Rectifier regulator (1982)

[firstone]

Hello group;  Just looking for a little feed back on having too much voltage at the battery.  I have been measuring 15 to 18+ volts at the battery.  The voltage increases with RPMs.  I have removed the connector and soldered the R/R's output side 3 wires red/black/brown.  I took a look when running at the brown wire and have the same 15 to 18+ volts showing.  My presumption is that I need a new R/R.  Correct?

[Tiger]

:) I had the very same problem last year... ::) and yes, I would agree firstone, that it is more than likely your R/R is faulty. I changed mine out and had no more problem. However, run the Electrosport test if you want to make sure... ;) This should help...http://faq.f650.com/FAQs/VoltageRectifierFAQ.htm

                 8).......TIGER....... 8)

[kiawrench]

firstone-

   if you can not locate a r/r specifically for a vision, you can use a lot of others, the electrosport pages cover all sorts of r/r units, and in the process,you will find that they all work the same, just some have wires of another color!


    my first vision had the r/r from a big kawasaki police bike on it, (they sometimes remove brand new ones and replace with a completely different type of charging system _ )

i know most mid 80s japanese bikes were all using a similar type of r/r .and there are plenty of those in parts yards that are still good

[supervision]

  Not sure how your doing it, but the brown wire needs to be straight to the positive post then check your voltage when running, if it's still too high then the regulator isn't working

[supervision]

  if the brown wire is making the normal path though the bike, it can cause overchaging

[jasonm.]

whatever you do ...do NOT buy an electrosport product. they are junk! As far as the brown wire goes.Because the schemtic does not show it. I really cannot say where it is suppose to go. I don't know why supervision is saying, "the normal path causes overcharging"? I would have to tear into one of my spare harnesses to know for sure where it is suppose to go.  Supervision, does this mean all Visions without a modification
over charge??? Mine runs 14-15 all the time. You have me curious...?

[firstone]

I was under the impresion that the "brown wire" was the voltage sense input for the regulator.  If a long path through the harness caused a low voltage at this point I would expect the regulator to increase output to try and charge the battery.  I however monitored the same 15 to 18 volts on the "brown wire" and deduced that the regulator was not functioning.  I agree it would be nice to know exactly where the damn wire goes though!

[supervision]

  Jasonm, the reason I'm saying the normal path of the brown wire CAN cause overcharging is this; the sole purpose of that wire is to look at the voltage of the battery and control it. The most accurate way of doing it is a direct hook-up to the positive post.  The other way of doing it is running it though 6' of wire first,(with the very probable outcome being a drop of voltage) then to the battery.   The now lesser voltage,(remember, we lowered it by running it through the brown wire) tells the regulator, the battery is low, when in-fact, it is not.  So the voltage of the brown wire never makes it to 14.5, till the battery is boiling away at about 16-18   

[supervision]

  Jasonm, I can't find my wiring dia , so I looked at the one on our site.  It shows no brown or yellow for some reason.   On my owners book dia  I remember the brown wire, which is the sence wire, and it goes up though the bike, It's the yellow that goes nowhere  (probably does something in a different aplication)

[supervision]

  Firstone, The best way  to check it is to take the brown wire out of the plastic plug  ( you can depress the spring tab with a very small screw driver, that will reliece the terminal from the plug)  Then use a SHORT piece of NEW wire for your connection to the positive post   Notice I was saying short wire and new wire, if you hook it up with and OLD, LONG wire you can cause OVERCHARGING,   it's that sensitive !   Even the terminal on the brown wire might have to be eliminated

[jasonm.]

Well, I have ohmed out the brown wire. It actually connects to the signal, ignition and headlight circuits. Yes, it must be a "sense type wire". But these circuits are switched. So Supervision's design bypasses this.  Which results in having the +12v to this wire even when the ignition is off. Is this a bad thing? Or does it even matter ?  I don't know???  My readings also show less than 2 tenths of an ohm(.2) resistance. Which is quite minimal. But since the resistance is so low. I will keep mine the way it is.

[inanecathode]

If the brown wire is causing a low voltage reading, i'd say clean all your connections before cutting into things. Same difference if you just move the brown wire straight to the battery, but if its starting to induce voltage drops i bet your other wires are doing the same, can't be healthy for the electrical.

[firstone]

Thanks for your comments.  From what I can tell it looks like if the voltage at the "brown wire" is too low the regulator puts out too much and the battery voltage will be too high, but if the "brown wire senses too high a voltage and the battery is too high the regulator is kaput. Also thanks for checking where the mysterious brown wire goes.

Thanks guys.

[jasonm.]

One more thing. I tried Supervision's way of connecting the brown wire to the battery. YES it does make the R/R put out exactly what it should be ~ 14- 14.5vdc in my case. When it was 14.5 to 15v before.  BUT leaving that brown wire connected to the +12 does draw some power all the time...per my ampmeter readings. It's minimal ~ 4mA. So I just connected the brown wire using a relay on my accessory circuit.  Yes, I have an accessory circuit because I have added a few things most folks don't have. It is simply a relay that switches on when the ignition is on. That adds an additional circuit. I think most understand what I am saying.

[supervision]

 if you just hook the wire from the regulator, to the battery, without continuing to the bike, it should be fine.

[firstone]

And the answer was.... New R/R all is good.  Thanks for you help.  It's nice to be able to get a second opinion especially since you guys have seen most if not all of it.
Thanks again.

[h2olawyer]

Something unique comes up once in a while, but just about all the problems the V can have are solved someplace in the forum.  Glad the fix worked!

Happy Riding.

H₂O

[jasonm.]

Supervision, I don't understand your.."without continuing to the bike". Heck, you have applied + side battery voltage to the regulator circuit full time. The ground is always there. So, you are now doing a very slow drain of 4mA. I know it's not much. But my relays I use have never failed. I can always go back to stock if it does fail. Get an good meter and test if you know how...you'll see. Don't misunderstand. I am glad you shared this info. And I am using it. Just slightly better. Thanks...