Apparent Regulator Failures

[hootmon]

I wonder how weather resistant such units would be..?

[Sledge Hammer]

In short, not at all weather-resistant unless you get a little creative in mounting and enlcosing it. I'm just tossing out a possible alternative to the ridiculously over-priced things from Kuryakyn et al. To be fair, a good deal of what you're paying for with the units marketed to motorcyclists is the enclosure, which one would like to think was weather-resistant, but not sure I'd bet on it.

I personally find it a little easier to read an analog meter quickly these days than even the "big print" digital displays. Can't read characters quickly without reading glasses, which just don't work for me on a motorcycle, and the LED bar graphs lack the resolution to be useful, in my opinion.

[Charles S Otwell]

So what are we talking here? Hard wiring the leads of a volt meter to the battery , velcroing a volt meter to handlebars and plugging it in when your riding and removing it if it's raining?  Does anyone make an inexpensive volt meter that would hold up to vibration and constant input?

[drkngas]

Has anyone installed the Kuryakyn LED Battery Guage?

http://www.kuryakyn.com/products.asp?bn=metric&ci=2695

I was considering one since my battery tends to go down if in traffic with the cooling fan on.

[Charles S Otwell]

I think I will hard wire a set of voltage wires to the battery, run them up the handle bars, then I can keep a small cheap (Harbor Freight ) meter in my bag so I can periodiclly check my voltage output.. Any reason that wouldn't work? At least until someone finds a nice chrome one for under $15.00 ..

[Curtis_Valk]

I think I will hard wire a set of voltage wires to the battery, run them up the handle bars, then I can keep a small cheap (Harbor Freight ) meter in my bag so I can periodiclly check my voltage output.. Any reason that wouldn't work? At least until someone finds a nice chrome one for under $15.00 ..

Just be sure to fuse the hot lead even though it won't have a load.  You never know when something will find a way to ground itsself.

Curtis

[lragan]

Just be sure to fuse the hot lead even though it won't have a load.  You never know when something will find a way to ground itsself.

Curtis

In which case the term "hot lead" will mean precisely what it says!!

[Charles S Otwell]

I usually put an inline fuse about an inch or two from the battery terminal, and also cover that small of wire with some kind of sheath..

[Sledge Hammer]

I think I will hard wire a set of voltage wires to the battery, run them up the handle bars, then I can keep a small cheap (Harbor Freight ) meter in my bag so I can periodiclly check my voltage output.. Any reason that wouldn't work? At least until someone finds a nice chrome one for under $15.00 ..

That's similar to what I was going to recommend next. If you don't mind shoehorning something in and maybe aesthetically-challenged solutions, there are plenty of less expensive alternative to the hig-dollar stuff.

[hootmon]

Well, I got my new Regulator installed behind the right side cover... I will post some pictures tomorrow... The regulator at 3K RPM puts out 15VDC (Not more than, but right at 15VDC)... Is that acceptable or too high? The battery is near full charge? Looking for some smart guidance here.. Not Smart @ss guidance... Thanx

[Magnum Magna]

From what I understand the regulator does not turn off (like cars and trucks) so it will always produce a charge of 14 or 15 volts if the battery needs it or not.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

[lragan]

From what I understand the regulator does not turn off (like cars and trucks) so it will always produce a charge of 14 or 15 volts if the battery needs it or not.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Terry, alternator/rectifier/regulator systems are designed to provide the current a battery needs -- not "whether it needs it or not" -- the source of overcharging and boilover.  When the battery is fully charged the voltage will be in the range 14.5-15+ volts, depending on the battery, its age, the temperature, and other factors.  There is no fixed voltage that is "fully charged".  Supplying a very small current when the battery voltage gets this high will just replace the current lost to leakage, which is what most modern "plug it in the wall" chargers do. 

For details on proper battery charging, please see Mike Coward's post earlier in this thread, in particular, http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/battery/oem/images/pdf/Panasonic_VRLA_ChargingMethods.pdf

[hootmon]

Sorry for the duplicate posts, but there does seem to be two similar threads and I was concerned with my regulator output level and wanted visibility to the "experts" - (That's you guys..) Thanx for your forgiveness... 
As promissed, here is a couple of pictures of my regulator re-design (at least location wise)


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Charles S Otwell]

That is where I've  talking about moving mine to the next time I have trouble.  Lots of bikes have them exposed so it's an already tested location. It looks good to me, thanks for the pics.. I think I'll even go ahead a mount one on the side for a spare. 

[hootmon]

As I stated in a previous post I purchased the regulator from regulatorrectifire.com
http://www.regulatorrectifier.com/catalog/1994-2003-honda-vf750c-magna-regulator-rectifier-p-782.html?osCsid=5e072961f5039e81a16c5954662e81fc
Their customer service is not the best (They NEVER answer their phone) but the nice thing was the wire leads from the regulator were twice as long as stock. So I was able to run the wires over to the stock location and did not have to strip the connectors out of the harness and run them back over toward the new location. The regulator is supposed to supply 8% more power than stock and be re-designed for better reliability (at least that is what the website says).