Twit of the day award goes to... Me for killing my ignition system GS850GN

[Pastychamp]

I am wearing my village idiot hat as I write this.
Question: What's the worst I could have done by using a car battery to check my ignition system and then carelessly reversing the polarity????
Symptoms: Very weak spark at contacts, fuse blown. replaced. Horn and indicators working, no headlight then no indicators also...but still horn.
Haynes manual out and no response from ohm test to rectifier....nothing!
New rectifier is it? What's best for a GS850GN (apart from me not going near it ever) as a replacement rectifier. Should i be concerned for other components?
Any helpful comments appreciated. Cheers now.

[Steve]

If you still have the stock points, your ignition system should be unaffected.

The charging system might be so lucky. You may as well follow the lead of hundreds of others and get a Polaris R/R to replace your (separate) rectifier and regulator.

.

[Pastychamp]

Thanks for the advice. A bench test on the rectifier seems to have yielded good results. Didn't think of the points being a natural fire break but i've done something stupid. I guess i will have an inspirational lockdown. I'll dig out my copy of Zen and the art of....
cheers now.

[Steve]

The points might be a "fire break", but the more-important part is that in a points-based ignition, polarity is irrelevant. You have the points, which are just switches, and you have the coils, which are ... well ... coils. The direction that the current flows through them doesn't really matter.

On your rectifier, even though it might test good, and even if it IS good, you would be better off replacing it with a Polaris R/R. The Polaris unit is a series-type regulator, which eases the load on your stator, while still providing full current to the rest of the bike. The difference is in what the regulator does with the excess current.

.

[Pastychamp]

OK Steve, thanks. Can you send me a link to the Polaris Reg please?

[Steve]

You can get a new one at a dealer, but since you are in the UK, I have no idea where. They are expen$ive from a dealer, though, it's best to go with a used one from eBay. The biggest problem with getting one from eBay is all of the fakes. The fakes LOOK like a Polaris unit, but vary in the details. The Polaris unit is made by Shindengen, its part number from Shindengen is SH775. Polaris has a part number of 4012941. You can search this forum, there are MANY threads on the topic. Seadoo also makes personal watercraft with the same regulator, their part number is 710001103. You can enter those criteria in your eBay search, be sure those numbers are shown in pictures in the listing.

.

[fastbysuzuki]

As Steve has said dealers are very very expensive more so in the uk. eBay.com is your best bet again as Steve has said there are loads of fakes about you cannot but a new sh775 new for £30-£60 like many fakes are advertised.
As far as eBay is concerned if you buy from the USA you are liable for import duty + vat and Royal Mail will charge you £8 for the pleasure of collecting the duty's.
what you want is to find a seller that sells via the global shipping program this way you find out at checkout what is the final cost this way the duty's work out a bit cheaper and you do not pay the £8 to royal mail

[Grimly]

Brand new (new old stock) genuine SH775, $99 + shipping to UK for $43.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Can-Am-Voltage-Regulator-Rectifier-710001103-SH775-Polaris-4012941-RZR/264789809886

[fastbysuzuki]

There is a sh775 here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Polaris-R....c100677.m4598
the seller is good quite a few on here have purchased from them including myself and they sell via the global shipping program