When I first got my bike the rotor was shorted and the regulator was shot. I replaced my rotor a while back, but have been driving without a functioning regulator. Just the other day I boiled my battery and fried my rectifier and rotor. Me being the tightwad that I am, I thought there must be an alternative to the $100 aftermarket R/R or the extremely expensive RR from the dealer. I was right. I went to Advance Auto Parts and got a regulator for a mid-70s Ford pickup for $13. Here's the link and a pic:
[EDIT]No link, just go to an auto parts store and look for a voltage regulator for a mid-'70s F150 pickup.[/EDIT]
It has 5 wire connections:
A+ -- Battery +
F -- Field 1
S -- Not Used
I -- Ignition
Case - Ground
It's really easy to wire up. The F terminal goes to one of the two field wires (brush wires to the rotor). The other field wire goes to ground. "I" goes to your switched power and A goes straight to battery voltage. You want to ground the case somehow.
There is one problem with using this regulator, however. It has no rectifier built in. I built my own rectifier using two of these:
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Alternately, you could simply use one of these:
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Wiring the rectifier is a lot simpler than it looks. The three wires that come out of the alternator are three-phase AC power. The rectifier will convert this power to DC.
Just to make it simple, I'll use the three-phase rectifier from above as an example. Three of the lugs will be labeled with a "~" which denotes AC power. The output of your alternator goes directly to these three lugs. The "-" lug goes to the "-" terminal of your battery and the "+" goes to the positive terminal. Since the regulator varies the output directly from the alternator, this is all you need to do with the rectifier.
I've installed this system in my '79 CB650 and it works great. The charge voltage is right at 13.3v, and it'll charge from 1500rpm and up. You'll never have to worry about burning your headlight bulbs or overcharging your battery because the electronic regulator keeps the voltage perfectly constant. Also, since it charges at 13.3v instead of 14.4v, you don't have to worry about boiling your battery in the summer time. Plus, the two rectifiers that I used are $0.44 apiece and the regulator was only $13. That puts my R/R budget to $13.88. Much better than the $100 I would've spent on the 'net or the $250 from Honda!!
" Is the field wire one of the two wires that come out of the right side of the crankcase cover ? Any help is very much appreciated "
Thanks
Jason
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