Regulator Rectifiers

[Resurrection]

May be a stupid question and i think i know the answer but to put my own mind at ease...

Are regulator rectifiers universal or are they specific to bikes or engine sizes etc?

Cheers

Res
____________________
ZX9r

[Graham88]

Specific to bikes.

However I could put an R6 Reg/Rec on my VFR400 and it would be ok. So you can mix some of them, but not all.

[stinkwheel]

The vast majority of bikes have a three phase, 12v, magnetic alternator. The reg/rec units on these differ in shape and wire colours, some have 5 wires, some have six. They all work in the same way though and are pretty interchangeable.

Once you get into slightly older bikes, you start to see seperate regulators and rectifiers. If they still have a 3 phase, 12v charging system with magnets, these are interchangeable too, and interchangeable with a modern, 'one piece' unit.

There are always exceptions though. Some bikes don't have magnets in the alternator. So while theyt are 3-phase, they use electromagnetic field coils. These need a special sort of voltage regulator.

Then you have smaller bikes, especially older 125s which might be 6v. The might have only one or two charging phases. Some of them use AC voltage direct form the alternator, some have a dynamo, some use a mixture of AC and DC, some of them just have a rectifier without a regulator, some use a cluster of diodes to half rectify the voltage.

Then you get OLD bikes like old brits which have things like magnetos and zennor diodes.

But most modern jap road bikes have the same, six wire reg/rec setup, you just need to work out which wire goes where if you want to chop and change them. Some trailies still use field coil alternators or a basic, direct lighting setup.

[Kickstart]

[Resurrection]

The thing is something is blowing my reg/rec. Now tomorrow im going to check the output from my alternator with a multi meter and see what its giving out. My bike is an 03 plate baimo which is a german import of some crappy korean design. The electrics on them are notoriously bad but im blowing regs and then having to run my lights etc off battery power alone so i have to charge it every night. One of my headlight bulbs stopped working and thats when it all started. The bulb now works again so i was thinking maybe a bad earth? Its annoying me so needs doing..

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Res
____________________
ZX9r

[stinkwheel]

How many wires are on your reg/rec? What colour are they?

Assuming it has a 'standard' 3-phase charging system, and it is connected properly, I can't think what would kill a reg/rec except for it being a shitty one. A problem with the alternator would usually just make it charge inefficiently or not at all.

You could be onto something with the earth, they rely on being able to dump excess power to earth, if it can't do this, the voltage would be higher than the loom is designed for. This would usually manifest itself as popping bulbs and/or fuse, it would eventually kill the battery.

Might be worth using a decent one. Honda superdream ones are good. You can get them off breakers but they are so popular that some companies now make pattern ones too. There's not much that a superdream reg/rec wont handle.

[finpos]

What Stinkwheel said. Altenators are self-limiting, i.e. they can only generate so much power, and in the case of the ones fitted to bikes, it's not that much. So as long as what is connected to them (in your case, the regulator) is well matched, you shouldn't have any problems at all.

Even if you ran the altenator or regulator output directly to earth (don't do it at home kids) it wouldn't normally be a problem - you never see this part of the loom on a bike fused. The fuse is only there to protect the battery.

So I'd be looking for a hideously hard to find wiring fault somewhere. Having said that, if it's a simple case of the battery not charging, there's only one wire to find between the regulator and the battery. The Earth is the other possibility - beware matal cased regulators which may actually earth through their metal cases.


How do you know that the regulator is "blown"?

finpos.

[Resurrection]

Well i've had it in my local mechs.

When it first happened there was no electrics whatsoever! Then on the way home one day everything kicked back into life dead suddenly!

Took it to B+C who said reg/rec had blown and put one from another bike on it, this was all fine but it started up again to which i went back and they replaced it again and said there is more going into the batt than going out so all is fine. He said could possibly be the gen blowing the reg/recs but he wasnt sure. The problem is its happening again and i did think it could have something to do with my sidelight.

Res
____________________
ZX9r

[finpos]

Busted regulator usually leads to the battery draining slowly with gradual and permanent loss of lights etc. The sudden death/re-animation points once again to a ropey connection somewhere.

There is always an unfortunate scenario where very the act of replacing an otherwise good component (i.e. breaking and then re-making a bunch of electrical connections) actually fixes the problem - either temporarily or permanently.

I think in your situation you need to either take it to a mechanic who is more sure of himself, or get learning quick about bike electrics.

For the sudden loss and re-appearance of lights, I'd be inclined to forget about the regulator and trace the circuit to the lights from the battery, through the fuse, ignitions swiitch, light switch etc.

If you tell us EXACTLY what is wrong with the bike, we could be more help

finpos.

[sickpup]

Is it electric start?

[Resurrection]

Yeah but it also has a kick

Finpos the problem is that its not charging at all and something is blowing up regulators!

Res
____________________
ZX9r

[finpos]

I think what we're struggling with here is that you're assuming something is blowing up regulators. i think it's wrong to assume this because you're pretty unlucky to loose one, let alone two. It's really, really hard to blow up a regulator (unless it's crap/the wrong type).

You need to go back to some pretty basic testing with a multimeter. For that, you need to be able to use it to test both voltage and resistance, and you need to tell us what colour the wires on the regulator are.

Or bring it to a proper auto-spark. Sometimes mechanics are not too good at this type of thing, and will automatically just change the regulator in the circumstances you describe.

finpos.

[Resurrection]

Right thanks i'll just take it to a diff place and see what they say. The guy is like a family friend so trusted that he would sort me out but hey what can ya do

Res
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ZX9r

[sickpup]

Does the charging circuit go through the starter relay?