My Rectifier/regulater on my 2009 daytona decided to burn out today! Anyone know of of a cheap place to get a new one?
Because it's March, when all the bikes come out of hibernation, and because it's a bike forum, and no-one ever posts a "Hey, I rode my bike all day long & it didn't break down!!" kinda thread...
D41 is correct. IMO everyone's R&R's will be most likely to fail when subject to the most stress (ie load) After a long period of neglect the batteries are very likely drawing too much for the system to cope with, hence theses failures. An Optimate is far cheaper & less inconvenient than having your R&R replaced IMO. (Unless your Tag is Shaz, sorry fella.!)
I don't think it's anything to do with that, it's a solid state device and basically just works or doesn't. The regulator supplies regulated power to the rest of the system and isn't in the charging circuit. The rectifiers are in the charging circuit but should be perfectly capable of handling the maximum output from the alternator - it doesn't matter whether the battery is low on charge or not. The most common thing that affects voltage regulators in electronics is heat. Having built a number of power supplies in my time I can quite categorically state that they do need to be cooled very well or they will start to fail. A lot of slow-speed riding will do that as there won't be a lot of air flow over the heatsink, and especially if the fan comes on and chucks a lot of hot air around.
Fwiw the new Explorer is having an "On-demand" alternator and R/R system. In other words if it doesn't need to charge it doesn't and it liberates a little power in the process - it doesn't just bleed it off as surplus heat. Should have done that from day 1 on the 675.
that explains why i've had my second failure in 5 months! I've ridden my bike all through winter and its sodding typical that is fails just when the nicer weather starts! Any suggestions about how to keep the sodding thing cool then?
Sounds like I was well & truly wrong then Sorry for my bad everyone.! The "On-demand" system certainly sounds like the way forwards, & wouldn't it have been so much better if (as you said) Triumph had adopted that system initially.
I do for 4 of my 10 mile commute...the rest is crappy filtering on 20/30mph roads! I don't tend to go for proper ride outs during the crappier weather.
Not entirely St M. If a bike has been laid up it's more likely the connections will have more corrosion in them, ergo a higher resistance and more heat generated locally in the connection. That heat isn't supposed to be there and so is conducted into the R/R before it gets to the heat sink fins. Well it's a theory anyway......
For a connection to corrode so much as to cause any prolem it would have to be really bad corrosion or a bad connection in the first place. Even with significant corrosion there would not be that much heat generated, and even if there were it would remain local and not be conducted to the R/R. You'd be much more likely to have fuses blow and wiring looms burn out first.
Sorry Wyrm - if there is heat caused by a high resistance it will be conducted directly to the control board of the R/R due to it being connected by a copper or aluminium wire/pcb track - both of which are excellent heat conductors. Similarly if there is a very high ambient heat it will be absorbed and conducted by the same electrical wiring or pcb tracks into the R/R or any other electrical component I'm not saying it does happen - only that it can happen given the right conditions.
I think DeeGee may also have been kindly finding an excuse for my ignorance Wyrm. As I understand it, anything that creates resistance at terminations will therefore cause heat to be created as the current flows through that point of resistance. I expect that this heat would be conducted very efficiently (by the metal conductors of the supply wires) to vulnerable components. I expect that my lack of conventional formal schooling in this field may be the cause of my Failure. Perhaps if I explain my flawed understanding, maybe you could point out my misconceptions.: The rectifier converts the power from AC to DC (direct current) and the regulator stops the voltage going higher than a certain amount, to allow battery recharge but avoid circuit damage. As I perceived it the damaging component is heat! Although they are designed as one big heatsink (hence the fins to increase the surface area), nonetheless these things can get really hot, and the longer they run at higher temperatures, presumably the shorter their life.? Obviously a number of factors can encourage them to over heat. If the battery doesn't hold much charge, or is in otherwise poor condition, it will sink a lot of current, and never properly charge. The reg/rec has to supply all this current, and supplying this high current causes it to get hot. If the design is to “bleed to earth” and the almost continious excess current supplied by the generator is always just turned into waste heat, then my thinking is obviously very flawed.
Why hasnt truimph sorted this issue out as it seems to be a very common problem??? Also the exup valve??
Personally I couldn't agree more BTF (<a class="postlink" href="https://www.675.cc/675/viewtopic.php?p=105784#p105784">https://www.675.cc/675/viewtopic.php?p=105784#p105784</a> ) . But Deegee said something earlier that sounds promising mate :
Don't be so modest, I'm sure you're not that ignorant considering the above. The heating effect would have to be considerable for the heat to be conducted along the wires due to the cooling factor of the length of the wires from the heat source, and it's almost guaranteed that a fuse would go due to the extra current required to generate the heat (and the heat itself as the fuse is before the regulator) before it found its way back to the RR. In fact, the corrosion would have to be considerable or the connection not solid. The Rectifiers convert the AC from the alternator to DC to charge the battery, so if the battery isn't in good condition (or the connections aren't good) and pulls more current from the alternator then the rectifiers could burn out but will definitely get hotter. I beleive the issue is actually the regulator burning out because it overheats due to not being cooled sufficiently. As both the rectifiers and regulator are in the same package then if the rectifiers start overheating then they will heat the regulator more making it much more likely to fail. I believe they think they have from 2011 onwards - I posted something about it somewhere else... which I'm sure St Marks will find.
