Usually normal 14-15 volt charging is shown on the dashboard but recently it started switching from my odo or trip display to voltage by itself (without me asking for it) as if trying to get my attention. So i recorded a video and noticed when it jumps to voltage, it momentarily shows over 16 volts. 16 or 16.1v.

Is this a complex repair or something simple? Bike is 8 months old.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Usually normal 14-15 volt charging is shown on the dashboard but recently it started switching from my odo or trip display to voltage by itself (without me asking for it) as if trying to get my attention. So i recorded a video and noticed when it jumps to voltage, it momentarily shows over 16 volts. 16 or 16.1v.

Is this a complex repair or something simple? Bike is 8 months old.

Well, let me say first that CFM meters are not the most accurate in ...well anywhere. But if the voltage is actually doing that it's either a failing rectifier/regulator..which wouldn't surprise me...or the start of a failing coil of the stator..also not out of the realm of possibilities. It..can also indicate contact being made between the stator and the rotor's magnets..which would indicate a main bearing failure..but that's rare so let's only look for contact marks if you have to replace the stator. You can do an ohm test and a direct voltage output on the stator. That's in the manual...or at least it should. It may have a test procedure on the rectifier..but I am not aware of one myself. 

Thanks bud, dang. That's a lot and assumes great electrical knowledge. Out of pay grade unfortunately. If I knew what exactly to look for that would help. Contacted the service but hate having to take my machine there, 45 min trucking the thing one way and possibly need to leave there.

If it's above your pay grade, then take it in.  It is what it is, and parts will be expensive if you don't use your warrantee.

You could possibly hook up a separate volt meter and monitor it to see if the increase is picked up by both meters, which might help diagnostic efforts for an intermittent problem.

Voltage escaping the regulator is usually a regulator problem. It's responsible for providing steady voltage regardless of engine speed and stator/alternator output.

Can you post the video?

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

The other thing is if it is jumping to 16 volts...it won't be long before the ECU and/or the EPS controller bails on you and that..ain't cheap.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

I can't see it. Don't even know where to look. You need a frame rate of 60 per second...and a longer video.

OK, removed that video as it was crap. I was recording something else at that time, hence the quality. Here is a new one. See voltage coming on by itself and jumping as much as 16.8 volts for a moment.

UPDATE: took it in (2hrs driving round trip, time, gas, loading it up, stress), dealer replaced voltage regulator and declared it finished. I test drove for 2 minutes around his lot and all was good (it comes on randomly, not always right away). And of course, i bring it home, unload, take it for a ride and ... 3 minutes later voltage is displayed again. Fudge!!!!

What is next to look into? Someone mentioned stator? I have no idea about these things. So I appreciate all the input.. the dealer might not have the necessary experience either. Do you know if they can tap into some larger CFMOTO knowledge database? I would imagine the HQ has techs who know this system inside and out and can advice the dealer of the solution or maybe they have seen this issue before? (i would assume they have, no? Clearly the dashboard is designed to display voltage when an issue is detected, so...)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWm8sONVwik

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

That's better. Well it really doesn't take much to run over 14.7 and hit 16 volts..yet I don't see any flashing high voltage sensor input errors triggering an EFI/MIL light to come on. Makes me think that maybe the volt meter isn't quite accurate. Can you hook-up a quality multi-meter and verify the reading? OK, let's assume it is accurate for a second (hard to do with anything electrical with CFM). Are you sure that dealer put a new rectifier/regular in it? I mean do you see that it is in fact a different one?
There is only a few things aside from a bad rectifier that can cause a spike like that..if that's actually what it's doing. One is a momentary disconnect from the battery. This might happen if the battery had an internal problem or say..the main system fuse holder had the ...very common...internal cold connection issue. Have you ever experienced and other oddities with power..dimming lights, flashing dash...momentary running issues...ect? The other thing that can cause it is a problem with the stator...however..I have to say that stator failures usually involve a failing coil and that usually shows as a voltage loss..not gain. If you have the service manual you can test the ohms of each set and the voltage to see if that are in range of not. The thing that does spike power and kill stator coils is contact between the magnets on the rotor and the coil itself...and that requires movement of the rotor and/or the crank shaft..as in a failing main bearing or warped rotor. I say grab a good meter and test what you can test. If all tests well and especially if it doesn't get what the dash gets, then I wouldn't worry about it. JMO. 

Hey NMK, dang thanks so much for your time. I truly appreciate it.

I will reply in a list so it is easier to address it.

1. I do not see any flashing / warning lights. no. I don't even know if they exist on the dash, do they? The suspicious thing is that in the first 6 months, the bike did not switch over to voltage display by itself and now it does. I assume that is a built in feature that alerts me to the issue.

2. The new regulator looked black and clean so i assume they changed it. Otherwise they'd be total scammers, right? Yes, the old one could have been cleaned but why on earth.. right?

3. I will double check the connections to the battery to make sure they are tight.

4. When the bike was bought, i had an issue IMMEDIATELY. MOment i brought it home! Under the seat the main solenoid was burnt , all power was lost (after 30 minutes of it dying and dying). I took it in and NOT sure what they did, maybe they just replaced the fuse but it looked and smelled burnt. Fast forward 6 months and it happens again on the trails! Bike dies. We check and the fuse is blown, someone also put a 25 amp fuse in there even tho the fuse cover said 30. I put in a new 30 amp fuse and so far so good. BUT according to what you said, do you think these two things could be related??? (is this what you called "internal cold connection issue"? could it be loose, the whole solenoid etc?)

5. finally, where do i check the real voltage and how. i have a multimeter but just need to know precisely where. Pls describe with details, thanks so much! (still, it is annoying as hell when the display switches to volts and it did not do that before).

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Hey NMK, dang thanks so much for your time. I truly appreciate it.

I will reply in a list so it is easier to address it.

1. I do not see any flashing / warning lights. no. I don't even know if they exist on the dash, do they? An EFI or MIL light should be there. The suspicious thing is that in the first 6 months, the bike did not switch over to voltage display by itself and now it does. I assume that is a built in feature that alerts me to the issue. That's odd but maybe it's supposed to.

2. The new regulator looked black and clean so i assume they changed it. Otherwise they'd be total scammers, right? Yes, the old one could have been cleaned but why on earth.. right? Right

3. I will double check the connections to the battery to make sure they are tight. Maybe have the battery load tested. It might have an internal fault..probably not but there is a history of a short you say later.

4. When the bike was bought, i had an issue IMMEDIATELY. MOment i brought it home! Under the seat the main solenoid was burnt , all power was lost (after 30 minutes of it dying and dying).WHAT! This unit had a direct short or fused connection that burned the starter solenoid(the only solenoid there is))and took the battery to dead? That will have done a lot of damage to the harness and components....and battery.  I took it in and NOT sure what they did, maybe they just replaced the fuse but it looked and smelled burnt. Fast forward 6 months and it happens again on the trails! Bike dies. We check and the fuse is blown, someone also put a 25 amp fuse in there even tho the fuse cover said 30. I put in a new 30 amp fuse and so far so good. BUT according to what you said, do you think these two things could be related??? (is this what you called "internal cold connection issue"? could it be loose, the whole solenoid etc?) The main 30 amp fuse is all by itself and inside the fuse holder the wires are crimped onto the ends that the fuse plugs into. Those crimps were not tight on thousands of fuse holders sent to the CFM factory and failed many people. Mostly on the 18-20 models.

5. finally, where do i check the real voltage and how. i have a multimeter but just need to know precisely where. Pls describe with details, thanks so much! (still, it is annoying as hell when the display switches to volts and it did not do that before).
You MUST first have the service manual for the specs. Then you unplug the stator connection, set the volt meter to A/C and the lowest voltage it has, then going by what the manual says you will test each one first to ground then combining two at a time in different orders and record the reading and compare to the specs. You will also test the ohms of resistance of each coil set and compare to the specs. Easy to do...but you need the specs and the procedure.

4. I still do not know what happened back then. Evening #1 i bring the bike home, brand new. .Runs and dies after 2 minutes, then goes back to life, runs and dies after 1 minute. and so on for about 15 minutes and is totally dead. I smelled something burned.

Located the burn under the seat, the fuse next to the solenoid was toast. Bring it to the dealer next day, NO CLUE what he did, did he replaced the fuse? I don't recall but i think the fuse holder was melted. Did they replace the solenoid? NO CLUE.

Bike runs great for 6 months, not single issue. Then in april on the trails, same symptom. Runs and dies shortly. After 5 minutes, no power, dead . We locate a burnt 25amp fuse. Replaced with 30 and good until now.

What do you advise? Do you think both issues are connected?

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

4. I still do not know what happened back then. Evening #1 i bring the bike home, brand new. .Runs and dies after 2 minutes, then goes back to life, runs and dies after 1 minute. and so on for about 15 minutes and is totally dead. I smelled something burned.

Located the burn under the seat, the fuse next to the solenoid was toast. Bring it to the dealer next day, NO CLUE what he did, did he replaced the fuse? I don't recall but i think the fuse holder was melted. Did they replace the solenoid? NO CLUE.

Bike runs great for 6 months, not single issue. Then in april on the trails, same symptom. Runs and dies shortly. After 5 minutes, no power, dead . We locate a burnt 25amp fuse. Replaced with 30 and good until now.

What do you advise? Do you think both issues are connected?

Yes, I believe somehow...some way.. it is all connected. May be to an existing problem or something they did...or didn't do, but connected-yes.

Battery is tight. Solenoid and fuse seem tight.

I do not have service manual of course so i imagine this is where my involvement ends. and hope they can troubleshoot. it just pisses me off that it happens now immediately when i start the engine and sure enough did not freakin happen THERE when I was there with the bike 2 days ago. f insane the crap luck. i get 16.8v and i think even 17.x flashed for a moment, UNLESS.... the voltmeter that is built in produces wrong values but how possible is that since most of the time it shows 13-15 volts which I understand is ok.

Found this on a polaris forum. Stator??

"I just went through a similar situation with a 2005 sportsman 400. Overcharging up to over 19v. I replaced the ecm and it didn't fix it. Got another ecm from dealer to make sure it wasnt a faulty ecm out of the box. Still didn't fix it. So I pulled the stator out and sure enough there was a spot that arched out. Replaced stator with a cheap one from Caltric and it fixes the issue. Think it was under $50 for stator through Caltric on ebay"

Is this possible here and is stator replacement super easy on cfmoto or lots of parts have to come off?

UPDATE: as it happened 2 weeks ago as well! I am getting somewhere! I think it ONLY does it when it's cold! not so much on hot engine!

Just came back from a 25km ride and has not shown me voltage even once!!!

And of course, V came on right BEFORE this ride, on cool engine.

So???