What Electrical Parts to Replace

Ok so i picked up my regulator today from NAPA $22 .. but having trouble finding the rectifiers... doesn't help living out in the middle of nowhere...
what about the wiring harness? do you just make that yourself?
thanks
 
If you have the old stock reg/rec thats bad just cut the wires off as close to the body as you can, use them to wire to the Chrysler reg and RS rec.
Leo
 
gapper;

I just noticed you live in Leader SK....................looks like a small town for sure. Many years ago I use to work in small towns in your province. Installed telephone switching equipment in Pennant, and put in some microwave radio equipment in Willowbunch.

If you have difficulty finding rectifiers, let me know. I could probably buy them here in Calgary and ship them to you.

Here's a pic of how I did mine. I bought a connector from Mikexs.com (xs650direct now), and used an old heat sink I had laying around.
 

Attachments

  • Rectifier 2009 mod1.JPG
    Rectifier 2009 mod1.JPG
    198.7 KB · Views: 319
hmm looking for a little sugar here. I have a Honda shadow that is running at 14.6 to 15.2 volts. It ate it's last battery in about 1 1/2 years. I put in a gell cell and I am not sure it's going to last. Oh yeah my question. What kind of running voltages is this home brew regulator showing? I am guessing the Honda regulators tended to run a bit "too high" for good battery life.
 
Ok so i picked up my regulator today from NAPA $22 .. but having trouble finding the rectifiers... doesn't help living out in the middle of nowhere...
what about the wiring harness? do you just make that yourself?
thanks

i couldn't get any rectifiers either and he closest store to me was a 3 hour drive so i made my order over the phone and they posted them for me.
 
hmm looking for a little sugar here. I have a Honda shadow that is running at 14.6 to 15.2 volts. It ate it's last battery in about 1 1/2 years. I put in a gell cell and I am not sure it's going to last. Oh yeah my question. What kind of running voltages is this home brew regulator showing? I am guessing the Honda regulators tended to run a bit "too high" for good battery life.

For sure Gary, 14.6 to 15.2 is high. You would be boiling off the electroyte in a lead acid battery. I have no idea about gel cells.................never used them.

My automotive regulator keeps a nice steady 14.2 volts. There's no need to have higher than that.
 
gggGary, Is the Honda a PMA or Feild excited alternator? You can try a couple things, replace the reg/rec or add something to bleed off some of the excess current. Like a set of driving lights. A pair of 55 watt lights should take care of it.
Leo
 
Yeah the old battery boiled dry. I hadn't been checking electrolyte till it was too late. (just like the old days) I do have driving lights and tried them made no difference voltage is still way up there. I guess the alternator is big enough to power a bunch of stuff on the Shadow 1100. I have to look at the book on how the alternator works. It was sketchy when i got the bike and I had to resolder the three yellows connector which had melted/burned. Very common on a LOT of different bikes.
 
If it does work with brushes, then the Chrysler reg should replace the stock reg. You should be able to use the rectifier half of the stock reg/rec. Just hook the Chrysler to the replace regulator half.
A friend of mine has a 74 Harley FXE. It came with a 17 amp alternator that quit, he replaced it with a 32 amp alternator from a later model. He had the same trouble. It boiled the water out of the battery. We checked it over and found everthing within spec.
I suggested he get a different reg/rec, the aftermarket makes a reg/rec with a lower voltage setting to use on softails where the battery box is part of the oil tank. The oil tank keeps the battery warmer, so the lower voltage reg/rec is less apt to boil the battery.
He moved away so I don't see him often, don't know if he got it fixed or not.
I have read that some of the reg/rec's Honda used have a seperate voltage sencing wire. If that wire has a bad connection, the voltage it reads will be low, causing the reg/rec to think the battery is low, thus the over charging.
Leo
 
For sure Gary, 14.6 to 15.2 is high. You would be boiling off the electroyte in a lead acid battery. I have no idea about gel cells.................never used them.

My automotive regulator keeps a nice steady 14.2 volts. There's no need to have higher than that.

Hi RG! I followed Pete's instructions on this mod on my stock '77 and installed a new gel battery. After 50 miles it seems to be working great (thanks Pete!). A good shop checked the output today and found 13.79V at idle and 14.75V at 3500 rpm. I thought this might be okay but I looked through various threads to confirm and came back to this post. Clymer says 14.5-15V is okay for the stock system. You indicated you run at 14.2V with the mod and 14.6+ may shorten the life of the battery. Since the regulator is sealed, I'm not sure how to reduce the output. I have only cleaned up parts of the wiring related to this mod and the starter, as the rest of the load components are working. The bike has no other mods to my knowledge except for an LED taillight/brakelight to reduce load and test LEDs, and the headlight RLU is unplugged. Haven't noticed any parts getting hot, but haven't specifically checked for that. Any suggestions, or should I not be too concerned?

THX!:bike:
 
650Fool;

Yes, 14.75 volts is a little on the high side for a lead acid battery. If you are using a gel battery, I have no experience with them, so I just can't say.

When you measured the voltage, was the headlight on or off? If the headlight was off, that would explain the higher voltage. With the headlight on, it would likely pull the voltage down to less than 14.5.
 
Shoot, I don't recall how I left it and I wasn't at the shop when they checked. The owner, who is very good, didn't seem concerned. I checked with my analog meter when I first ran the engine after the top and got just under 15V with the headlight off (I turn it on whenever I ride, turn it off to start the engine). I asked the shop to check while they were putting in steering head bearings, so it was not for a specific problem, just to double-check my number. I don't know about how tolerant gels are of excessive voltage either, but they seem to have lasted longer in my other modes of transport, plus no real maintenance! I'll check tomorrow with the headlight on. Thanks!!!
 
650Fool, check the voltage on the brown wire at the reg, it should read very close to battery voltage. With in .2 or so of battery voltage.
If this voltage reading is low the regulator thinks the battery is low and will raise the charge voltage.
Leo
 
XSLeo - Thanks for commenting! The brown wire was part of my replacement of the old system - it's possible there's a weak connection in there. I think the brown is plugged into the black wire from the alternator and goes thru a 10A fuse to the regulator. I definitely trust RG's experience/advice, but because this is a gel, I double checked with Pete on the side. Since the regulator is probably working as designed and is sealed, I didn't know what I was gonna do about trying to adjust the output! The gel I have has a manufacturer's full charge spec of 13.1-13.15V (no load) and should be able to tolerate the higher charging rate. THANKS for the tip... I'll do the check and post the result.
 
I'm going to go buy some parts tomorrow for this conversion but I'm a little confused. I see the Radio Shack part number 276-1185 for the 70-79 models. I have an 80, do I still need these? I think that I DO understand I don't need the nylon screw kit for my bike. With any luck I can get some of this under way tomorrow. Thanks guys, this site is saving my sanity.
 
Carbon, those are the exact same regulators. Why one listing says "Transistorized" is anybodies guess.
This regulator wires in on the 80 up bikes just by hokking the brown and green wires that went to the stock reg to the new reg, Just ground the body of the new reg.
To use it on the 70-79 bikes you need the three nylon screws and power the black wire brush.
sivarTi, the Radio Shack parts are to replace the rectifier on all years, not just 70-79. Most people replace the stock regulators and rectifiers on the early years, on the later years the combo reg/recs, the rectifier part is often ok and you can just hook in the reg that carbon linked as mentioned above. Or you can replace the entire combo re/rec with the Chrysler reg and Radio Shack rectifiers.
In the pics shows the regulator, one shows just what it looks like on my bike, notice the way the brown and green wires hook. they must be this way, reversed and it frys the reg.
One pics shows how the Radio Shack rectifiers mount and wire.
One shows the wiring diagrams for the new reg and rec.
Leo
 

Attachments

  • 51168.jpg
    51168.jpg
    2 KB · Views: 474
  • im001392nb6.jpg
    im001392nb6.jpg
    44.6 KB · Views: 307
  • LostFile_JPG_65101064.jpg
    LostFile_JPG_65101064.jpg
    189.8 KB · Views: 323
  • combo3.jpg
    combo3.jpg
    25.3 KB · Views: 297
Last rectifers I got off ebay was 20 for less than 15 bucks shipped.
if you have a old PC its a good place to fine heat sink and other goodies.
the pwr supply will give you a nice 12 charger
 
Back
Top