out there that could tell me if this is possible and maybe give me an example how to wire it.