Practical classics - reg/rec fix ????!

[BrianC]

Does anyone else subscribe to Practical Classics?

When I got my April edition I was delighted to see a piece on a fix which should banish all the woes we hear about.

Unfortunately I could make head nor tail of the instructions given - is it just he? I'd like to think I gave a reasonable intelligence but it has baffled me!!!!

Brian

[BrianC]

I think I have sussed it out !!!!

It wasn't clear that they are fitting a completely new connector block then running the positive and negative directly from the battery into the connector block and blanking off the original positive and negative.

Anyone else tried this??

PS seem to be very confident it us a substantive fix, especially as it was the legendary Ferret who advised.

Brian

[popkat]

You mean Practical Sportsbike magazine


Yes looks like they wire the +ive and -ive direct to the battery, but would have thought you could do it without having to fit a new connector block. As long as the standard block is ok shouldn't you just be able to cut the wires near the block and solder on new wires direct to battery ?

[VTRDark]

which should banish all the woes we hear about.

Oh no it wont. Yes direct battery feed will be a stronger cleaner connection but it it don't take away the mechanical issues of a non Mosfet R/R or non finned earlier OM R/R's.

(:-})

[popkat]

There's plenty of other makes of bike that don't use Mosfet type reg/rec's and don't have issues. wonder what their secret is. I've put Honda superdream reg/rec's on old Suzuki's and had no further troubles as the original 70's/80's Suzuki ones were crap. I think this mod would help, along with some sort of heat sink, maybe not last forever but should prolong the end.
Just quoting here.
The mod comes from a guy called Ferrett who builds and repairs wiring looms with a good reputation, in the article he says he's never had a problem with one after doing this.

[midlifekrisis]

Hi Popkat

One of my items on the winter list was to put a later finned reg on, with the rear tail trim off I couldn't help thinking 'this needs a vent,' its tucked well out of the way and has only 'draughts'.
I have heard of folks mounting a hard drive fan over the top and wiring to the ignition circuit. Do you know if the old flat ones 'cook'?

Dave (Midlifekrisis)

[popkat]

They need to lose the heat somewhere, finned ones will lose heat through the fins, solid ones have a harder time, air flow will help on either. At the moment I'm stripping an old Yam XJ600, early ones had finned reg/rec's later ones were solid, but have a large ally plate between it and the frame, XJ's are not especially prone to reg/rec failures, although I will say any can go on any bike at any time, I have a friend with a CB1300 with nearly 80,000 miles still on it's original, I spent years despatching CX500's and never had one fail on any of them..

Aluminium washers between the unit and the frame will help and create extra airflow, and fitting a computer fan can't do any harm, as long it's wired to a switchable live or you'll have a flat battery when you forget to turn it off. Ultimately a mosfet type should give you no bother, electrex world do them, If you don't want to spend money on something that isn't broke try the above.

[midlifekrisis]

reg failure does seem to be relatively recent and was pretty rare in the 80's (remember them well and cx500's), it seems coupled with higher output and enclosure, I'll make up a heat sink for behind the reg and I think you can get a gel which assists with heat transfer (maplins I guess), the fan could be a pain and I wouldn't fancy push starting a storm!

Dave

[VTRDark]

There's plenty of other makes of bike that don't use Mosfet type reg/rec's and don't have issues. wonder what their secret is. I've put Honda superdream reg/rec's on old Suzuki's and had no further troubles as the original 70's/80's Suzuki ones were crap. I think this mod would help, along with some sort of heat sink, maybe not last forever but should prolong the end.
Just quoting here.
The mod comes from a guy called Ferrett who builds and repairs wiring looms with a good reputation, in the article he says he's never had a problem with one after doing this.

You bring up an interesting point there though there is a reason that manufacturers are changing to the Mosfet style. Cooling is obviously one of the major factors with the R/R failures so design, brand and positioning all come in to play. I just cant see how a direct battery feed is going to help this. Or maybe it's only the earth that makes the difference. IIRC this where it shunts it's heat. A direct earth is going to be better than taking it off the frame or elsewhere.

I know of the ferret and his reputation speaks for itself.
http://www.motorcyclewiring.co.uk/

(:-})

[firestorm_al]

The wiring change itself will not fix a faulty regulator rectifier.

In theory not having a load on the regulator recitifier unit and accellerate its demise and potentially increase the shunting to the stator coils burning them out. This can be as a result of high resistance in the DC output from RR unit to the battery caused by corroded connetors, bad earth etc.

When I replaced the RR unit on my Monster last year I wet down the route of least resistance (which I believe is what they are describing in the article). I.e. I ran new heavy guage wires directly from the RR unit back to the battery (+12v and 0v). I used a 30A Maxi fuse on the +12V wire between the RR and the battery. All the connections were crimped and then soldered (a high wattage soldering iron is helpful).

I then insulated the original DC connector on the loom for the old RR unit by enclosing it in silicon sealant and making sure it was tidied away.

This solution works a treat and is what I will be doing on my Falco when I get some spare time.

At the same time as this I also replaced the starter and earth cabling with uprated items.

I also fitted a voltmeter to give me early warning of any future charging problems. ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motorcycle-Vo ... 3f489c952b )

Al.

[rollingthunderx2]

I think they were just trying to get the existing r/r more reliable.
One mod not mentioned is that a lot of r/r,s fail due to the connector from the genny corroding and melting, caused by a high resistance.
Cut off the connector and solder/heatshrink the wires instead.
Most failed r/r's i have seen have this connector corroded/melted.
Most people would think it was caused by the r/r burning out, but it may be the other way round.

[BrianC]

Hello al

Could you show us where you fitted the voltmeter - I hunk that is a great idea

Brian

[BrianC]

Damned predictive text !!!!!!

[firestorm_al]

Hello al

Could you show us where you fitted the voltmeter - I hunk that is a great idea

Brian

Here it is -

[VTRDark]

That's a very tidy voltmeter that and I like where you have mounted it. Almost looks integrated into the dash.

(:-})