Topic: New regulator rectifier

[neill collom]

Hi

I've just bought a combined RR to replace the two separate units on my cb550 cafe racer.

The new RR doesn't have the black, green and white wires for the old regulator connection. It has one single wire that is split into two at the end.

I'm assuming the black and white wires plug into this single wire.

Has anyone wired one of these before? The new unit didnt come with a wiring diagram.

Thanks.

[dave500]

what rec/reg is it?youll need to post some photos of it,dont plug it in yet,I can almost guarantee youll have smoke coming out somewhere if you do,it sounds like the one you bought may be for a permanent magnet type alternator?the old Hondas have an electro magnet type that the regulator adjusts that electro magnets power.

[neill collom]

Hi

Photo attached

It was bought from a reputable parts store here in the UK and sold as a combined replacement

Thanks

[dave500]

yeah ok david silvers is cool weve all bought a lotta stuff of him and hes a quality seller,im still not keen to give advice without holding the thing and probing it etc,id email back to them and see what they say?i also rarely post on electrical stuff because of the one touch wrong principle and the unit is fried!colours aint got no standard?is that green earth?and the red pos?honda use black for pos,black and white stripe after a switch,the three yellows are the stator outputs obviously,does the unit earth through its body?or does that twin lead go to ground?someone may have already used one of these and have all the answers for you hopefully.

[bryanj]

Ask Dave Silver what goes where, there should have been instructions with it.

[dave500]

I smell plastic smoke?

[neill collom]

Thanks guys.

Gonna email David Silver as suggested before setting fire to the bike

I've checked all the combined RR's they sell and they all seem to be set up like the one I have here. If they are not 100% sure I'll buy another one that comes with the green, white and black wires fitted to it rather than take a chance and cause more work for myself!

[Bodi]

About the only thing that makes sense with that wiring is that this is a shunt regulator: the alternator field coil is connected directly to system +12 power so the alternator is always at 100% possible output power. The regulator wastes any extra power - over what the bike uses once the battery is fully charged - by turning it into heat.
This works OK and quite a few modern bikes have this system, it's the usual way to control a permanent magnet alternator.
But your alternator wasn't really designed for working flat out all the time. It may overheat and be damaged. The regulator will also run pretty hot when shunting power. Probably not an issue really, but I would prefer a field control regulator that varies the output to suit the load.

[neill collom]

Put like that I think I would too!

I think I'll just put this one down as a bad buy and  order one with the different wiring configuration which I assume is a field coil RR. Thanks.

[dave500]

if its shunt reg its wrong full stop.