error 46 while riding

so last night i'm cruising along, about 17 miles into my ride, and nearly home, engine warning light and error code 46 show up. i notice a definite decrease in brightness in my headlight, as well as the pulses from my heated jacket being exaggerated in the light. get home, and i try the old turn it off and on again. only it doesn't crank. i get angry relay buzzing. find out that error 46 is from low voltage to the ecu.    why am i suddenly having electrical issues. i hook the bike up to a tender for the night, and this morning it starts up and the code goes away.

right now being the cold season. my heated grips(dual stars) are on high at all times and i run my warm'n'safe 95w liner at about 2/3 power. i've had the bike since new in 2008, and this has been how i've run the bike pretty much every cold season as far as electrical accessories go. did i wind up over taxing the charging system on the bike, and did i wind up finally causing damage to it?

How old is the battery?

While the WRR stator does have enough power output to run that stuff it is not always outputing full power. The power to a degree depends on the engine rpm. When the power is not sufficient to run all that gear the power then starts coming from the battery.

original battery from 2008.

router.exe wrote:

original battery from 2008.

I would start there. See if you can get it tested.

My experience is that 5 years for a battery on a motorcycle is a very long life.

rsteiger wrote:

router.exe wrote:

original battery from 2008.

I would start there.  See if you can get it tested.

My experience is that 5 years for a battery on a motorcycle is a very long life.

thanks. i wasn't sure how long was too long to run a battery. i'll check in with a shop this week.

threw a new battery in the bike, and it still happened with the heated jacket on medium and the grips on high. what do i need to test my R/R and my Stator?

router.exe wrote:

threw a new battery in the bike, and it still happened with the heated jacket on medium and the grips on high.  what do i need to test my R/R and my Stator?

Do you know how many watts your jacket and grips are rated at?

Any additional lighting on the bike?

sorry for delay in this update. i think i have a short. the bike was losing juice just sitting for the day while i was at the office yesterday. i had put the bike on a tender before i could leave the office. i unhooked the heated grip and jacket wires from the battery. this morning it started up like new. will be leaving the office in an hour, and will hopefully have the same results of a strong start.

latest update. rode the bike wednesday night without my heated accessories. everytime i start the bike, it's a strong start. going to add back in the heated jacket for my next ride since that's the fastest short to diagnose.

3 days of sitting with no tender and the heated electrics still out of the loop, and the bike starts up just fine this morning. trying out the heated jacket today. too damn cold to ride without it.

router.exe wrote:

3 days of sitting with no tender and the heated electrics still out of the loop, and the bike starts up just fine this morning.  trying out the heated jacket today.  too damn cold to ride without it.

looks like the heated jacket is drawing too much for the charging system.

heated jacket is 90w warm'n'safe controlled with a warm'n'safe heat troller. tried both wireless and wired troller with similar results. if i wound up in any stop and go the headlight pulse was exaggerated. the indicator that the engine light was about to come on. unplug the jacket, and everything returns to somewhere near normal.

borrowing my wife's 250 today and tomorrow as another test. hers has the dual start heated grips still hooked up, which was nice this morning. this mornings ride, i didn't see any of the symptoms my 250 was exhibiting.

according to dual star site, teh grips draw 36W on high.

The Stator is rated at 350W at 5000 RPM.

I borrowed a friends Gerbing jacket and some heated gloves once on my WRR and it seem to do fine.  I think the Jacket was rated at 90W but I am not sure about the gloves. I was not running the jacket very high but I did shut it of when I was going around town since I was getting too hot.

i've run the jacket and grip combo every winter since i bought the bike in 2008. it may be that it really is too much. i found some how-to's for basic tests of the stator and r/r. i'm going to pull the case cover off this weekend and do a visual inspection as well of the stator.

found my problem.

#1) For the ignorant (me specifically) - can you explain what the problem is? What the picture shows? Is something jumping out at me that I'm missing?     

#2) Your avatar is now a perfect choice for your situation.....from where I sit.   

I'm guessing fried stator from powering lots of electric accessories.

YZEtc wrote:

I'm guessing fried stator from powering lots of electric accessories.

this

here's what it should look like.  this is what i replaced it with.  


fun facts:

1) a brand new one from yamaha is $171
2) to get on rewound is between $145 and $200
3) i got a used one off ebay for about $80

The stator on these bikes are putting out full power all the time. Granted 'full power' depends on the engine RPM too.

Any excess power is shunted to ground by the Regulator/Rectifier. This is a lot different than say a charging system on a car where the field current is varied to control the output of the alternator.

So if you are running a lot of extra accessories one could argue that you are extending the life of your R/R.