Bad Rectifier fried everything

I have a 1995 VFR750F, about 3 months ago, the Regulator/rectifier went south and the bike would not charge. So I ordered a non-Honda replacement. I figured it had a 1 year guarantee, was $100 less and what could go wrong.

Well, the problem was that when this one went out, it was running 17+ volts, and it cooked just about everything on the bike. So far I have had to replace a Pulse Generator ($100), computer ($600), battery ($50), a Honda OEM rectifier($220) and now that its all running again, the speedometer is fried. It cooked a couple of the resistors on the circuit board.:yield:

So I am looking for a new/used Speedo (or at least the circuit board off the back of the speedo). Anybody have any idea where I might pick one of these up without having to spend big bucks for a whole new speedometer?

I may try to take the circuit board to an eletronics shop and see if they can figure out what value of resistors were there and replace them.

Anyway the moral of the story is, don't buy a aftermarket rectifier to save $100. It could cost you a $1000 in other repairs.

I am working with the aftermaket rectifier company to see what kind of recompense there is on this, and if they do not cover some of this stuff, I will let you know.

 

That really sucks. Electronic parts are something that you can't tell anything about until you use them. You can see cheapness in mechanical parts, but sealed black boxes all look about the same.


Lane

 

to bad you had to learn the hard way....good to know info

 

Which R/R did you get? Might be handy to post it to warn other potential buyers.

I have had terrific luck with my Rick's R/R. It was $120, and I am 2000 miles in, without an issue. I have not heard one complaint about them.

Been a few issues with the Electrosport versions from what I have heard.

However you are right. If you want it done right the first time, nothing wrong with paying the doe for a Honda unit.

 

If the resisters are traditional resisters (as in non-micro-miniature) they will have four color bands around them. The color bands tell the value of the resistor. If you can still see them it's a simple matter to determine the value. They will be one of these:

Black
Brown
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Violet
Gray
White

The last band will be Silver or Gold.

 

Have you tried the wrecking yards? Could be there is a front-ender with damaged speedo plastic but a good circuit board.

 

Looks like I may be in the same situation. I put a new R/R in last fall. I was riding last week, I was getting gas after just putting 50 miles on and went to start er up and it was dead. I replaced the battery, I sense rode a few more times and today the battery was dead. I am sick about it.

 

Try "Mid South Motorcycle Salvage". They are in Morristown, TN, but they can ship the part to you. Their phone is (423) 581-4699.

 

You might be one of the lucky R/R failures. When a rectifier diode shorts, it'll drain your battery, but that doesn't mean that the regulator isn't working. What killed the original poster was the regulator failure which allowed too much voltage to pass. That's worst-case.

Start the bike, and measure the voltage at the battery terminals. Hondas tend to run about 15V. Much higher or lower than 13.5 is bad. Lower is not as bad as higher.....

To test for a drain from the rectifier, you would need to do a current test from the positive battery terminal to ground (not the negative battery terminal). If there is any flow, something's shorted.


Lane

 

i took off for a ride with a low battery and fried the RR,stater and then i charged the batt. with my big snap-on battery charger and fried the batt. , i was told today when i bought a new batt. that on the 86-87 interceptor batterys they cant take more than 8 amps of a charge at a time ? some book he had said that ? strainge ?

 

Wow, what a bummer, never heard them take out next to the whole system, damn. keep an eye out on ebay, a complete dash pod comes up every now and then, if that doesn't work give Service Honda a call 1-800-828-5498 for some reason they have the best prices on new oem parts.

 

thanks i will

 

A new Speedometer is $278. I looked at my circuit board, and the resistors are black from being fried. I doubt if I can determine what the color bands/rating on them were. If anybody just happens to have theirs apart, could you take a picture of the circuit board. You will have to remove the speedometer from the housing. The Reset knob has a little tiny phillips head screw that holds it on.

 

On this subject an interesting write uo. BTW I have an after market RR and have had no problems; I have a back up blak box I bought on e-bay fo $90.

http://www.one-ring.net/vfrfaq/reg-rect.html

http://members.cox.net/wdgah/vfr_connector_repair.htm

http://www.wdgah.net/VFR_RRFail.htm

http://faq.f650.com/FAQS/AftermarketVoltmeterFAQ.htm#Aftermarket%20Voltmeter%20in%20the%20Clock%20Space%20on%20the%20Classic

http://www.wdgah.net/vfr_voltmeter.htm

 

That's the real value of a "Battery Tender", or a motorcycle/small battery charger. The usually have a max charge rate of about 1 amp, and monitor the voltage very closely.

Think of how warm an automotive battery gets when you charge it, and then imagine all that heat condensed into a tiny motorcycle battery.

I have used a 5 amp charger on m/c batteries for about 10 minutes, and even that will warm them up. So the best thing to do for battery life is a long, slow charge.