So the voltage across the three stator wires is consistent at 24VAC at idle, 40 VAc at 3000 rpm and about 68 VAC at 5000 RPM. Consistent, but does seem a bit high. I have no frame of reference but I would have expected about 12VAC at idle (+/-). It does somewhat explain the High Voltage warning light on the Striker dash computer. Resistance across the coils is 0 Ohms (continuity) and there is no short to ground. Again, resistance seems a bit low, as most of what I've read indicates a few ohms of resistance is normal (2-3 Ohms seems common).
I second the fuse replacement. My '11 630 left me stranded in the bush with a bad fuse. Didn't blow, just kept causing the bike to stall or lose power, before it eventually quit altogether. Took me a while to find the problem. I had to walk out, leaving the bike, when I had new fuses in my pocket the whole time! All good now.
I had a 9V drop across the fuse with no heat visible. Bike barely ran and I had 3V at the headlight. I was all over the bike looking for the expected frayed wire but it was the fuse. Cam.
Yes. I've checked it and the resistance is coming up as 0 Ohms, but I'm guessing my bargain basement multimeter is off a bit. .21 Ohms is as close to zero as this thing is likely to measure and short of getting a $1000 Fluke meter I'm going to assume I'm good on impedance. There's no continuity to ground (as it should be) and the AC voltage checks out while it's running. I will double check the pick-up resistance, but I'm moving away from the stator as the problem. I'm getting the same high voltage warning from my Trail Tech Striker unit even when the stator is completely disconnected (running off the battery alone) so I'm going to see if shielding the coil is of any use. Thanks all the same. My OCD gets out of hand sometimes but I really want to get this sorted. I've fried 4 USB plugs already and it's pissing me off no end.
For shits and grins I'd source a different battery and take it for a spin. It could be that the intermittent "open cell" condition happens so fast that you didn't feel it when riding the bike w/o the charging system hooked up. The charging system may see the momentary loss of the battery though and produce the spike. I think you have a battery or connection issue. The manual says to never run the bike with out a battery hooked up.
Haven't run it with the battery disconnected, just the regulator disconnected. Does that still apply? I'll have to wait until there's less ice on the roads before I take it out again. Worn out knobbies and black ice aren't a good combo.
Will not hurt to run w/o the reg plugged in. Manual is clear though not to run w/o battery hooked up and if your battery has an intermittent bad cell that's the same as no battery. Be it wiring, connection, fuse, or bad battery - I think it's likely your charging system is briefly loosing it's connection to the battery and causing the spike.
