Where to relocate regulator/rectifier?

[msilverstein]

I've seen a number of suggestions in the group and elsewhere to relocate the R/R so it can get more airflow and stay cooler, but I haven't seen any specific suggestions as to where or how to mount it. I'm about to do this but the places I've thought of trying are either ugly or potentially vulnerable. Any suggestions as to where and what mounting hardware to use or fabricate would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[scootertramp]

I have the same delimma. where to put it. I have an 82 with no fairing but there is a frame of somesort right in front below the headlight. . I was thinking to weld a piece of metal to it and drill holes to accept the RR and run a wire from the rr to a ground bolt.

[Rick G]

I bought a package  of right angle brackets from Ace hardware. ( I'll post the part number tomorrow)  I enlarged 1 hole in it and drilled  a new one  to mount the  RR Then  cut part of the  other leg off and enlarged the lower hole  . I bolted it to the horn mounting  position . If anyone is interested , Email me at  rgcdn@juno.com  and i'll send you pics. of what I did.  This position is fine UNLESS you plan to mount a fork brace and than you will have to do as I'm doing on my new bike , mounting it in front of the Raditor, I can come up with pics of that too, eventually.  

[scootertramp]

I moved my RR too. on the frame that is at the front of the bike. IN FACT the bolts used to hold the RR in the original mounting are the same size as the screw holes on the frame work under the headlight
I put one bolt in it (from my bolt bin)with a washer and ran a ground to a frame bolt with some thick wire.(12) I may go down to a smaller wire cause it sticks out. I may just get a connector end on the wire.  right now it is wrapped around the bolt with silicone smeared on it.  I charged the batt but it was dead at the end of the ride. not dead but would'nt start the bike I had to put a jumper on it and it fired right up and idled well. I may need a new one.(batt)
 I have yet to do the stator test or the definitive RR DIODE test.

[Lucky]

I'm planning on mounting mine on the fairing under the headlight (83 fairing) and would like some thoughts on: do you think the fairing would be dammaged by the heat?
I suppose I could put something in between to insulate it.
I was also thinking of making some sort of a cover like a ram air scoop to "hide" it.  I think the only concern would be heat while sitting idle, but that still might be cooler than sitting over the hot exhaust while idling...
--Lucky

[Walt Miller]

I just completed mounting a 3" computer cooling fan from Radio Shack on my '83. I don't know how it is going to work out but it was probably easier than relocating the R/R. I left a 1/2 in space between the fan and the R/R, didn't want to block air if the fan fails. I may put in some kind of a cool air duct to the fan. I'll let you know how it works out.

[msilverstein]

There's a lot of talk about grounding the R/R mounting bolt. On my Vision the R/R is mounted on the back side of the plastic battery holder, which of course is not grounded. I would assume based on this that the mounting bolt is electrically isolated from the rest of the R/R circuit and that grounding it would not make a difference. Has anyone taken one apart and seen indications that the mounting bolt really 'wants' to be grounded?

[msilverstein]

scootertramp mentioned mounting it "on the frame that is at the front of the bike", but based on that description I'm having trouble visualizing exactly where that is. Could the author or someone with better understanding than I provide a few more words on that?

Thanks

[sdinino]

There's a lot of talk about grounding the R/R mounting bolt. On my Vision the R/R is mounted on the back side of the plastic battery holder, which of course is not grounded. I would assume based on this that the mounting bolt is electrically isolated from the rest of the R/R circuit and that grounding it would not make a difference. Has anyone taken one apart and seen indications that the mounting bolt really 'wants' to be grounded?

I can say I've tried to take one apart. I wasn't ver successful, because of the resin filling covering the circuit board.

I think if you did a quick continuity check between the r/r mounting bolt and the black wire, you could tell if running an extra ground wire would help or not.

[msilverstein]

I just did a continuity check and the mounting bolts and the black wire are electrically isolated. The physical appearance of  the R/R  unit suggests that the heat sink, which the mounting bolts are a part of, is simply a wrapper for the electronics that themselves are encased in resin.

So the conclusion (based on the configuration on my particular '82 Vision) is that grounding the mounting bolts will have no effect on anything.

[Blake]

I dont think the problem is so much the R/R itself...so much as the fact that its about 3" from the rear cylinder collector, which can raise to several hundred degrees..not to mention that that little "box" open area where all of the electrics are stashed is very poorly ventilated.  I'm working on a friend's 86' radian, and their r/r is located where our tci unit would be, covered by some plastic covering, with about the same about of venting the tci unit gets.  after riding the bike for a good hour or so..yes..the tci was hot..but i could touch it for a few seconds before it got too hot.  the electronics in the r/r (resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc) arent going to radiate enough heat to melt plastic around it (like a side cover), but you have to think of it like a computer chip (which it is).  the cooler your chip runs, the better it performs..too hot, and it fries itself.  same thing here, except instead of mounting a cpu fan right above the chip, they use epoxy to draw the heat away, where the heat sink dissapates it into the air.  
   I think Walt's idea of mounting a computer fan is a good idea (i wonder how long it will last though..wait till moisture gets into it..since it is exposed to the elements), but i still say the main problem is its close proximity to the exhaust pipe.  If you look at modern day bikes (i looked at my cruisers-98' v-star and 01' intruder 1500), and they mount the R/R at the base of the front of the frame..right near the ground.  So i dont think that "flying road debris" will be a problem, but the fact that its up in the front, with the nice cool fresh air constantly running over it, has definately has to help out the situation a lot.


conclusion.  move to cooler place..where you can get good cold air circulation...I definately want to move mine, get it out of that hot death box back there.  ...now if only we could do the same for the stator... ;D



Blake

FSF!   (flaming stators forever!)

[Blake]

FSF.....hmm....  i saw we all go get tattos of that flaming stator on the cover art post..  we can make a group trip out of it.. meet up somewhere...ride the V's.. then go get stators tattoed on our arms..or...well..on whatever body part you choose..hehehe..




Blake

[msilverstein]

Blake said "the electronics in the r/r (resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc) arent going to radiate enough heat to melt plastic around it (like a side cover), quote"

Back in the early 80's I had a job testing electronic components like resistors, capacitors, LEDs, etc. We'd put them in an oven for a month or so. Every few days we'd measure their properties (resistance, capacitance, brightness, etc.) . If you charted the properties over time you could definitely see the components degrade in performance until they finally encountered a catastrophic event (died), so temperature definitely does make a difference. We also had a fun setup that was an oven and a liquid nitrogen driven freezer with an elevator between them that could rapidly cycle the temperature of the components. We could force a lot of mechanical failures with that one, especially with cmponents that had solder joints.

[Lucky]

You know what? i've been touting the "add a ground to the regulator" theory, and when I think about it, it was a bad r/r i tested it on (melted ground plug) so you might be right, slap on the wrist to me for not checking a GOOD r/r...

on the "scoop" cover idea i had for under the 83 fairing, we were driving around today, and i was trying to think of what I could find, kind of 'pre-made' that could be easily adapted for a scoop in stead of trying to fabricte something, which would turn out really bad in my case.

The closest thing i coud spot was a "newspaper' mailbox, the shape was right, but it's way too big.  then i noticed the third brake light mounted in the back window of the cars around me.  several looked big enough to work, and I think mounting them would be pretty clean.  Mercury Grand Marquis & several Hondas looked promising.  i'm going to hit the junk yard very soon & see what I can find...

--Lucky

[QBS]

Lucky:  In the process of mounting and wiring an auxillary instrument light and a clock in to/on to my '83 fairing I've found that while doing these things is theoretically feasable, the need to be able to break the resulting connections to facilitate fairing removal can result in a pain in the glutus maximus.  Your r/r concept almost certainly will be at least as much fun.  However, from a cooling standpoint, it's a great location.  Cheers.

[scootertramp]

OKAY I put mine on the windshield frame. Under the headlight. and under the horn. I put the RR on the LEFT side right beside the left fork. there is ONE hole so I put the bolt in the top hole.  there is a bolt hole on each side and two on the bottom. So if the RR  BOLT ground wire THAT LUCKY said put on is needless  I am taking it off.  I was wondering HOW that was supposed to work? NOW we know. IT don't.. ahahaha!

[msilverstein]

scootertramp, thanks for the clarification. Now I know why it didn't make sense to me - I don't have a windshield.

I think I'm going to stuff my R/R between the frame and the front of the gas tank on the upper left side. There's a decent enough gap there, three bolt holes to choose from, its fairly protected, there's good air flow, and contact with the frame and tank will enhance the heat sinking abilities. I'll post pictures if it actually works.

[Lucky]

QBS, I figured that if the fairing needed to come off, i'd just unbolt the scoop & then unbolt the R/R from the fairing.  there should be enough length of wire to just move it out of the way, rest it on the seat or tank. (with a rag underneath)

I have an oil pressre guage (live) a clock & a voltmeter in the dash filler panel, and once the fairing is off, the wires & oil line are not in the way.

PS to Scooter:  I think I made a mistake about the OLD fuel filter TOO, IT'S probably not NEEDED, so you can take it OFF! ahahaha!  Oh, and you might want to learn the difference between a Vmax & a Magna....

[msilverstein]

I realized that stuffing my R/R between the frame and the front of the gas tank on the upper left side is a bad idea because it may block air flow to the airbox.

[scootertramp]

HEY LUCKY! touche' mon ami! I put my sabre away. you are a much better swordsman mon'ami. The kingdom resounds of your swordplay and this village in cyberland attests to your prowess in things of oils and metals. allow me to stand you a flagon of the innkeepers best.
a VMAX IS A YAMMIE? A MAGNA IS A VFOUR HONDA?
SEE THATS WHY i'M here. CAUSE i KNOWE NADA. oops! that dang caps button needs to be changed. how 'bout if I run a ground wire from it to a bolt on my table laig? ? reckon the gee forces from the electron inhibanation will parley into a solid grounding effect thus increasing grounding by five hundred mega-giga watts. oh and use a really BIG war! a great big honkin' war! ahahaha!
I wheeled that configuration into the local specialty HARLEY shop yesterday with the big boss looking at my bike and they were laffin' at something and I never got what they were laffin about. NOW I know. ahahaha so We all have a laff . life "is" funny. thanks for helpin' to make my boring life more fun LUCKY. LOL.. I changed it no prob. ?thanks for tryin' anyway man.. we live ,we learn. we grow and hopefully meet a few compadres along the dusty trail. ! Vroom,vroom! 8)