QuestionI bought a honda shadow 3 months ago. Bought a brand new battery for it and charged it all night before installing. I rode around for about a week with no problem until oneday, stopped at a store, went to start the bike and nothing. Battery was dead. As long as I keep the battery charged everything is fine. Could you give me something to go on as to what to look for/at that could be the cause.
Checked the voltage regulator and the ohms were at 4.5 but thats as far as Ive gone so far.
Thanks for your help.
Mark
AnswerHi Mark,
Remove your left side cover by the regulator and
disconnect the coupler with the three
yellow wires in it.
These are your stator wires. All your charging
voltage comes from there as AC current.
On the engine side of the plug or coupler
check if all three yellow wires have
continuity or connection between one another.
This is correct if so.
Now check if any of the wires have continuity
to ground, this is not good.
If they test out okay with the multimeter
then start the bike with the plug
disconnected and connect a voltage meter
between each set of yellow wires on the engine
side. Speed engine up to fast idle and
check the AC voltage output.
Any two of the yellow wires should output
more than enough to charge a battery
if the stator is working.
Anywhere from 20 to about 60 AC volts
or more is normal depending on the engine
speed.
It doesn't matter which volt meter lead is on which yellow
wire as the voltage is AC or alternating voltage.
If you do not have any good output on these
stator wires then the bike will not charge.
The stator coil would need replacement.
If you do find it has good voltage output
then just check your wiring and fuses
and finally replace the regulator.
The regulator on these needs to be grounded firmly
to the bike frame as it dissipates the excess
voltage to ground when charging.
Good luck!
Wayne S.
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