R/R placement, GS550ES

[p_s]

'85 GS550ES.

Where is the R/R supposed to go?
The parts fiche shows two different R/Rs, both have two mounting bolts.
The Clymer's manual has a picture of it directly behind the battery box resting on the rear fender, which is where it is now, but there are no bolt holes. There is one unused tapped hole on the left of the frame behind the blinker box.

[BassCliff]

Here's a wild guess

Hi mr. p_s,

I've never seen an '85 550 so take this with a grain of salt.




You may not have an integrated r/r on your bike. If not, I think #9 is the rectifier and #12 is the regulator. Sometimes they're on the bottom of the battery box. Sometimes they're on the left side near the fuse box.

I saw zero responses to your post so I thought I'd try to help. 8-[


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Scotts]

Well sir, Mine is an 86. Here is a picture of where mine is. It is right under the rear brake master cylinder and to the right of the helmet lock. The screws face upwards on the cross brace.

Scott

[p_s]

Thanks Scotts. Was your R/R always there (as long as you've had the bike)? I don't have any holes there on the frame. The pictures in the Haynes also show a singular R/R behind the battery, but then why the mounting bolts in the fiche? I guess it's not a big deal--it's not going anywhere the way it is now. I was just wondering where it's *supposed* to be.

BassCliff: that's the picture that had me scratching my head in the first place.

[BassCliff]

Shrugs

BassCliff: that's the picture that had me scratching my head in the first place.

Yes, I know what you mean Mr. p_s. I looked at that same picture on two different websites. On one, both parts were called the rectifier. On the other, both parts were called the regulator. What's up with that?

Anyway, we got it bumped so hopefully somebody with a 550 like yours can chime in.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Tmwnni]

Just checked the book, should be the same for your bike and mine, so here is a picture of where the R/R is *supposed* to go. You can mount it anywhere you want as long as you give it the required connections/room to cool off/secure mounting.

[posplayr]

Actually

Heat conduction (heat transfer through metal) does better than convection (heat transfer through air) to remove heat.

If you can mount the R&R solidly to the frame (and try a little heat sink grease to improve thermal transfer) then you can keep the R&R at a lower temperature then trying to get the heat out through the fins to the air.

Air is a poor thermal conductor, that is why down jackets work, I mounted my R&R on a copper heat sink tied to the frame. This is better than floating around on a side plate mounted in rubber.

Posplayr

[skreemer]

I moved mine as well.. I replaced my R/R with one off a GSXR and moved to to an aluminum plate that I cut to fit where the airbox used to be. Right between the pod filters. The GSXR R/R is huge and gets plenty of air there.

man I need to get a digi-cam so I can show off some of the trick bits...

On the 83 E I have and the 83 ES Nerobro has and the 84 ES I have in the basement they were all mounted on the left side by the battery box.

[p_s]

On the 83 E I have and the 83 ES Nerobro has and the 84 ES I have in the basement they were all mounted on the left side by the battery box.

It looks like I might be able to move it to the left side to get more air flow. I'll have to see how the holes line up. I don't especially want to drill the frame. I have a spare R/R and a couple thousand miles on this one (which isn't the original), so it seems to be okay where it is.

[Calvin Blackmore]

So have any of you shoehorned a PC heat sink onto a reg rect?

some heat pipe models are small enough

Zalman makes some pretty things
so pretty you would want to moutn them where they could be seen

anyway I was alos wondering what is the normal operating temp for the units and is tool cool a bad thing

[skreemer]

in this instance because of what they are the R/R can't be "too cool". They are a shunt type regulator basically meaning they take the excess energy and turn it into heat.

The main reason I think they go out is because under the seat they basically bake themselves to death. The newer ones don't have enything different in the way of internals, and the honda ones are even the same. The big difference it the size of the heat sink that they are mounted to...

a couple of CPU fans on it couldn't hurt matters though...