i have seen were the xp has 2 sets of leads 2 pos and 2 neg and was it in 2013 they went to 1 set so are you missing a set of wires?

 

The voltage regulator on my XP4 900 has a total of five wires and matches the part shown in the attached picture.

Three wires go to a connector that plugs into the three yellow wires from the stator. The two other wires are black and red. The red goes to a post with two other reds also on the post. One of those two others goes straight to the battery. The black goes straight to a chassis ground screw. There are probably 3 or four other black wires also on that same ground screw.

With the red and black wires connected to their posts then yes, I get battery voltage of ~12.6 volts, but that's because the battery's positive is directly attached to the same post. If I pull the regulator red off that post and measure voltage, I get 0.9v at idle, and up to between 1.2 to 1.4 volts with revs. If I measure DC amps, I get about 9 at idle, and even a small blip of the gas makes it shoot up to 20+ amps. That's strange...? You would think if the regulator was putting out 20+ amps it would charge the battery...?

So for the hell of it, I attached the voltage regulator's red directly to the red on the battery. No changes. Same numbers. No change in battery voltage with revs.

I'm stumped.

 

well if everything checks out fine on the stator side id say reg is bad

 

Appreciate your thoughts, guys.

As far as disconnecting the voltage regulator...well...the flowchart in the service manual says "Measure between the Red and Black terminals with the harness disconnected." so, it would seem Polaris wants you to measure the voltage regulator's black and red while disconnected... <shrug>

I'd love to swap in another regulator, but at $160+ a pop, it's kind of an expensive experiment. :sad:

 

Yeah, I'm wondering about that, too. My multimeter is an el-cheapo and I've had trouble with it measuring ohms before. It has always measured DC and AC volts perfectly, so I'm confident it is giving me correct voltage readings. I'm not as confident about the ohms, though. Might need to buy a new meter.

 

Attached is a snip of the flowchart. It's the part that I'm not sure I completely understand.

As I said, there is no harness on the red and black wire from the VR. I've seen pictures of other VR's and there is a harness, so I'm thinking the manual wasn't re-written for my particular VR.

Next, it says "Battery voltage must be present on the harness side of the connector." Well which side is that?! The VR side, or the vehicle side? Yes, I have 12.6v on the vehicle side, but that's because the posts that the VR hooks up to have direct connections to the battery's pos and neg. On the VR "side" of the red and black, I get 0.9 to 1.4v, depending on revs. The manual next says "Is voltage present?" Well, yes, voltage is present on the post side at 12.6v, and voltage is present on the VR side at 0.9v........

The next box says, "If all of the previous tests indicate a good condition, but the charging voltage does not rise above battery voltage at the connector or wire harness, replace the voltage regulator." The part "at the connector or wire harness" doesn't make sense to me. Where is "at the connector or wire harness", so that I can put my meter on it and measure it?

 

Does the voltage regulator get warm when the machine is running and everything hooked up? I had a similar problem with mine except it left me stranded. I tested everything like you said and narrowed it down to the voltage regulator. Tested my regulator on a buddies rzr and it worked fine, hooked it all back up the way it was originally on mine and its worked fine ever since. But when it wasn't working right, the regulator wasnt getting warm so I think all mine was was a bad connection somewhere

 

I don't know, scjones. I haven't run it around since having this issue out on the trail the other day.

EDIT: What I mean is I haven't run it down the road or anything. Just a few fire-ups in the garage while testing voltages, etc.

 

sounds like a bad regulator.
you have 30+ volts between ALL yellow wires AC.= stators fine.
the regulator converts it to DC, feeds the battery through the red / black. test the red wire @ regulator should show exactly same voltage as the battery. should have 14v @ 3000rpm's give or take .5volt. if not bad regulator
if you have 14volt @ regulator but 12volt @ battery you have a bad connection between them.
i normaly leave connectors hooked up and stuff the probes in along side the wires while testing the red and blacks.

p.s. if your probes won't fit in the back of the connectors, 2 small paper clips straightened out work great.

 

UPDATE

Ordered a new voltage regulator. Took about 2 minutes to install. Baseline voltage 12.6v. Started it up and battery jumped right up to 14.5v at idle.

Fixed!

Several people I've talked to said it's unusual that such a new voltage regulator went bad. Huh. Guess I'm one of the unlucky ones.

 

i see brand new parts bad alot things are just poorly made now days

 

Damn solar flares! lol


Posted by: Junior

 

It's entirely possible that the regulator was bad brand new when I bought the RZR...

I had maybe 12 hours on it when the battery first went dead. It had been sitting, though, for probably a month...in my barn...in the cold Michigan winter. I figured that's what killed the battery. I put it on my battery tender and charged it up.

7 hours of riding later the battery went dead again...and that's when I realized it was a charging issue, not a battery issue. After a bit of trouble shooting, I figured out the regulator was bad and ordered a new one. Now I'm back in the game.

 

Wow, just came across this thread and I thought I was going crazy too about reading the service manual "flow chart"!! I have a 2014 XP 1000 (only 14.4 hrs) and the service manual reads exactly the same still!

I ran into all the same things with my multimeter including the OHM test. Glad i'm not crazy and shop at the same multimeter store as you . I suspect as well that mine was bad from the factory as I didn't really have an issue until I tried to drive it longer than usual. Every test and result was identical to yours and I was contemplating ordering one because I was sure that must be it.

But I will order a VR now that you and I have had exactly the same symptoms and experiences while testing. Sad thing is I have the extended warranty but all my dealers have a 3 to 4 week wait time before they will even look at the fricken thing. Not worth waiting over a $200 part.

Thanks!@!@

 

Your welcome! Keep us updated to let us know how it goes.

Mine has been perfect ever since the fix over a year ago. Have not had a single battery / charging issue since the new voltage regulator. I've added a bunch of aftermarket accessories, as well - and all continues to be fine.

Oh, and I did get a really nice, new multi-meter. Just needed the problem with the RZR as an excuse to go buy a good one. :cool018:

 

Can someone please help me my voltage regulator just died on my 2014 rzr 900xp so i was taking it out to change it when i noticed the male connecter that come from engine to plug into the voltage regulater one of the connecters melted a little i was wondering should it b ok or should i change it out with the VR ??:0 and if i need to change it how do i go about doing this i am kinda new to the rzr world also not exactly sure if i tested everything right :/

Attachments

 

My turbo has the same issue? did you replace the VR? does it work?

Thanks!

 

I've got some VR problems. My original VR failed. I bought a replacement online, first day out it melted and almost caught on fire. The company sent me a new one but it gets hot very quickly as well. Checked and cleaned all grounds, checked relays and fuses. Tested Stator and replaced the battery. I thought maybe the first replacement regulator was faulty from manufacturers, but 2 in a row? There parts are cheap and causing me to look elsewhere for other problems that don't exist? Any insight or wisdom would be hugely appreciated?