Rectifying An Electrical Problem in Italy - 1

[mrbill5491]

^^Hahahaha!!!!!

Friggen' love it. Kiss a complete stranger, huh?

I hope it all works out for you. Your writing is fabulous, btw. I'm reading your lines with my interpretation of an accent.


Ed

Check your yahoo email Ed. I got back to ya finally lol.

[GSXR7ED]

I love Europe

Check your yahoo email Ed. I got back to ya finally lol.

Yeah, I saw it but forgot to write back.

Whatcha think of this thread? Beautiful pics and a candid look at the beauty that is Europe. I friggen' miss all the countries I lived in: England/Germany/Italy.

Keep providing the replies OP and please post moar pics!


Ed

[posplayr]

A motorcycle adventure through Europe would would not be complete with out an R/R replacement

[mrbill5491]

He did save the day with the new RR for sure.

[londonboards]

posplayr - I think you may even have been on the receiving end of a help request from Tatu on my behalf. Thank you.

I shall certainly travel with a spare in future. I'm just debating if I should go with a rewind on the stator to be sure it's good.

Greetings

[dorkburger]

Richard, great reading. Thanks for taking the time to share.
Regarding working with the torch, I often use a AA size Maglite wrapped in electrical tape and hold it in my mouth..the tape softens it......2 hands free. Sort of like having a fat stogie in your mouth......
Apologies for the ugly mug..
I use a clean anti freeze tester with a smaller hose attached to fill my battery when needed.

[londonboards]

7. Rectifying an Electrical Problem in Italy - 7

These regulator rectifiers have no information on them as to capacities or performance. Simply an aluminium heat sink with 5 wires sticking out and an indecipherable part number. None of that mattered to me. It looked about right and I understood exactly what to do with the 3 yellow, one red and one black wire. This little bit of kit was going to get me home.

At the same time I thought it prudent to get another battery. They had one in stock so I put one on the bill. They took it to the back of the shop, filled it with acid and put it on charge. I was delirious. All for the sum of 175 euros. Yes, it was far more than I would have paid for them on eBay at home but I wasn’t at home and I was more than willing to pay the price. The boys in the shop were delighted to help out and offered me the use of their washroom, told me where to get some lunch and later on lent me some gaffer tape to complete the wiring.



I immediately set myself up with my prayer mat and tools right outside the shop, to do the rectifier replacement. I stripped off my leathers (it was now 30 deg C again) and put on a pair of shorts, took all the bags off again, the seat and the side panels. Thank goodness for my prayer mat. It was a real life saver. I took the battery out and then dissembled all the components attached to the battery box and finally removed the battery box under which rested the defunct rectifier.





The switch over was done in about 45 minutes even though the connectors did not match up. I had brought a box of electrical connectors, some lengths of wire and even a crimping tool with me.







I had some interesting characters pass by:



Gaffer tape was used to isolate the exposed brass sections that were in danger of touching each other.



I even managed to start the bike with the old battery (which by now I was thinking I could probably use to get home) and test the voltages. It was perfect. At 2,500 rpm I was back down to 13.88 volts. Just inside the prescribed range.



I still had a couple of hours to kill whilst the battery was charging (which I later learned I could have done just as well when riding the bike) and went for a well-earned lunch break.



Next part: Part 8

[posplayr]

Hope you can make it home with that hodge podge.
The Shunt R/R is bad enough, but if that red connection becomes loose the R/R will over heat and could burn the stator right with it.

I know you hate to ruin that aftermarket connector on that newly gotten price, but you would be better off with twist terminals.

If that connection is the least bit loose, it will get warm and the warmer it gets the more gooey that tape will get and the looser the connection and the gooyer the tape ........(vicious circle etc etc)

All the while the R/R and stator are going to think they are in hades.......

[londonboards]

8. Rectifying an Electrical Problem in Italy - 8

After lunch I packed up, picked up the newly charged battery and prepared to set off. I thought of all the ways I could try and keep hold of my old battery, which I could at least use at home for one of my projects, but decided I could not secure it safely enough on the bike for the trip home. I very reluctantly and quite sadly left it with the boys in the shop. I wasn’t her fault that she had been boiled dry but I abandoned her to a fate unknown none the less.



Now I was back up and running. I dismissed the thought of trying to catch up with the BMWs which were still probably only 50 miles or so away from me and I started to think about heading home. I was due to be home after 6 nights in any case and one of the other guys and I had planned to peel off from the group and start heading back today. He had already done that and was about 3 hours ahead of me heading north.





From Reggio Emmilia I plotted a motorway route going past Parma, Piacenza, Milan and going up the Aosta Valley. I was heading for the tunnel at Mont Blanc. I was without the satnavs now and trying to plot and follow a course on my iPhone, lodged in the map section of my tank bag, was not the easiest or safest thing I have ever done. It meant frequent stops to re-route and try to remember the names of the places and numbers of the roads I should be looking out for as I rode along. It’s amazing how quickly you forget which motorway you are supposed to be looking for but it happened to me several times.



But I was travelling and I was travelling with the knowledge that the bike was fixed and I had triumphed over this potentially disastrous situation. I was on top of the world. I felt great. The engine was purring, the battery was charging, the headlight was working and there was no way I was now not going to get home. Every car I overtook on the motorway was a triumph. It seemed like every gear change was sweeter than I had ever realised. Every blast up to 7,000 rpm was like I had never had before. The SatNavs had no idea what they were missing. The connection between me and my machine was now spiritual and on a level that an electronically controlled BMW and it’s rider would never experience in a lifetime of being digitally dictated to by their machines.

(Next part: Part 9)

[GSX1000E]

Although it is great to hear that you are headed home and I certainly appreciate the pictures of the beautiful countryside,
the lack of mentioning that you listened to these warnings is bothersome. Did you in fact make a much improved connection???

Hope you can make it home with that hodge podge.
The Shunt R/R is bad enough, but if that red connection becomes loose the R/R will over heat and could burn the stator right with it.

I know you hate to ruin that aftermarket connector on that newly gotten price, but you would be better off with twist terminals.

If that connection is the least bit loose, it will get warm and the warmer it gets the more gooey that tape will get and the looser the connection and the gooyer the tape ........(vicious circle etc etc)

All the while the R/R and stator are going to think they are in hades.......

[londonboards]

posplayr -I made this trip back in September and this was a "get me home" fix which got me home. Yes indeed, I will now need to rewire this into the original connector as well as going over the wiring again checking the stator.

[GSX1000E]

It is I that missed the part about this trip being months ago. Not posplayr.

[posplayr]

posplayr -I made this trip back in September and this was a "get me home" fix which got me home. Yes indeed, I will now need to rewire this into the original connector as well as going over the wiring again checking the stator.

I understand you did this is a pinch, but if you knew how hot that R/R would get with loose connections you would never have rigged that connector that way.

I had an electrosport R/R that had a manufacturing defect with loosely crimped connector. Even though it was brand new and shiny copper the R/R got very hot immediately even at idle.

[londonboards]

posplayr - by now I had learned my lesson. I was checking the heat of the battery and the rectifier at every stop. Those blade connectors fitted pretty snugly into the old connector, just as they would if I had set them into the other half of the old connector as I should have done. The necessity to get home had overtaken any desire to perfect the wiring by this point. I'm a gambler by nature. I took that risk.

Greetings

[posplayr]

posplayr - by now I had learned my lesson. I was checking the heat of the battery and the rectifier at every stop. Those blade connectors fitted pretty snugly into the old connector, just as they would if I had set them into the other half of the old connector as I should have done. The necessity to get home had overtaken any desire to perfect the wiring by this point. I'm a gambler by nature. I took that risk.

Greetings

Glad you got home without incident, my only point is to make sure others are aware of the risks you were taking.

for example just striping and twisting the wire would have been much more secure for the remaining trip home.

btw I love duct tape. I used it to secure a main fuel inlet to a carburetor when 400 miles below the Mexican border. There was no other option when in the middle of the desert.