I was reading about the brand you purchased and it seems the R/R is designed to produce adequate voltage when the engine speed is low (idle or just above, stop and go traffic). I didn't really read anything saying it was a poor aftermarket brand. I read two negative things, one shop stopped carrying them because of too many coming back and another where guys did have a bad one outa the box but nothing more than that. They followed up on the warranty and the problem was solved. What are the output specs from Electro Sport? The OEM R/R is suppose to reach its peak output of 13 - 15.5 V when at 5k rpm.
I was also checking out this trouble shooting flow chart (http://www.offwidth.co.uk/bike/gener...lt_finding.pdf) and it had some interesting suggestions. Read section D, it says there could be a bad connection between the R/R and battery through the ignition switch. I looked at a wiring diagram and the only way the ignition switch is remotely connected is through the starter relay switch. The R/W wire coming out of the R/R leads into the starter relay and the Red wire that also comes into the starter relay is from the ignition switch.
I would think that there would be other problems showing up if a starter relay or ignition switchwas going bad. For instance, the starter motor won't turn over when pushing the button. I looked over a Honda manual and it suggests poor ground, faulty battery, or faulty R/R when the charging system output is in excess of 15.5 V. I would do what you plan on doing and look for a poor ground. Do you have a copy of a wiring diagram?

 

Regulator Rectifier. Guaranteed

 

But I keep replacing them. Are you saying I should change brands? I'm not against that at all.

 

marc,

I do have the Honda book, w/ diagrams. I'll look for ground issues and post my results here this evening.

Thanks!

 

Sounds like a plan about the results of your findings for a possible ground issue, I'm interested to see what you find. I would go for an OEM R/R, but try seeing if you cando awarranty exchange. When mine failed, I sprung for one and I haven't had an issue yet. You've sunk a substantial amount of cash into these two R/Rs. Contact Electro Sport and just tell them that your new R/R didn't solve your problem of a dead battery. It's not really that far off from the truth, youstill have dead (Don't mention they're cooked ) battery. I would say something along the line that after troubleshooting the issue, it points to a failed R/R. An alternative is to use R/R from another bike. I have read where guys have used GSXR R/Rs with success. I also remember reading on here how a guy took a GM R/R and adapted it to his F3 successfully.

 

Just went over all the wires and connections I could find (short of behine the gauges). I cleaned all connectors, wiggles everything, loosened and re-tightened ground to frame locations.

Put it back together enough to start and............ To darn much voltage again. Anything above idle gets the meter into the high teens, low 20's....

The ohm check on the three stator wires passes. Harness check at the r/r passes.

I think I'll go ahead and get a different r/r. I've heard about the GSXR units on F3's. Might try that. I also want to go ahead and get a new stator while I 'm at it. I'll install 1 at a time, with some tests in the middle. I'd LOVE to find out what's been causing this!

 

Try checking the connectionat the starter relay and make sure there is no corrosion/damaged to theconnection. I was looking at the wire diagram andthe Red/White wire is connected with the Red from the ignition and then fused. Look at the positive lead from the battery and make sure there isn't anything going on there. There could possibly be corrosion inthis areathat would lead the R/R to work harder than it has too.
I wouldn't rush out and buy a stator until you do a couple more checks on it. Make sure there isn't any continuity between the Green wire (-) and all theYellow wires. If by chance there is continuity, check the continuity again at the statorconnector and the Green wire. I would also check the AC current coming out of your stator. The one flow chart gives instructionsin section B on meter settings and the output you should see from the stator.
Youcould alsohave abad battery although 20 + V seems a little excessive for a bad battery. How old is the battery? Does it show any signs crapping out by not holding charge or dying quickly when under a load? If you try to look through it, can you see if there is enough acid in the battery. Hopefully your battery is transparent enough to see through for that. If your battery is bad, it willgiveyou falsereadingsin some of thetests(experienced this first hand).
Did you get continuity between the Green wire and the frame at the R/R connector? What was the voltage between the Green wire (-) and the Red/White wire (+) when the ignition is in the off position? I know... too many questions. I put in a picture of the wire diagram to show what I was talking about with the starter relay.

Here is a link for the Susuki fix:
https://cbrforum.com/m_199676/mpage_.../tm.htm#199676
Here is a link for the GM one... not so sure about it though:https://cbrforum.com/m_184377/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm

 

Wow. I'll print that out and go try each of the tests you mention. I've already deon the r/r tests from another thread I found.

The battery is NEW.
The current r/r is about 2 weeks old.....

......when my headlights popped.

Only thing "old" is going to be the stator.

I'll post my findings. Can't do it tonight though, about to crank this up for the first time....

http://wrongmotor.com/truck.htm

Scroll down a little to find a gallery of pics. I'm not a truck guy, but my father in law sure as heck loves it!

 

God speed on cranking that beast over!! Looks like a really fun project!