POLL: stator / alternator failure on F800GS/F650GS twins please vote!

Good news, but will the change in windings affect the overall output or will be still have the same amount of juice?


EDIT: Just checked their website....still nothing posted.

It was of no good use when the stator failed and battery started discharging.

I think, the led thing threshold is too low for any good info. by the time you get to the less than 12volt yellow level, your're screwed anyway..

What I think is needed is a proper voltmeter, so you can observe the "high revs charging voltage, with normal running load". Since the problem is no charging, that's what we need to be looking for. An ammeter would be the classic thing, a digital voltmeter can be installed easily.

What i did observe, while i still had enough juice to start and drive (for maybe 10 more minutes)was that the odometer resets to normal from trip A. I noticed this because i always drive with trip A displayed for gas mileage guesses. And then when you stop for gas, restart, and can't reset the trip A cause it's changed to normal, DON'T LEAVE THE GAS STATION !!!!!!! YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.

Also, and this wasn't nearly as clear as to there being a problem, the various other displays on the instruments began to boot (when key turned on) oddly. Some of the idiot lites would act differently than normal, flash oddly, meter needles not sweeping.

My performance running on battery only, seemed much better than an hour. That's a guess, without some measure of charging ability. My first failure was on a shady street on Boise City OK. Really low Lithium battery, 7.5 volts. I bought a new AGM 14BS, a half block away, put in the acid, stuck it in the bike and rode away. I went several hours, spent the night near Guymon OK, rode the next day, stayed near Ponca City OK, rode the next morning to Coffeville KS, the battery died again. I walked a half mile and bought another 14BS (walmart carries these), put it in and rode to the Sedalia rally site. There's no knowing if any of those extra batteries were getting charged by the bike, but they definately did not get a "full overnight" charge before use, i just put in the acid and drove away.

http://f800depot.com/led-motorcycle-battery-voltage-monitor.html

I have one as above, it's stays green above 12volts, so by the time you get to yellow, ouch. Oh and in bright 100F temps you can only easily see red, yellow is dim, green invisible.

the one JR has linked to has more granularity about voltages.

Personally, I'm going to get another one of these...

http://www.aerostich.com/electronic...ters-and-gauges/5-function-digital-meter.html

I used one for years on my GSPD, I trust it. It doesn't work when wet or real cold, but wakes up as the day dries out and warms.

RANT on........Why couldn't they have added a voltmeter function to the trip computer, or somewhere? Especially considering they used to do it for airheads, which didn't have a digital voltage cutoff point, just lousy electrics, but would run and drive safely with low voltages. Now we have slightly more modern electrics which are 100% dependent on proper voltages and we can't keep an eye on that. It's almost like providing no way to determine gasoline level, "oh just drive till it quits and call customer service". rant off

bobo

I had a lot of time to think about why I got 60K + miles from my stator, which I'm told is a long time.

I live near Seattle, we have better natural cooling than many other places. I don't think I had the bike in 100F prior to the trip when the stator failed. I did drive to alaska last year, many hours of the biggest load i could create (heated vest, grips, high beam, radio, gps). And there have been many times with a similar load over the years (not for most of a day though). But mostly I travel in cooler climes. Nothing else makes any sense, except dumb luck.

JR can you add a home latitude to the poll? I wonder how many early failures are below 40, or how many high mileage successes are above 50? Maybe this is why BMW didn't find it early on, too much testing in northern Europe?

bobo

Just catching up here:

I don't know how to add "extra" data/questions to the poll ... I tried once and it didn't seem like it was possible...
If someone knows differently please PM me ... higher ambient temperatures might play a roll, I can't say ... but since the stator is operating at nearly 200C I would tend to think the ambient operating temperature would not make a big difference ... but that's just a guess...

I test drove a 650XCountry some time back and one of the selectable displays for the OBC (along with MPG, temperature and the rest) was battery voltage ... I really don't know why BMW could not do that for use ... but well it's not there ...

I agree the 4-digit digital display is more informative but was trying to find a happy medium between geekdom/distraction and having useful data. The LED I used is supposed to change from green to yellow once voltage drops to less than 12.9V. Since the system sometime charges at as low as 13.3V I figured this would be close enough....



With regards to the max. output of the Electrosport stator, I am afraid I do not know the answer ... sorry...
Not sure if it is still 400W or if some output was sacrificed.

Chart update please. Move my earlier input from no problem less than 20K miles to no problem less than 40k miles

I would like to get more specs info on the new replacement. I'm thinking of doing a preemptive replacement this winter with either a new stock stator or the one that should be coming mentioned in an earlier post.

VTBob:

I do not have detail specs. on the Electrosport, but you can send an e-mail to: info (at) electrosport.com
They are not yet available on the website, but should be there pretty soon the production order of parts is in mfg. now ...

The price was indicated to me to be less than $150 ... vs. ~$800 for the BMW kit of flywheel+stator.

(For the record I have no affiliation with Electrosport)

2010 F800GS 9500 miles with no problems.

Dang I have a Rick's motorsport Stator on the way. I would have bought this one as it sounds like they actually put some serious thought and work into it to get it to survive higher temps. I don't know how Rick's built designed or tested theirs. I may have to look at picking up an electrosport one anyway

Mine failed at 34,900 miles and left me stranded on I-30 just west of Fort Worth. Buddy came with jumper cables and we charged it on the side of the road with his car for about 15 minutes. I unhooked the headlight and blasted to the house. Pulled into the garage right as it died.

My stator went out at 17,700 miles two days into a 10 day trip. Had to get the bike trailered 90 miles to the nearest descent sized town (thanks to AAA). Overnighted a Rick’s Motorsport stator to the hotel and installed it in the parking lot.

Thanks to you all here at Adventure Rider I was able to diagnose and fix the problem and continue on my way. Love this community/forum!

Not sure if my bike quit today because of the stator but it sure sounds suspiciously like that. I noticed the 'Trip 1' switching itself to the odometer as I started the bike at various times today, then it was reluctant to start, then while moving I noticed the top warning indicator come on, then the digital display went away, then it died.

Email sent to electrosport.com

And here I thought it died just to spite me.

Any special tools needed to change just the stator? How long did it take to change?

They're pretty easy to change. A 10mm socket and something to turn it with, the underseat torx drive to remove the body work, and some snips to cut the zip ties with. It's defiantly an easy parking lot job if you have to do it, but having a garage and some beer handy sure is nice

I had mine replaced in about an hour or two all said and done. You do have to solder some wires together on the Rick's unit though it doesn't come with the connector so you have to cut your old connector off and go from there. The instructions say NOT to use crimp connectors. Not sure why guess the possibility of them coming loose that way.

The longest part of the job to me was soldering the connector cause I suck at soldering. Probably should have just said screw it and used good 3M connectors instead but oh well.

We'll see how long the Rick's unit lasts. Hopefully as long as my stock unit.

Yep, what jeepinbanditrider said. I didnt have any soldering equipment or new gasket so I just twisted and taped the wires and used the original gasket to get me through the trip. Now I'm going to have to go back in to do it right but at least I have some beer this time. The parking lot job took me about three hours but I was going slow to make sure I wasnt going to have any more problems on my trip.

Finally got around to checking the F8 charging problem and the stator is toast, confirmed by my mechanic who's BMW factory trained. Oh well, that is the first thing we've ever had go wrong on the F650/800 bikes aside from expendables like steering head bearings, etc.

Sure glad I still have a Suzuki DR to ride.

Well, my stator bit the dust this past weekend at 45,509 miles. First sign was the ABS light flickering on and off while I was still about 100 miles from home, followed shortly thereafter by the loss of speedometer, tachometer, and the OBC display. I managed to make it to within a mile of my house, but when I pulled in the clutch at a stop light, the engine died and there was no way to restart it.

Got a Rick's stator on order. There's no way I'm paying US$900 for the BMW kit.

I can't change my vote now, but I'm now in the 40-60K failure camp.

I'll see if I can figure out how to change your vote!
While you're waiting for the new stator, if you haven't done it already,
be sure to put your battery on the charger - AGM batteries hate to be left discharged!

OK, I can't figure out how to change a vote in the poll - mine or anybody else's for that matter....
If someone knows how this is done please PM me?

Thanks!

Heres how I interpret this poll (as of 8/31/12)


A total of 116 respondents report under 20k miles. 6 have had failure for a rate of 5%

A total of 70 report having reached 20-40k miles. 22 have had failure for a rate of 31%

A total of 19 report having reached 40-60k miles. 9 have had failure for a rate of 47%

2 have gone over 60k miles, both failed. 100%

Would be interesting to build a chart using exact mileage. Looks to me if you get to 40k, your days are numbered. :huh

It would be interesting to see if most of the failures happen to the 800 or if it's 50/50 800 and 650s.