Regulator/Rectifier

Good Job.

This is a good time for everyone to learn a valuable lesson here. #1 rule in Technical Engineering and or troubleshooting ... "walk around the (in this case), bike or component."

You'd be surprised at how often a problem can be properly diagnosed by simply taking a good physical look, and noting what is out of place. Not even touching anything. Here, we could have fore-gone alot and gotten back on the road a lot faster if we'd had take the suspected RR off, and just look at it. We knew the connection was faulty. We should have suspected an arc from one phase to the frame. Thats what you see there... its an arc flash burn. I.e. Gunner and Ghost says, "you drop one phase, Amps go up, resistance is high, the unit arcs, blows, and you're done.

Now, thats just unfair to fish.

I would like to make one last comment on this subject. When stated a comparison to automotive diagnosis..

I agree and disagree. Yes, as Gunnar and I have bantered on the same side, we both illustrate, although some items are slightly different, the same basic mechanics and electronics to power a bike is relatively similar as a car. Really, if you want to get even more basic about it, remove the frame from each, and just put the components on the ground, you still have an engine, AC generator, battery, exhaust, sparking units, engine cooling system, and air intake.... everything else is cosmetic as far as im concerned. Where I disagree, components do not go bad for no reason... there is a reason. its just whether its in any interest or benifit to understand it, or how much effort is spent on determining root cause. I.e. a single 12g, twisted wire doesnt just blow... it built up too much resistance, and arc'd across, causing the individual wires to break. Root cause: The bundle was supposed to have 16 strands, however the machine that pulled the wire wasnt set up correctly, and it only pulled 14 wires.... too much resistance, too little capacity.

Ghost out.

Gooj job on the fix. Great work puting it in a pre-engineered location.

 

Thanks Ghost! And I agree that there is always a reason for a component failure, but as you said, the question is whether it is worth investigating the reason or not. Hence the reason for me saying "no reason" in quotes

I imagine my R/R started its downhill slide the first time the previous owner had an issue with the stator connections, then things just got worse as time went on, especially with the loose connection I found, then you get "the big bang" and a hole in the back of it!

Bike is running 100% better than it has since I bought it. Top end is CRAZY powerful compared to what it was...almost "scary" fast...and I LOVE IT!

Thanks again everyone!!

-Paul

 

So did just end up randomly connecting the yellow wires? Is there any particular order to connecting them???

thanks

 

Before I finalized the connections I tried all possible combinations of connections with the 3 yellow stator wires. With each combination I checked voltage output at idle and at higher RPM (unfortunately I didn't have a way to check amperage output). I found that all combinations yielded the same levels of output, so I just picked one and went with it. The charging system has been working fantastically since! I would say the overall condition of the entire electrical system is very good since I just went out and started the bike after it had sat for nearly 2 months. Cranked over and fired up just fine, despite my expectation of a dead battery!

-Paul