[YEAH!]

Hello. My 2008 has now done 33.000kms here in perth australia. I'm the second owner. The alternator coils are shorting to ground and from this website, it appears to be a design fault as honda extended the warranty for the charging system. Is this because the oil has got too hot for the coil? If I fit a fan override switch to turn on the fan at -say 98 degrees rather than the 104 degrees the ECM 's been set for - will this keep the coolant temp down enough to keep the oil temp down enough to avoid the coils overheating? Or is it a manufactured wiring defect where the normal charging current is too much for the coil gauge at the normal oil operating temperature? One CBR site describes it as occurring when riding often at around 4000rpm and overloading the alternator system at those revs. Even though I ride around the 5000 - 6000rpm most of the time, I would like to avoid repeating this repair in another 30,000km. My previous bike - a 94 vfr750 - had a heat sink and computer fan attached to the reg/rec by me after the reg/rectifier failed. This cured that overheating induced charging issue. Any thoughts or sure fire solutions will be appreciated. My local honda dealer told me that a minimum of 12 weeks wait and a cost of about AU $ 650 just for the coil, is the estimate. I purchased a hong kong one with a 6 week wait and will find out then if I bought a good one or not. Is it necessary to get it rewound with thicker wire? Thanks everyone for a great website!!!! regards YEAH!
PS. Spring has been great for riding here

 

[COLVERT]

Best get it rewound.

 

[YEAH!]

Hi all and merry Christmas!!! I've had it rewound - thanks for your advice Colvert - and the rewind company said there was nothing I could do to avoid it burning out again - perhaps in another 37,000 km's - as honda had built in a magnet that is too strong. Design problem.

 

[COLVERT]

All the modern cars you see about on the roads have a regulated charging system.---Honda, in their wisdom, have not fitted a system of any kind. The alternator output is allowed to go higher and higher with no restriction. They just use a heat sink to burn off excessive output. It's this that ends up cooking the stator coils.---Very poor design.----A design fault as you've been told.

 

[YEAH!]

All the modern cars you see about on the roads have a regulated charging system.---Honda, in their wisdom, have not fitted a system of any kind. The alternator output is allowed to go higher and higher with no restriction. They just use a heat sink to burn off excessive output. It's this that ends up cooking the stator coils.---Very poor design.----A design fault as you've been told.

Hi Colvert. I tested my regulator/rectifier and it's got all the right values. I fitted the rewound stator and now I have 14.4 volts at idle, 14.9 at higher revs... manual says less than 15.5 @ 5000revs so for now, my electrical issues are fixed. When I bought the bike I put a computer fan underneath the reg/rec blowing air down when the ignition is on. Hope it increases the life of the reg/rec... My previous bike - a 94 VFR750 - had overheating reg/rec issues too. Honda keeps putting the reg/rec in places where cooling the hot unit is unlikely... Happy New YEAR ALL!!!!!!