| Author | Message | ||
     Blk09r |
My voltage regulator quit on me at 1575 miles. The symptoms were a system voltage message being displayed and the rest of the display being blank. I would shut the bike off and restart it at which point the voltage would read between 16.5 -17 volts and would slowly come down to 14 volts. This would happen about 5 minutes into a ride and wouldn’t happen again after I shut it down and restarted the bike. The bike has had the harness upgrade since new. I decided I wasn’t going to have Harley replace the regulator with another which would probably fail again so I took the bull by the horns. I replaced the stock SCR type regulator with a mosfet regulator that came stock 06 Yamaha R1s and FJ1300s. I got a lot of good information from this thread http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/290431/580833.html?1281122298 I used this regulator. http://www.ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=10-420&pmc=MDZZYW1GSlIxMzAw It is the FH012 regulator mentioned in the thread above and will handle 50 amps. Some have claimed to have bought this reg for 50 bucks on Ebay, but I couldn’t find any deals. I did buy a stock regulator on Ebay for $30 just for the pig tails and connectors. If anyone can find a supplier for the stock connectors please post it for the rest of us. The new regulator won’t fit in the stock location because it is taller. I mounted it in the tail section under the passenger seat. I’m a little concerned about the lack of air circulation and will probably drill some holes in the under tray or I might even mount a fan. I bought the connectors for the regulator here. http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Elec__Products/Connectors/R_R_Connectors/r_r_connectors.html I had to extend the pig tails to reach the regulator and soldered everything. I also used shrink tubing to cover all of the splices. The yellow stator wires are 12 gauge and the red and black battery wires are 10 gauge. Don’t go any smaller on these because they flow quite a bit of current. I also had to make a mounting plate out of 1/8” aluminum. Here are some pictures……  | ||
| Blk09r |
Well I was hoping to post some more pictures but the system won't let me. | ||
| Blk09r |
My mistake  | ||
| Blk09r |
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| Blk09r |
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| Pariah |
Very nice... I love homemade stuff, especially when it looks professional. Congrats. (Message edited by pariah on August 06, 2010) | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
now i wonder if that will help two fold one because it's a better r/r and two because it looks like it's cooler back there | ||
| Ccryder |
Great job! Let us know how it performs and how it holds up. | ||
| Parrick |
Looks good! I got my regulator here: http://roadstercycle.com/Universal%20Mosfet%20FH01 2AA%20charging%20system%20upgrade.htm The Deutch connectors are available here: http://www.deutschconnector.com/products/deutsch_d tp_4-way_connectors.html | ||
| Blk09r |
Damn Parrick...You got it for $45 less than I did. I wish I had found that site. | ||
| 1_mike |
Blk - You mentioned a fan... Funny...I'm hoping to get a fan mounted to mine tomorrow (Sat.). It's an old computer power supply fan. It's cfm seems fairly low...but I'd guess anything might help. I'm betting right now that the fluctuation that many see (including myself), may be a hot regulator problem rather than a stator problem. I've checked the fan on the bike...let it run for about 10 minutes. Seems ok. Unfortunatly, whether I get it on or not, I can't test it because I'm going out of town for a while. You can get the little fans that put out over 50 CFM. If this old one shows "any" signs of helping, I'll put a higher power one on later. Here's to hoping anyway. Mike | ||
| Blk09r |
Mike, post some pictures if you can. | ||
| 1_mike |
Well...after looking at the factory arrangement, it might not be so easy with a factory regulator "in the factory location". It cools by transference of heat to the plate it's mounted to, then to the air / subframe. The side facing the more center of the bike is normally bolted to the mounting plate. If the reg. had cooling fins as shown above, it would cool much better thAn the one we have. The potting material visible when looking at the regulator will not do much as a heat transference material. So on one had, a fan may not be as effective as I'd hoped, on the other hand, it might be easier to mount between the body and the subframe and cool the mounting plate....where the regulator heat is radiated to. I noticed that the three yellow wires coming from the reg., are different shades of yellow....from excessive heat!!! Will look closer when I get back from my trip, a few "cooling" holes in the plate may be of benefit too, with the fan on that side. Mike | ||
| Blk09r |
I managed to take it out for a short ride today and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Voltage was at 14.1 - 14.5 most of the time. It did dip to 12.8 in traffic with the fans running but recovered to 14+ once I got moving. There were also times when I was stopped at a light with the fans running and was reading 14+ volts. I haven't disabled the harness upgrade yet and I probably won't until I can compare the AC current from the stator using both regulators. More to come.... | ||
| Dannybuell |
Blk09r - which ecm are you using? | ||
| Blk09r |
E-B-R Generic race ECM for pump gas. 1500rpm idle | ||
| Dannybuell |
@Blk09r - I too have a generic E-B-R pump gas ECM. ---All--- My CR is on stator #2. At about 2000 miles it died. Your voltage values are way better than my almost new stator that has 2000 miles on it (4000miles total). This looks very encouraging! | ||
| Blk09r |
I just noticed something else with this regulator. No more flickering display! | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
how is the new regulator working out for you? | ||
| 1_mike |
Well...not exactly what I wanted, but I've got a 20cfm computer "power supply" fan sitting on top of my requlator. I moved and wiggled everything clear of the regulator from the top. I thought of a lot of things to get it into the airstream, but this was overall the easiest, quickest. Why the engineers put the regulator buried so deep that there isn't hardly any airflow to cool it....I'll never know. Obviously it wasn't the same guys that put the XB series regulator, fully....out in the airstream. I put a fuse and a switch in the line so I can run the fan in city traffic only. I should know if it's doing anything at longer red lights on the 90+ degree days by watching the voltage move around (lower..!). If this shows any signs of working, I may just move the reg. out front like the XB bikes. More and more...I think it's just as much, if not more a hot regulator problem thAn a hot stator. The regulator needs to do a better job of controling the stator output..,e.g., heat. Mike | ||
| Rob_l |
You guys are on the right track, (more cooling) I'm sure is the key. The dealer used allot of heat transfer compound to mount the new regulator after mine went bad. | ||
| Cataract2 |
I've been down this road before with my old 1993 FZR 600. They mounted it in a similar fashion where there was the reg and a plate for heat transfer. No heat sink was on the reg. Well, after burning up 2 with the last one smoking. I decided that there must be a better setup. Well, the 95 FZR 600 reg had a heat sink on it. I upgraded to that one and no more problems. I am very interested in this setup you guys are doing. Keep up the good work. | ||
| Aj2010 |
I often ride with a buddy that has an old VFR. he's had charging system problems too. he tends to think it's regulator related rather then stator, voltage readings at various times would tend to indicate this as well. My comment however is that we noticed his regulator getting VERY HOT (similarly mounted to the rear steel sub-frame) and mine was barely getting warm. I did replace the heat transfer paste with what I hoped was higher quality stuff for a processor heat sink. My friend has bought the new regulator from Honda and says it is different / improved over the original. The replacement has cooling fins, an aluminum heat sink and is now insulated from the sub-frame. Interesting stuff. Not sure how well things will work as we are waiting for my fried stator to be replaced before taking the bikes out again. I'm thinking a finned regulator moved up by the oil cooler might be a good idea, but waiting to hear more about improved regulators that help the stator run cooler. | ||
| Blk09r |
So far so good! I've been running this setup for a few hundred miles now and no more system voltage errors. Battery voltage doesn't drop as low at idle as it used to with the stock regulator either. I've also drilled some holes in the under tray to try to get a little more cooling air in there as well. I'm still running the harness upgrade until I can measure the difference in stator current between the two regulators. Oh, did I mention the display no longer flickers? | ||
| 1125cr |
My CR is currently at the dealership getting a new stator. I'd like to put this regulator on when I get it back. I'm a little confused as to what connectors you guys are buying? I think a detailed list of wiring and specific connectors would be a great help. I very glad you guys are working on solutions because it seems as if HD isn't interested in coming up with a good solution to our charging system woes. | ||
| Datsaxman |
AJ, This is a very well known problem with the VFR...the usual fix is lots of contact area and heat sink goop to give the heat a path. Then putting in a fan or moving the thing to get it into the air stream is the next step up. How about a small Peltier cooler? I am thinking I will use that to get the rectifier/regulator actually COOL. | ||
| Zac4mac |
When you mount the R/R, mate the faces and use a THIN layer of conductive paste. Do figure-8s on wet-dry from 360/400 up to 1000 or so for both faces. Last paste I bought was Arctic Silver 5 - top tier stuff. Z | ||
| Sekalilgai |
How about a small Peltier cooler? Peltier coolers are about 50% efficient....20W in to cool 10W (plus you still have to dump that 10W somewhere)....but that'd be 20W not being shunted (when available)....so that would be cooling by itself! | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
that's funny, never thought we would be talking about arctic silver 5 on this forum. But you are correct, it is great stuff. When i took the stock thermal paste off my cpu and put on arctic silver 5, it dropped my cpu temp 8 degrees C. (Message edited by dktechguy112 on August 17, 2010) | ||
| Froggy |
I still got the same tube of AS5 I bought years ago, I remember it costing more for shipping than the tube itself from Newegg. |
