Aftermarket charge rotors

KonigXS650

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Anyone have experience with aftermarket charging rotors? Bought one from ricks motorsport electrical, went out within 30 minutes after install. Sent it in for warranty replacement, new one came yesterday and I got maybe an hour ride before it quit working. Worked fine from the start. Good ohms and 2000rpm volts at battery were 14.2. Into the ride my bar mount volt meter was slowly dropping. didn't pass the slap test and didn't pass ohm test when I got back home I have a new regulator, new rectifier and new battery. Should I try a used rotor? Not sure what I'm missing here
 
They are going to thoroughly inspect a new unit and ship it out to me. Lets hope the 3rd time around is good. If not I think I'll source a good used rotor and see how that goes.
 
I've had great experience with Rick's rotors on two different Honda's that have the same type rotors as the XS650. I would definitely buy from them again. Regulators have been an issue for me, lots of real junk out there, and as always, the wiring. Battery connections, battery, rotor, stator, wiring, wiring connections, brushes, reg/rec, it's ALL got to be right.

Curious, are you slathering your connections with GREASE?

Scott
 
All connections have either been replaced or thoroughly cleaned. New brushes, regulator, rectifier and battery all with less than 2 hours total run time. Stator checked out good with a meter. I have not greased any connections
 
Rick's rotors look nice but mine died within a week. Dead magnet. Wire coil was loose inside the rotor cage when it was hot. It rotated and pulled the wires off of the terminals.
 
I'm not thrilled about RMStator products. Bought one on ebay and in 2-3 months later it failed. They replaced it and I mounted it and still no charge. I'm going to replace the regulator and rectifier and check the wire harness (in place) and check the charging system again.
 
Rick's rotors look nice but mine died within a week. Dead magnet. Wire coil was loose inside the rotor cage when it was hot. It rotated and pulled the wires off of the terminals.

Well, it was also banging on other parts because it was not tight to the crankshaft taper. That rotor took thousands and thousands of hits.

Scott
 
Got my new rotor in. Thinking volt drop is the issue. When the battery is registering 12.50 the brush is showing 11.39. I've cleaned my ignition switch and the connections in the headlight bucket. Must be the the wire running from the switch to the brush. Going to trace it and see if there are any obvious issues, if not I'll cut it out and replace it.
 
Bringing this back up. Bike sat for a good bit while I worked on more important things. Got a new rotor in and everything seemed fine. Went on a fairly decent daytime ride and volts held fine. However it was towards the evening when things went bad again. About 5 minutes into me turning the headlight on the volts dropped. Battery held out until I got home but again the rotor was fried. I am going to replace all the wires I can find leading to and from the headlight. If it pops another rotor I am at a loss as to where to go, just about everything electrical has been replaced.
 
Bringing this back up. Bike sat for a good bit while I worked on more important things. Got a new rotor in and everything seemed fine. Went on a fairly decent daytime ride and volts held fine. However it was towards the evening when things went bad again. About 5 minutes into me turning the headlight on the volts dropped. Battery held out until I got home but again the rotor was fried. I am going to replace all the wires I can find leading to and from the headlight. If it pops another rotor I am at a loss as to where to go, just about everything electrical has been replaced.
Best I can figure... quality on the Chinese rotors is hit and miss. You mighta' got a dud. I've got a rewound rotor here if you're interested.
 
I've been through 4 of them now. First 3 popped within the first 10 minutes of running the bike with the headlight on. Only difference between the first 3 and the 4th was I rode the bike 95% of the time with the headlight off, that's what makes me think its something within that system. Unless all 4 were just not up to par to handle the additional load of the headlight. i'd hate to throw a nice rotor in there and pop it too.
 
I'm pretty sure a bad rectifier would rear it's ugly head all the time, not just when you turn the headlight on.
 
Measure the voltage (key on engine off) at the battery and at the brown wire going to the regulator and let us know what you get. If you're over a .3V drop (difference), the regulator's gonna work the rotor harder. Turning the light on might be putting it over the top.
 
Measure the voltage (key on engine off) at the battery and at the brown wire going to the regulator and let us know what you get. If you're over a .3V drop (difference), the regulator's gonna work the rotor harder. Turning the light on might be putting it over the top.

I'll give that a shot after work today and post results
 
I've been through 4 of them now. First 3 popped within the first 10 minutes of running the bike with the headlight on. Only difference between the first 3 and the 4th was I rode the bike 95% of the time with the headlight off, that's what makes me think its something within that system. Unless all 4 were just not up to par to handle the additional load of the headlight. i'd hate to throw a nice rotor in there and pop it too.
A couple thoughts re the headlight system: (1) if you still have the OEM fuseholder with glass cartridge fuses, check the integrity of the clamps at each end that hold the headlight fuse - they are known to get brittle and weaken, losing clamping force over time - worst case, even breaking off. If there's any problem with the headlight fuse clamps, the other fuseholders are suspect, too. (2) check you headlight wattages - OEM headlight is a 50/40 watt unit, not a real bright unit, but it may have been replaced sometime with a higher-rated unit that puts more demand on the charging system that it can supply after a charged-up battery has depleted.
 
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