Regulator/rectifier woes.....somethings not right here.
04-28-2011, 08:37 PM
#1
Senior Member
Back Marker
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Winnipeg,MB,Canada
Posts: 189
Regulator/rectifier woes.....somethings not right here.
I was on my way to work a couple of days ago, and after about 20 mins of riding, I look down and notice my tach is reading 0, but its still running. In my head i'm thinking "regulator is probably going out on me",make it another 3 blocks, no speedo now. Pull into a parking lot, still running , stop and notice smoke coming from the regulator and my lights are getting dimmer. At that point I knew it was screwed, so I shut it down and called a friend to pick me and the bike up and took it to my work(i'm a mechanic by trade).
Pulled off the tail, noticed that the regulator had leaked, and was screwed. All fuses(main included) were good. Stator tested out @ 0.7ohms, Good. Grounds good, R/R connector in good shape with no traces of melting. So, I pulled the battery, put it on a charger, and called my local shop for a new regulator.
I had planned on upgrading it, but I needed to get it going, So I just picked up an aftermarket Emgo stock replacement...not my first choice, but I was in a jam. I put it in, clean the grounds, apply dielectric grease to the terminals, install a freshly charged battery and fire it up with my meter attached and got 13.6-13.8v @ idle. Not too bad, monitor for 10 mins and its still the same. Problem fixed right?
Hop on and take it for a ride....2km later, at highway speed, bike dies...no power...no lights...nothing. Pull over, remove seat, and the main fuse is blown...and blown good. Look over and run my hand over the regulator...could feel something internal has blown through the potting on the regulator, so it is now screwed too.
My question is...is this just a cheap *** regulator failure?...or is there something I missed? Anyone had grounding out issues from wires rubbing through and if so, where did you find them?. The bike is still at my work, gonna bring it home and pull it all apart to check all the wiring and possibly eliminate all of the connectors on the stator wiring. In my experience, if you completely destroy a 30A fuse there is either one hell of a short to ground, or a huge voltage spike, Neither of which are good for electrical components.
I'm thinking the new regulator is garbage, as I have had zero issues before this, and when the OEM one failed, it just stopped charging and didn't kill the bike or blow fuses. Ideas?????
Pulled off the tail, noticed that the regulator had leaked, and was screwed. All fuses(main included) were good. Stator tested out @ 0.7ohms, Good. Grounds good, R/R connector in good shape with no traces of melting. So, I pulled the battery, put it on a charger, and called my local shop for a new regulator.
I had planned on upgrading it, but I needed to get it going, So I just picked up an aftermarket Emgo stock replacement...not my first choice, but I was in a jam. I put it in, clean the grounds, apply dielectric grease to the terminals, install a freshly charged battery and fire it up with my meter attached and got 13.6-13.8v @ idle. Not too bad, monitor for 10 mins and its still the same. Problem fixed right?
Hop on and take it for a ride....2km later, at highway speed, bike dies...no power...no lights...nothing. Pull over, remove seat, and the main fuse is blown...and blown good. Look over and run my hand over the regulator...could feel something internal has blown through the potting on the regulator, so it is now screwed too.
My question is...is this just a cheap *** regulator failure?...or is there something I missed? Anyone had grounding out issues from wires rubbing through and if so, where did you find them?. The bike is still at my work, gonna bring it home and pull it all apart to check all the wiring and possibly eliminate all of the connectors on the stator wiring. In my experience, if you completely destroy a 30A fuse there is either one hell of a short to ground, or a huge voltage spike, Neither of which are good for electrical components.
I'm thinking the new regulator is garbage, as I have had zero issues before this, and when the OEM one failed, it just stopped charging and didn't kill the bike or blow fuses. Ideas?????
04-28-2011, 08:42 PM
#2
Senior Member
Back Marker
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 238
dude **** emgo. i bought a ignition cylinder and the connection to the harness fried and everytime i hit the brake lever the bike would die. bought a used factory one and problem went away. im betting the RR caused all those other problems. but a continuity check wouldnt hurt.
04-30-2011, 09:55 AM
#4
moto gp wannabe
Squid
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: oak harbor , wa
Posts: 55
did you find any short? I am battling similar issue -see she just quit-, except my rr didnt show any obvious signs of failure -i am on my way to try and find a rr now -good to hear the opinions on the emgo.
04-30-2011, 10:56 PM
#5
Member
Squid
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Washington State
Posts: 84
I had a problem with this last week. Bike started fine in the morning but at lunch the starter didn't work; bump starting worked fine, but the lights were all really dim and when the blinkers were on everything blinked.
When looking at my stock R/R, nothing looked out of the ordinary. But using a multimeter, the resistance was HUGE(2.5megaohms) when it should have been minimal(0.7ohm). Here are some pictures of what was going on inside the connector.
Replaced with a new 01 R1 unit, everything is back to normal. Interestingly enough, I think the R/R had been replaced before because it is the newer style finned unit I removed.
When looking at my stock R/R, nothing looked out of the ordinary. But using a multimeter, the resistance was HUGE(2.5megaohms) when it should have been minimal(0.7ohm). Here are some pictures of what was going on inside the connector.
Replaced with a new 01 R1 unit, everything is back to normal. Interestingly enough, I think the R/R had been replaced before because it is the newer style finned unit I removed.
05-01-2011, 02:47 AM
#6
Administrator
MotoGP
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Kempner, TX
Posts: 4,402
I had a problem with this last week. Bike started fine in the morning but at lunch the starter didn't work; bump starting worked fine, but the lights were all really dim and when the blinkers were on everything blinked.
When looking at my stock R/R, nothing looked out of the ordinary. But using a multimeter, the resistance was HUGE(2.5megaohms) when it should have been minimal(0.7ohm). Here are some pictures of what was going on inside the connector.
Replaced with a new 01 R1 unit, everything is back to normal. Interestingly enough, I think the R/R had been replaced before because it is the newer style finned unit I removed.
When looking at my stock R/R, nothing looked out of the ordinary. But using a multimeter, the resistance was HUGE(2.5megaohms) when it should have been minimal(0.7ohm). Here are some pictures of what was going on inside the connector.
Replaced with a new 01 R1 unit, everything is back to normal. Interestingly enough, I think the R/R had been replaced before because it is the newer style finned unit I removed.
05-04-2011, 01:05 PM
#7
Senior Member
Back Marker
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Winnipeg,MB,Canada
Posts: 189
dude **** emgo. i bought a ignition cylinder and the connection to the harness fried and everytime i hit the brake lever the bike would die. bought a used factory one and problem went away. im betting the RR caused all those other problems. but a continuity check wouldnt hurt.
Went back to my local shop to return it and get my money back and guess what...too bad, no warranty. Even though its a defective part. i'm pretty pissed about the whole thing, as I dont enjoy pissing my money away for a useless paper weight.
I went as far as contacting Emgo directly, so i'll see what happens there, probably nothing....I dont want another one of their pieces of junk, just my money back.
The lesson here....Don't buy cheap chinese parts from Emgo.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
