Buell xb12s - battery becomes discharged

[xb12-2've-fun]

Hi guys

As the title says my battery becomes discharged while driving.
I have the manual and already did the following:
- checked all my ground connections
- checked my entire wiring for damages from my alternator/stator to my battery and also the wiring going from my ECM to the front of the bike, behind mywindscreen
- measured for current leaks while engine is not running and in iddle (milliampere draw test + total current draw test)
So far all within specification and without any irregularities.

As I don't have the break out box I can't do a complete measuring as described in the flow chart "code 16".

What I did is, I bought a voltage meter which I connected over my ignition key so I can visually read the amount of voltage over my battery while driving.

When I go for a ride I read the following values:
- 12,1 Volt when battery is charged before engine is running (I always connected my battery charger while my buell is in the garage)
- engine running 13,9 volts
- driving for a few minutes 13,6 - 14 volts
- driving a while suddenly my voltage drops to 11,9 volts
- during driving 15 min the voltage comes back to 13,8 a 14 volts and sometimes drops again to 11,6 a 11,9 volts
- after driving approximately 1 hour my bikes stops driving as my battery is at 11 volts

What can be the cause of this?

My battery is new and in perfect condition.
As the voltage over my battery while driving is never above 14,3 volts I assume my regulator is functional and ok.

Or is this a wrong assumption?

I didn't change the regulator because of above assumption and it also quite expensive just to change it for nothing.

Can it be that I have a bad connection of my stator coils inside my engine?

If somebody has an idea or had same experience , your help is very appreciated!

Fyi I am from Belgium so if my English is not correct, my apologies for that

 

[Slacker]

Bad voltage regulator. Catch the moment when the alternator system is not charging (voltage is lower than 13v) during running engine and perform stator tests following Buell XB Electrical Manual to confirm if the stator is OK.

Tympanium Corp designed and built OEM Buell VR. Buell VR has horrible soldering on the board with issuffitiens wetting flaws. Actually whole Buell electric system is nightmare. Vibration and thermal expansion make the VR lost electrical connections in those bad soldering spots for period of time and this is what you see during the riding on you voltmeter. I do not know what is the reason of such crappy quality, but any cheap Chinese electronic board has better quality than this proudly made in the US junk. So if you are DIY guy find and install any another suitable VR and avoid Buell VR on any cost.

You can build simple mounting plate for non OEM VR http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142838/670199.html?1412502792

 

[xb12-2've-fun]

Ok I try to do that test. I was thinking by myself that such approach could give some clarification.

A questions regarding the link you've send. So the VR posted by tpehak which you can buy on Amazon perfectly works on a Buell without electrical modifications? I only have to make a base plate and be sure the cable are long enough? Thanks for the info

 

[Slacker]

No, you have to extend the cables. Also the posted VR is for 2008-2010 Buell XB only. For earlier Buell XB models VR is different so google it first. It may require some wires work too.

 

[Cooter]

XB12: Awesome diagnosis and THANK YOU for posting pertinent info for strangers on the internet to be able to give you quality help.

"Your answer will only be as good as the question you ask"

According to your diagnosis, I would agree with Slacker about the intermittent charging being most likely a bad Voltage Regulator. A bad connection in the stator could do the same thing but much less likely. Twin Motorcycles is a good supplier on the right side of the Atlantic (perspective)

I would disagree with his opinion of how bad the OEM units are. It got you this far, right? I wouldn't hesitate to make my life easy and just replace it with another NEW unit.

 

[Cooter]

XB12: I believe Slacker IS TPEHAK. He was banned from here and keeps trying to come back under different names.

 

[Slacker]

I would disagree with his opinion of how bad the OEM units are. It got you this far, right? I wouldn't hesitate to make my life easy and just replace it with another NEW unit.

Trust me I saw those units inside. Extract board from one and you will see what I am talking about. A bunch of soldering spots on the board with gaps between the board traces and components legs. It will work for sure for some miles, but after that it is a lottery and the only thing you can depend on is how luck you are with such weak crappy soldering work.

 

[Cooter]

ONE, old, failed, unit you took apart and didn't like means every single other unit is exactly the same? Maybe it failed because it was one, faulty job? For a self proclaimed "engineer", you sure aren't scientific at all:upset: Aren't they gel filled? Are you a liar?

The vastly overwhelming evidence of fully functional OEM Buell voltage Regulators would prove otherwise. Of course there are better VR units available now and probably 10 years ago. There are financial constraints of mass production when any product has a price point.

Back on track. I won't respond to TPE-Slacker from here forward.

XB12: IMO a stock VR will be the easiest, fastest, least trouble to dependably get you back on the road. You can cut up your stock wiring harness and make brackets for the chinese VR if you have that extra time, money and effort to spend. I hope you get back to riding soon either way

 

[Slacker]

Not one, look at all these complains people post here. Of cause it failed with such flaws, especially over period of time and some mileage. The point here it would not fail at all if they would build them without such flaws regardless time and mileage. You blame the time, but the reason here is not the time.

The units are not exactly the same. But insufficient wetting soldering flaw in multiple spots is very serious manufacturing defect. To cause such defect you have to ignore a lot of manufacturing requirements. It means they have not only inappropriate quality control but also they use inappropriate soldering compound, inappropriate flux, inappropriate temperature, inappropriate soldering technique and unqualified workers. This flaw is very insidious, VR will work (most of them will work more than 5000-10000 miles) giving you false impression it is robust unit (especially many people here does not ride too much so they keep saying Buell is reliable, but it is not), and you will never even know that you have this issue until you will get stranded hundred miles away from home in the middle of nowhere with dead battery. It means buying new OEM unit is a risky lottery. Buy new Buell OEM VR and hope it will not brake.

They are filled with rubber compound. You can crack the rubber and extract the board.

 

[njloco]

That's him again !
Knocking Buell again, as usual.


Lunatic, find out if there are any missing children, especially little boys where he lives, it wouldn't surprise me know if there was, then give the info to the cops or, better yet to Antifa. vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv.

 

[user_deleted]

NOTE TO SLACKER: THE FOLLOWING IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN CONJUNCTION WITH YOU BEING BANNED AGAIN....TEABAG
1-i will make your true identity known on this board to include name and address.
2-i will make your criminal record known on this board so that other members can judge you for what you truly are. yes....i found it and it's unsavory to put it mildly.
3-if this type of nonsense persists on here myself and several other long-time members will be permanently leaving.

 

[Slacker]

Who is TEABAG? I'm just giving you information and you always have a choice, you can buy any VR whichever you want, this is your motorcycle and your money.

3-if this type of nonsense persists on here myself and several other long-time members will be permanently leaving.

As I understand the lack of knowledge makes you are not able to give any explanation instead of naming my words "nonsense"? If I am wrong prove me wrong or stay quiet. We are here to discuss about the things and I would be happy to hear more reasonable arguments from you about the topic.

I'm sorry if you have to leave the forum just because of you can not tolerate what I said. I was not able to figure out what you like to hear and what you dislike. FYI you can always hit ignore button somewhere here if you found someone says something you don't want to hear.

 

[Cooter]

"Slacker
Junior Member
This message is hidden because Slacker is on your ignore list."


:eagerness:

 

[d_adams]

Banned. Again...


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[wickedchop]

^^^^^^^ what a dick! Do you ever stop?

 

[wickedchop]

Now I wanna hear about his creepy criminal record. Sounds like a "Tree jumper" to me!

 

[lancruza]

Check all your grounds. Check your fuses. Ask me how I know. Here's some direction I got from John - lunatic - when I was having similar problems. John is the man. Listen to John -

"remove fusebox cover and find the "battery" fuse. blade style. remove....discard....replace. costs about 10 cents. carefully check battery terminal and cable connections. don't just view them....remove, clean, replace and re-tighten. check negative cable ground-to-frame connection . anything is possible but never ever saw a VR work, then die, then come back to life, then fade away again. that is a stator symptom due to its inherent design of windings over coils as opposed to sealed integrated circuitry as in the VR. anything of course always possible but focus on stator."

I followed his directions and have not had anymore problems. I also mounted a voltmeter in my dash so I can constantly monitor my charging voltage. It helps me keep my sanity.

 

[lancruza]

Banned. Again...


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That's called being "BUSTED" Thanks Dean