Blowing regulators. Suzuki GS450 1982

[posplayr]

I would be concerned if you have enough electrical 'load' on the system so that the R/R doesn't have to shunt all the excess current.

Not sure if that is what he is seeing at the moment, but if he runs a bunch of LED's he could well have a problem there or with the stator unless he gets a Series R/R.

[rustybronco]

I questioned it because his drawing didn't show any turn signals or instrument panel lights.

Problem:
Blowing regulators on my cafe project after 10-20 min of riding. Have fried two in the last week.

[GmanGS450]

Load, This is probably my biggest problem.

Very stupid of me not to take into consideration, when I built the new harness. I only have one halogen headlamp, the rest of the lights consist of 25 3mm LED's at 20mA's each I am not drawing enough load off the R/R. The wiring should be okay to stay the way it is, I just need to burn off current from the R/R in some other way, I can make a variable resistance coil to burn off energy as heat, I have room for that.

Thanks for the help. I will repost my results, and the creation I come up with to make a little heat!

Thanks guys.

[rustybronco]

Then the series R/R is your friend...

[Steve]

The problem with adding a load is that you need to make it variable with speed.

As your engine speed drops, so does your stator output. If you forget to turn your load down when you get into traffic in town, you will quickly drain the battery. I have no idea what the reserve capacity of your battery is, but I suspect that it's a rather small battery, therefore, not much reserve.

As stated more than once, get a series regulator. A brand-spanking NEW one is less than $64 (link given in post #8).
Install that, verify that you have a good stator, you will be good to go, regardless of your load.

.

[GmanGS450]

Okay fine, Ill use the advice and purchase the series regulator, the Polaris one.

Thanks for all the help guys, After this problem is fixed I will make a build thread and show the bike off.

G-man

[GmanGS450]

Purchased the Polaris SCH775 for 83$ from a shop here in MN, installed it with a small 45mm computer fan mounted on the top, wired into the ignition.
I have the regulator (+) output split in half, half going through a fuse to battery for charge circuit. Other half going to before the ignition fused.

I realize that it is all on the same NODE of the battery positive but with the 2 fuses Iam confident the battery is protected enough.

After taking it out on a few ride the regulator did not get hot to the tough like the last few did right away. The voltage at first was 14.9v but after a short break in it does not go over 14.6V!!!!!!! At idle its sitting at 13.5v's too!!!! PROBLEM SOLVED.

Highly recommend this upgrade.

I did not take any pictures though. But the next time the tank is off I will snap a few photo's and post them here. Thanks for all the help guys.

[pdqford]

Good catch, Jim, I completely missed that one. .

I've always wondered about the ignition switch circuit on my GS750E. Looking at the nice colored wiring diagram on BikeCliff's website of the GS750 (16-valve) bikes, here's what I keep thinking: say the red or orange wire running up to the ignition switch should short to ground. If the battery is supply the major portion of the current, I think the main 15A fuse would blow.

But if the R/R was supplying most of the current, it would just keep on a cooking as that power source does not go through a fuse.

Am I reading that diagram correctly?

[posplayr]

I've always wondered about the ignition switch circuit on my GS750E. Looking at the nice colored wiring diagram on BikeCliff's website of the GS750 (16-valve) bikes, here's what I keep thinking: say the red or orange wire running up to the ignition switch should short to ground. If the battery is supply the major portion of the current, I think the main 15A fuse would blow.

But if the R/R was supplying most of the current, it would just keep on a cooking as that power source does not go through a fuse.

Am I reading that diagram correctly?

Yes, but the stator and R/R can only supply 15A no matter how high the RPM is. The magnetics of the rotor basically limit the total power output to 15 Amps so there is no reason to fuse the R/R separately..