How long does the stock r/r typically last ?

[zuluwiz]

I have an R/R for my gs850g. It seems to have come from just outside Hong Kong, or so it appears from the invoice. Should I go ahead and install it, or toss it? There are no markings at all on the part. It was cheap enough to toss if it's junk, so......is it junk or not? Also, where do I find the connectors and suck for these things? I hate to put it in without using the proper connectors. (It's possible of course but seems like a Bad Idea.)

[Grimly]

Shunt makes little sense to me. Basically you are using fuel to heat the oil and giving all sorts of connectors and insulation a work out at the same time.

Are they just cheaper to make ?

They were the answer at the time. And cheap, and simple, so yes, in short.
Reliable? Yes, if you took the expected lifespan (and type of use) of fhe average motorcycle and would the problems (mostly) only surface in the second or third owner's hands.
Today, as Pos pointed out, things are very different, and now the penny has dropped (for years now) it's nothing short of penny-pinching that motorcycles are still leaving the factories with shunt regulators installed, and numerous Aprilia owners (for example) have suffered the same alternator anguish as their Suzuki-owning forebears, thirty and forty years ago.

[Grimly]

I have an R/R for my gs850g. It seems to have come from just outside Hong Kong, or so it appears from the invoice. Should I go ahead and install it, or toss it? There are no markings at all on the part. It was cheap enough to toss if it's junk, so......is it junk or not? Also, where do I find the connectors and suck for these things? I hate to put it in without using the proper connectors. (It's possible of course but seems like a Bad Idea.)

Do you have a local rubbish collection cart? If so, wait until it's parked outside and toss that sucker in it, as hard as you can.

[Chuck78]

Jim, would you care to detail exactly how you made an oil sprayer set up for your stator? Is there an oil pressure passage right at the end of the block there just rear of the stator, a supply rail so to speak, and you just tapped into it and installed a fitting of some sort to spray forward & down onto the stator? With a carburetor jet in the end as an orifice? Or a small hole drilled in a similar fashion as to create back pressure and create a high pressure stream two mist out on it?
Or is this something to do with the starter clutch lubrication supply? I don't have an engine in front of me at the moment to look at to theorize how you did this, but that is my best guess for memory.

Thanks,

Chuck

[wymple]

My 850 is now 37 years old, still using the original stock parts. I keep threatening to upgrade it all........

[aclaytonb]

Mine was toast when I got it. Replaced with a $10 honda r/r from the 80s...works great. Honda over-engineering ftw.

[superawesome]

Original r/r combo on my GS1000 lasted for 39 years and 50000 km (unless it was replaced with stock parts by PO).
I put in a used RS232 from a Honda like the previous poster, since I could not get the SH775 here in europe.

[Chuck78]

I would never ever trust a stock regulator rectifier or 40 year old wiring connections! That's just asking for trouble, I'm trying to make all the bikes that I wrench on substantially less prone to failure, I don't like having anyone stranded on the roadside!

[mvalenti]

R&R and Murphy are friends..

[Chuck78]

Huh????
Rest & Relaxation?
Regulation & Rectification?

Who is Murphy????

[Admiral Beez]

1) one leg of the stator winding circuit is sent from the stator up to the handcontrol and then back down to the R/R. A long and convoluted route. As thecircuit ages, particularly the connectors, resistance builds up and then thewires in question melt which often damages the entire harness. You should fixthe wiring by sending the stator wires directly into the R/R.

How hard of a project is that? My mind exaggerates the complexity of wiring. I assume my 1982 GS650G has the same issues.

[Chuck78]

That is very easy - Just follow the 3 wires out of the stator, 2 go directly to the r/r, 1 goes into a wire that I believe is white with green stripe, to handlebar light switch, and then back down & to the r/r on a white/yellow stripe wire or white/blue stripe?? Or vice-versa.
Just disconnect the striped wires, and hook the 3rd stator leg direct to the r/r same as the others.

I myself personally would not be very inclined to run the stock r/r after doing this however, it may be best suited to a minimum of upgraded wiring (posplayr GS Charging System Health rr/battery rewiring diagram, & posplayr's single point ground conversion) & a newer mosfet switching rr, definitely best with the wiring upgrades AND a series switching r/r like the SH775 or the newer SH8##(?) VSTROM Shindengen series switching units.

The original 1970's thinking was that if the headlight/taillight was not being used (biggest power consumption on the bike), then why bother generating more power to just have to send STRAIGHT to ground to regulate (i.e. stator always running full load and very hot) - just unhook the one stator leg via the headlight switch, then only 66.666% of the stator is running full load. Great in theory, terrible in the long term due to the excess added wiring length and several connectors and switch contacts in this loop, which really can add a lot of resistance when the connections get dirty and corroded and old and worn and loose... then you have the heat and melting issues...

The full load thing comes from the old shunt and even the newer MOSFET r/r operation. They shunt style forces a switch open to send the generated A.C. voltage straight to ground when the system is above 14.5 volts or so. MOSFET works the same way but more efficient faster switching via higher tech components that are powered independently. Still, regulation occurs by sending all excess a.c. voltage straight to ground, so the stator is always at full load.

Series switchmode rr's are more advanced and similar to a mosfet, but to regulate output down to a max of 14.5 volts, they actually just unhook the stator output wires at very rapid cycles to regulate the voltage output, similar to the light switch unhooking the one leg of the stator. The shunt and mosfet types short circuit the excess a.c. stator output straight to ground, which makes the stator run at full load ALWAYS and makes it run hot, but the series is more advanced and is able to just unhook the bike wiring load from the stator output at rapid cycles, so it does nor run at full lpad, only at the load being consumed by the bike. A brilliant advancement in technology...

Also, the early GS's were FAR WORSE EVEN, as the regulator and rectifier were 2 separate units, not combined, and the regulator only regulated one phase of the 3 stator output phases...from what I have gathered from reading up on this subject here on GSR... very crude system.

[wymple]

"I myself personally would not be very inclined to run the stock r/r after doing this however, it may be best suited to a minimum of upgraded wiring (posplayr GS Charging System Health rr/battery rewiring diagram, & posplayr's single point ground conversion) & a newer mosfet switching rr, definitely best with the wiring upgrades AND a series switching r/r like the SH775 or the newer SH8##(?) VSTROM Shindengen series switching units."


I'm still running the stock r/r 3 years after this mod, and it's still fine. I have recently purchased an sh775, but only because the age of the stock unit bothers me a bit.