Alternator Sanity Check me please

[JimC]

Serk
Find an alternator / starter re-builder. That had to be put together by someone, I have a hard time believing that that wire can not be repaired and put back together by a competent shop.

Jim

[Serk]

Serk, you did exactly the same thing I did on my spare alternator.

I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one that did that...

[Lyle Laun]

Serk:
Sorry about your troubles but a good alternator repair shop will fix both of those alternators and you'll have proper Honda spares not that Amazon knock off crap.

Lyle....

[F6BANGER]

One thing that will help with alternator life is keeping it clean and cool. Once a year pull off the chrome alternator cover and take the air hose to the alternator while the engine is running. You will see a lot of dust come out so you should wear a dust mask. I hit it from every angle for a few minutes. The dust kinda clogs the air passages and makes it run hotter. As stated above, eventually you will need to change out the brushes. I have 128,000 miles on the original alternator. Im sure this spring it will be time to pull the alternator and check the brushes. Hope this helps.

[JimBob]

Regarding a small voltage monitor:

I installed a small red-yellow-green-red/green LED voltage monitor on one of my bikes (not a Valk) when I was having what appeared to be an intermittent charging system fault.
I found the monitor on Ebay for around $15-$20.
It's a small round lamp (mounts in a 10mm diameter hole, but I epoxied it to a 'dimple' in the side of the speedometer). 2-wire hookup, Red to +12V, black to ground.
The one I bought was made by Gammatronix in England and had 'battery-only' mode (for battery-driven applications) and 'charging-system mode' for vehicles with a charging system. For 'charging system' applications the lamp illumiates Green for 'system OK' (about 15V down to maybe 13V, Yellow for 13V down to 11.7V or so, then Red for 11.7V down to 11.2 or so, then Flashing Red below that. Oh, and also Flashing Red/Green for overvoltage, over about 15V.

Typical Ebay ad as of 03 February 2019:
Link:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/6v-12v-24v-Programmable-LED-Battery-level-voltage-monitor-meter-indicator-J/200843083721?hash=item2ec32e3fc9:g:dA8AAMXQVT9S2Hr5

I find the monitor useful as a check when riding the bike that I had the intermittent problem occur (I took it apart, everything checked OK, I put the bike back together and everything's working OK..... but WHAT caused the glitch? I don't know).... so I like the monitor light. It works without being a large distracting 'thing' on the bike.

I hope this helps!

Jim

[Serk]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm still looking for something that I like aesthetically for my tourer (nee standard) but I got this meter off of Amazon for my Interstate:




https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B4HV0UQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Drilled a hole in the left radiator pod facing the driver just under the air vent and tapped it into a wire going to a small LED light I added. I know getting the wire as close to the battery is preferable, but figured the LED light draws so little it shouldn't matter too much, we'll see I can pop the tank and re-wire it if necessary.

I like the look so far, the 2nd alternator should appear Tuesday evening, so then begins the rest of the Great Adventure.

Extra frustrating because I'd taken my time being careful to remember what angle I held the alternator, the phase of the moon, exactly how I was holding my tongue outta my mouth, etc while removing the old one just to make it theoretically easier to get the new one in, but now all that knowledge has grown stale, so we'll see.....

[The emperor has no clothes]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm still looking for something that I like aesthetically for my tourer (nee standard) but I got this meter off of Amazon for my Interstate:




https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B4HV0UQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Drilled a hole in the left radiator pod facing the driver just under the air vent and tapped it into a wire going to a small LED light I added. I know getting the wire as close to the battery is preferable, but figured the LED light draws so little it shouldn't matter too much, we'll see I can pop the tank and re-wire it if necessary.

I like the look so far, the 2nd alternator should appear Tuesday evening, so then begins the rest of the Great Adventure.

Extra frustrating because I'd taken my time being careful to remember what angle I held the alternator, the phase of the moon, exactly how I was holding my tongue outta my mouth, etc while removing the old one just to make it theoretically easier to get the new one in, but now all that knowledge has grown stale, so we'll see.....

Not to fret. There are only 4826 different possible angle combinations. 

[Serk]

Update: 2nd alternator came today, actual Valkyrie Interstate model number.

Getting it in wasn't TOO bad, I'd rather do that than take the rear end apart.

Even though I had to do it twice because I'd installed the rubber dampeners incorrectly the first time.

Someday I might get the gumption to try to get the middle bolt that I broke off out and replaced, but not today. (Ugh... Always something, but it's good and snug with the top and bottom bolts in place at least.)

Button'ed up and put everything back together, turned the key and my shiny new voltmeter goes to 12.1 volts. Fired up the bike and 13.9, go for a ride and it's holding 14.0 to 14.1ish... So far so good!

So that sucked, but done enough... And really liking the voltmeter, just still need to figure out a solution for the Tourer...

(The display doesn't show up well in the photo, it's much easier to see and read in person.)

[The emperor has no clothes]