2 questions in the form of 4 pictures

[shadowfist]

question 1:

when I was trying to get at my stator I pulled off the bars with three bolts like so:

afterwards, i found this peice on the ground. never heared it hit though... i found a picture of it in the manual, but not where it came from, where did it come from? there dont seem to be any gaps or anything so i am baffled...

Second question...

which one is my R/R?
this? (stuck to the bottom of my battery cage)

or this? (stuck to the side of my battery cage)

 

[tkent02]

That's the nut for the bolt you pulled out, the one under the engine.
Stick your face under there and look up, there's no room for a wrench so they shaped it like that. Just stick it up in it's hole, put in the bolt, torque it down.
Very easy.

 

[mriddle]

Your 3rd pic from the top (under the battery) is your regulator .. 4th is your rectifier.

Later bikes had them combined into one unit (usually referred to as regulator/rectifier or r/r).

 

[Billy Ricks]

You have a seperate regualtor and a seperate rectifier. The one under the battery box is the regulator and the one on the side is the rectifier.

 

[Billy Ricks]

mriddle beat me to it. What he said.

 

[shadowfist]

so, could i use a combined R/R unit? or do i have to get them separately? and for all you savvy folks... are those both stock? I am pretty sure the regulator is stock, but i don't know about the rectifier and since i have 2 units instead of one... which one is the bad part that fries my stators per the stator papers?

oh and BTW question 1: i thought that might be the case, but it looks like my cage thing was broken or bent in a fall so they had to re-weld a fastener onto the frame for it to attach to, seems like the bolt is not needed... but that doesn't explain where it came from

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

with some wiring changes you can use the combo unit Very easy change

 

[Steve]

Did you digest all that info? :-k

Basically, you don't have an R/R, you have an R/ and an /R.

Also, that little piece that fell is the nut for the bottom bolt that holds the case saver. By the way, that's also an engine mount, so make sure it's snug.

.

 

[shadowfist]

yeah i absorbed that, just a few more questions.

1: I read that the R/R problem didn't matter if it was one unit or two as they are the same components and both varieties suffer the same problem. is it possible that only one component is bad?

2: if only one component is bad, are there seperate regulators or rectifiers that i could find so that i only have to replace a single unit?

3: i'm pretty sure that i will have to replace both. now seince i am on a pretty tight budget what would the best way to go be? i have found the 3rd party one for (gasp) $95 instead of $99. would finding a R/R from another bike be more eccenomical (like a honda R/R)?

 

[egent]

3: i'm pretty sure that i will have to replace both. now seince i am on a pretty tight budget what would the best way to go be? i have found the 3rd party one for (gasp) $95 instead of $99. would finding a R/R from another bike be more eccenomical (like a honda R/R)?

Yes, you will be much better off getting the honda r/r. There is a member here that sells them for for $40 shipped I believe. His name is duaneage send him a PM to see if he has any in stock.

 

[rustybronco]

3: i'm pretty sure that i will have to replace both. now since i am on a pretty tight budget what would the best way to go be?

The best way to go, would be to find out if anything is wrong first. then decide.

 

[shadowfist]

one more question on top of all the others...

since i have 2 units instead of one R/R... how do i interpret the flowchart on the stator papers?

 

[rustybronco]

The first thing needed is what bike? (put it in your siggy line)

 

[shadowfist]

there we go, added
|
V down there

 

[rustybronco]

Thank you...

I have never worked on a separate rectifier / regulator combo, so until someone that has worked on one comes along, bear with me.

disconnect the three wires from the stator going to the rectifier, check the resistance across the three windings as per the stator papers (<.5 ohm, >1.0 ohm ??) . then check stator to ground for a short to ground (<100k ??).
fire up the bike with the stator still disconnected and check the A.C. voltage @5,000 RPM coming from the stator. it should be around 70+ volts.

if it passes those tests, I will try to scrounge up a wiring diagram to help you further diagnose the rectifier...

 

[Billy Ricks]

In the old Q&A the guy that wrote up the stator papers recommends replacing the seperate regulator and rectifier with the single r/r. He didn't go into detail, but from what I could gather one leg of the stator goes to the regulator then to the headlight circuit. The other two went to the rectifier. I could be completely wrong about that, maybe one of the EE's will verify if that sounds right. If that's the case it should just be a simple matter of running all three legs to the r/r.

 

[rustybronco]

The early models took one leg of the stator output, ran it up to the headlight switch. when you turned on the headlight it put the extra output of the third leg to the rectifier.

the reason for that method was, the less wattage produced, the less wattage to dissipate as heat when the headlight was off.

 

[TheCafeKid]

Replace them with a single unit R/R. Bad or not, one of them will go bad eventually, nip it in the bud now instead of being stuck out on the road somewhere when it goes bad. Best $40 you can spend on your bike IMO.

 

[Billy Ricks]

Here's the Q&A from the old forum. Maybe someone can make sense of it.

<B>

DATE: November 8, 1997
QUESTION: More stator problems
In the GS - Resources Web-page on the Stator Papers 2 the following Statement exists:

The ac wires from the rectifier are so hot they melt and the rectifier will burn your fingers. I have replaced the rectifier and checked out the regulator (it's OK) and of course the battery has been replaced more than once. HELP!!!!! The dealer has no answers.
​

We seem to have a terminology problem here... it would normally be very hard to replace the rectifier and leave the regulator untouched, as they are both the same! The regulator/rectifier is one sealed unit! So either we have a terminology error or you have got a VERY unstandard kitchen sink charging unit.

The above Answer isn't correct, I own a 1978 GS750D (restored last year). In this machine the regulator and the rectifier are both single units. I have replaced the bad rectifier by an standard 3 phase rectifier 150V 25A and have repaired the regulator. In later models (1979 and later I think) the regulator and the rectifier is in one unit. Please excuse my poor English. Because of this problem I have not jet registered on the GS-Pages.
RIDER: Holm Tiffe
REPLY: Ritzo Muntinga
I think the generator is at fault. First you'll have to check if there's no short circuit between the phases. This could also have it's cause in the wiring emerging from the generator itself. See if the wires in the alternator-cover are okay. Otherwise it will be the generator itself. When there are many of the windings 'missing' (short-circuited) then the generator will produce low voltage/high current. This high current is what makes your AC wires get hot.

Alternator check: 1/ no connection from one phase to the lamination (ground) 2/ phase to phase resistance app. 0.7 Ohms 3/ after disconnecting the output AC-wires from the alternator, when you rev the engine to about 5000rpm the no-load output between the phases must be 70V AC at least. Make sure you switch the multimeter to ACV.

Recheck the new rectifier and disconnect the regulator. The regulator only has a one-phase input and above a certain AC-Voltage short circuits part of the sine-wave to ground. So you can disconnect the regulator and run the bike to see if there's still a problem. A good fully charged battery will keep the charging-voltage within limits, it won't get above 15.5V DC. No problem running it this way for a short period.

What you have to do is to connect the green-white output wire from the alternator straight onto the red-white rectifier-input. This way you bypass the switch in the lighting-circuit that only adds the third alternator output to the system when the lights are running; bad piece of design, because you put load on the three-phase alternator in a very strange way. An even better solution is to get rid of the separate rectifier and regulator and use a combined unit that regulates all three phases (very important: don't use a unit from another Suzuki, they're bad)

</B>

 

[Billy Ricks]

Replace them with a single unit R/R. Bad or not, one of them will go bad eventually, nip it in the bud now instead of being stuck out on the road somewhere when it goes bad. Best $40 you can spend on your bike IMO.

You can pick up one off Ebay for $40 or less from a year or two old Honda CBR1000RR or take the lazy way out and get one from Duanage.