Bloody honda and it's crap R/R set up.

HONDA charging systems:bs
Bike stops middle of nowhere,stinking hot christmas day with a flat battery.
Most likely R/R.Should have taken the ever reliable Harley.

 

Oh My, that's worse than getting coal in your stocking. haven't you been nice?

 

Oi wash your mouth out, mine died a few weeks ago luckly for me it was at the end of a day ride on a road ontop of a hill leading down to my cross street so rolled all the way down with momentom carrying me into my street then driveway. :smile:

If your Gen 5 MK1 still has the original SH579A-11 make sure you specify the Upgraded SH689DA version when ordering as it has a much better Fin area.

 

I have 13.25 volts at idle13.45@3000rpm dropping down to 13.30 at 5000rpm.So it's R/R or connections I guess but will check it all tomorrow.This is the only bike in 38 years to strand me and I bought it for its reliabilty ?If it is the R/R I will be carrying a spare from now on.The subframe is mounted via the mainframe very close to the head on these bikes and I am not convinced the heat is not flowing from a heated frame into the subframe into an already challenged R/R.I am determined to get the new R/R into some air flow and check the whole thing out with a heat gun to find out if if the subframe heat means it's acting the exact opposite of a heat sink.Unless someone already know's through having done this???

 

I hear you on that, why Honda put it there beats me. Theres got to be a better place IMO, I too did the heat gun and found it's pretty much on it's own even with the heat flying off into the area it's still cooler than the RR its self, So I'm thinking it's not worth the mod to re locate it my self but that's your call to make, also as mentioned, the newer up grade? ones have larger fins so???

 

I'm no wrench & I wired a computer cooling fan on my gen4 RR. 3rd RR & I was looking for a solution. it worked. pretty easy to do.
on my Gen5, i just bought a spare RR & have in on the bike at all times. i figger i'll never need it as long as i have it.
:unsure:

bob

 

If the sub-frame is hotter than the surrounding air then I think the R/R would be better off isolated from the frame ????Anybody have a Degree in thermo dynamics?I will buy the upgraded unit but I already have my own heat sink installed which would have added more cooling than the extra fins on the upgraded one.I have a cbr1100xx R/R which looks a lot bigger but they burnout as well according to the Blackbird owners web site.I have done a lot of reading on this issue but no definitive answer has been reached and it is real shame that this issue is the only thing preventing the VFR's really deserving the bulletproof label.The fact for me remains that my X1 buell and my harley sportster's x2 have had no failures of any kind in over 120,000ks between them and they have a terrible reputation for reliabilty. This is my 3rd vfr with an electrical gremlin,all related to the charging system?

 

Re-wire the whole charging system - Honda cheaped out on the wire guage. It's just too small and gets too hot.

I re-wired mine last winter with 14 ga. thick strand wire, and put a Pentium 3 heat sink and fan on the R/R. Wired it to the license plate lamp.

Haven't had a problem since.

 

I have not re-wired the bike yet, that's the plan, but I did do the cooling fan mod the same way. T-tapped right into the light wiring for the license plate, no issues so far.

 

Did you rewire it yourself, or did you use an aftermarket harness like the VFRness?

 

Just buy the upgraded VFR rectifier set. It's the same part number as the old.
Mine has been rock-solid since I made the swamp, and it looks/feels a lot beefier then the old.

I wouldn't even bother re-fitting your heat-sink to the new unit.

 

The new unit comes with an aluminum plate to go between it and the frame.

 

I re-wired it myself, using 14 ga. thick stranded wire.

 

Gotta agree the postioning on pre Gen 6's is rubbish but unlike lesser machines if the VFR didn't have a common RR weakness what would we have to winge about ? :smile:

 

I have the same year and model as you do. The RR on mine is original and as a precaution I added the beefed up RR harness from wiremybike.com (VFRness). The guy that runs it knows his stuff when it comes to VFR electrics.
I'm probably playing with fire by running the original RR and will most likely replace it here soon and keep the original one as a spare. Mine is charging within Honda specs and I have no cooked wires but still................

 

hmmm i too was left stranded a number of times on the highway due to some kind of electrical fault. Had the bike looked at and the RR was fine. They never found out what caused it but hasnt happened since. Although it must be noted that i moved much much closer to work and no longer had to do the 50 minute commute on the highway. Maybe heat build up?

 

Thinking out loud here... How about drilling a bunch of 1/16" or 1/8" holes in the fins on on the R/R. Would losing that small mass of metal hurt the heat dissipation or would the increased surface area of the holes improve cooling? Sure works well on Disk Brake Rotors! Anybody got any ideas?

 

Hey guys; I did the R/R swap and small 12v computer fan on my 5th gen about a year ago and have had no problems . I do want to comment on the wire size;a few of you are saying 14 gague wire; I believe the stock wire is heavier than that, my guess is the stock wiring harness is made from 12ga. or 10 ga. wire.I also believe the VFRness harness is made from 8 ga. wire. I recently bought the VFRness ,which looks really good but have not installed it as yet. The question about drilling holes in the R/R to rid it of
heat faster is an interesting one . I believe by drilling holes on the R/R fins you would make the R/R a less effective heat sink. I BELIEVE BUT AM NOT POSITIVE that brake
rotors are drilled to lighten them and help them cool down faster. I think drilling works for rotors because they are dealing with temporary heat situations and not constant heat like the R/R's. I also believe that brake rotors have additional amounts of metal and can tolerate
the loss of some mass therefore the holes have a secondary purpose which is cooling. I am not an
engineer with very much thermal training,but my answer is based on my knowledge and
experience with mechanical devices. eddie

 

Brake rotors are drilled for 2 reasons

1. To lower the unsprung weight effect, by lightening the rotor. It is best to use cross drilled rotors as the this drilling pattern does not weaken the rotor.

2. When disc brakes are applied, a very thin layer of superheated gas is generated between the pads and the actual rotor. These holes help to vent this superheated gas allowing better contact of the pad to rotor, increasing braking power and lowering brake temperature.

 

I went to Fry's when I was at my parents in Chicago this past weekend and picked up a heat sink with fan. I used a piece of aluminum that I cut out to place over the rubber section of the r/r to make the center flush with the edges. Heat transfer compound on both sides of the plate and the heat sink zip-tied on top. It's wired into my auxiliary fuse box, so it's shouldn't melt down. (sorry for the crappy cell phone pic)