Changing Stator again, Ugg

[blueironranger]

Well my experiment with a RMStator is over, after 600 miles since it burnt a winding yesterday. Short Back story, someone half assed a starter gear repair and didn't fish out all the shrapnel, took out stock stator last year. At the time the factory stator was on back order and
I wanted to get a few more rides in last year so I ordered a RMStator and cleaned up the scratches on the flywheel. Sled started up and was charging again, almost too good, with 14.4V at idle and would read 14.6-14.9 while cruising down the trail. I really don't recall the stock stator voltages but 14.9 seems right at the top of the acceptable range too me. Well yesterday I was flipping through the gauges and seen 12.3V and immediately stopped to investigate and to save power I pulled the headlight bulbs. Started heading home and notice it was charging again so I stopped and plugged the headlights in and it dropped to battery voltage again. I was obviously not making full amperage so I checkrd the stator and had coil to ground on all 3 leads and pulled the cover to find a burnt winding and to my relief NO SHRAPNEL. Dropped the pan again and also found no remaining shapnel.

I still have warranty on the Stator but I'm wondering if I should chance installing another one?

Is it possible the Voltage regulator is going bad and caused too much draw on the stator?

Is it possible the stator itself was causing the higher than normal voltage buy pushing too much AC voltage to the regulator?

I only have one other Viper near me and his is around 13.5V at idle with the hand warmers on and 14.2V going down the trail. Are these the expected voltages?

 

[cannondale27]

Warranty it. If it burnt one it was shorted. Those voltages are just fine. But I would be darn sure nothing rubbed on the windings. If I could get some miles on my Winder setup I would sell you my stock Viper Stator and Flywheel just to early to make that call though. Only 200mi on for year so far

 

[blueironranger]

No rub marks at all. I’m going warranty this stator and I ordered an OEM one to install in its place. The OEM one definately used a thicker gauge wire in the windings. Since it’s been in the back of my head since last year I pulled the motor today just to make sure all the previous metal was out, and it was. It appears that dropping the pan in the chassis and fishing a magnet around was successful last year. I work the next 10 days straight so no real sledding time lost as long the the parts show before my long stretch off! Plenty of the white stuff up here in the Arrowhead of Minnesota.

 

[blueironranger]

Just an update, OEM is definitely the way to go. 500 miles on over the weekend with the OEM stator and my charging voltage is more inline with what I'd expect. I'm now seeing 14.0v at idle with the warmers on and 14.3v- 14.6v going down the trail. The OEM stator uses a slightly thicker winding and has less wraps around each pole compared to the RMStator and physically weighs quite a bit more. The way the RMstators was wound looks like it was for a lower RPM type engine and cooked itself.

 

[cannondale27]

Just an update, OEM is definitely the way to go. 500 miles on over the weekend with the OEM stator and my charging voltage is more inline with what I'd expect. I'm now seeing 14.0v at idle with the warmers on and 14.3v- 14.6v going down the trail. The OEM stator uses a slightly thicker winding and has less wraps around each pole compared to the RMStator and physically weighs quite a bit more. The way the RMstators was wound looks like it was for a lower RPM type engine and cooked itself.

Good to know. I have over 1000mi on now so would be willing to sell my stock setup if things go south again.