Re: Worfje's Timeline 5th Gen
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2026 8:58 am
First question: what brand fuse was that? I now only use name brand fuses from Buss, Littelfuse, Eaton or MTA, because I have learned that many of the no-name fuses are bogus, one-size-fits-all rip-offs. Cheapo fuses have been tested as blowing at the exact same amperage--regardless of colour and marking. In other words, that "30A" fuse could actually have had a 20A fusible link inside it.Worfje wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2026 12:30 pm Both Eastern Beaver and I were puzzled on why/how the my bike would draw so much current for a longer time frame (longer meaning roughly more than 5 minutes, enabling heat up to above roughly 350°C).
As posted earlier, I did add a custom device for enabling safety light and changed back to halogen head lights (to circumvent possible issues in Germany). It triggered me to make a overview of the power usage and I had a look at the electrical schematic.
Original schematic: VFR800-FIW:
schematic_vfr800fiw_original.jpg
Schematic after installing 'RR directly onto battery':
schematic_vfr800fiw_after_EB_kit_depicted.jpg
For me this explained why the 30A fuse melted/blew in case of 'RR directly onto battery': all current directly consumed and charging the battery must pass the added 30A fuse near the RR, which wasn't the case with the original electrical layout.
In the original electrical layout, the RR provides electrical power parallel to the 'direct consumers' and the battery (if in need of charging) via the main fuse B of 30A.
The fact that the 'main fuse (B)' was fine / did not melt supports that additional current was drawn to charge the battery during the build up to failure. Namely, if the current draw was mainly from the 'direct consumers' the 'main fuse (B)' of 30A should also have melted.
The VFR800FIW stator is specified to deliver 470 W but at 5000 rpm, giving 34 A @ 14 V.
Before the moment of failure, I spend about 20 minutes motorcycling through a traffic jam (allowed in the Netherlands) and ran my hazard lights at low RPM (draining the battery). I cleared the traffic jam and RPM got up to 5000 and for roughly 20 minutes the battery was charging (hazard lights disabled).
My situation (VFR800 + added hazard lights) could be considered unique due to the additional load of the hazard lights device. Anyways, I changed back to the original schematic and did run error free ever since (I did upgrade the connector set that connects the RR to the main wiring harness).
Second question: did you try using a 40A fuse? Just the stator output by itself suggests that a 30A fuse should have blown as soon as the bike hit 5,000rpm. Provided the wiring and fuse holder is suitable, I think upgrading to 40A may be a prudent change in any case (assuming your reg/rec output figure is correct).
This is certainly an interesting report. But, we also know that thousands of VFRs have been running reg/rec's fused directly the their batteries for decades without reporting similar issues. That points to an anomaly. Does Eastern Beaver still sell the same type of harness?
Ciao,
JZH