Apparent Regulator Failures

[KTC]

anyone ever fashion something to direct airflow on these??

[lragan]

anyone ever fashion something to direct airflow on these??

KTC, if they do, I am sure it will be posted here. 

I have looked at the problem, but don't have a solution to offer.  But then I am an electronics geek, not a mechanical one...

[Lurkin]

Well, it appears that you can add me to the list.

My 01 Magna (20K miles) is not charging the battery at all, 12.5 volts at rest, 12.16 volts at idle, 3000, & 5000 rpm.  I guess the undercharge is a better situation then overcharge, but I'm still 2-wheel-less for a week waiting for a replacement.

Whats the best method to replace the R/R?  Through the battery box, through the rear fender, other??  Any other tips?

Rod...

[TLRam1]

Lurkin, can you post your info here and I will add your info to the list. The info needed is in the first post.

REGULATOR FAILURES - POST HERE

http://www.magnaownersoftexas.com/forums/index.php?topic=2622.0

[hootmon]

Whats the best method to replace the R/R?  Through the battery box, through the rear fender, other??  Any other tips?
Rod...

There is a metal plate that in the battery box and sends two bolt studs down that the R/R mounts to. So, there is no reason to mess with the battery to replace the Regulator.
You can get to the two nuts that hold the regulator on, with some contorsion... I find getting the two connectors disconnected and reconnected as the hardest part of the job. Each connector has a retaining clip and goes through a support mount behind the battery, between the battery box and the rear fender..

[Sledge Hammer]

Had a little chat with one of the riders here at the office whose Aprilia is down for electrical problems, including the stator and tada! the regulator. What made it more interesting to me, though, since his prior bike was a VFR800, was that he said the regulator had failed on his VFR. A couple of noteworthy points emerged:

1) The regulator quit at 20K miles.

2) When he obtained a replacement Honda regulator, he noted the cooling fins were substantially taller than those of the original unit.

Judging from the posts in this thread and in Terry's regulator failure tracking thread, that seems to be in the same ballpark for mileage as the majority of failures reported by Magna owners. Just from recollection, the typical spread seems to lie between 15K and 20K miles

I don't know how many miles have been put on the bike since because he has since sold it for an Italian bike with even more expensive ailments, but I think it had another 6K miles on it after the regulator change. The point here, though, is that Honda have obviously been aware of the issue and somebody in engineering thought they weren't getting enough heat out so the surface area of the heatsink was dramatically increased.

[L J VFR]

You are right mike, the VFR's do have the same problem. 

Back last year while we were discussing the R/R problems, I went to the VFR website and spied on their R/R issues.  They have as many or if not more problems than the magna does.     However, they feel that their problem is even more challenging due to the fact that with all the plastics on the VFR, their is NO air flow to the R/R.   

Some VFR riders are even carrying spare R/R with them when they go on extended trips.   Not a bad idea.

[HardDriveUSA]

19 pages to sift through...

But as far as I can tell I have a dead R/R
96, with 23k miles on it.

using the volt meter, there is hardly 1.0 anything, it's about 0.8 or so.

as far as I can tell the "bigger and better" group effort replacemet is still in development stages.
There has not been an agreed place to move the R/R to.

I still have my bad one if someone wants to "play" with a bad one.

so what do I look for if I wanted to pull one off a different bike?

I'm glad I didn't have the overcharging issue that some of you had.  I had the undercharging issue.

[hootmon]

19 pages to sift through..
But as far as I can tell I have a dead R/R
96, with 23k miles on it.
using the volt meter, there is hardly 1.0 anything, it's about 0.8 or so.
as far as I can tell the "bigger and better" group effort replacemet is still in development stages.
There has not been an agreed place to move the R/R to.
I still have my bad one if someone wants to "play" with a bad one.
so what do I look for if I wanted to pull one off a different bike?
I'm glad I didn't have the overcharging issue that some of you had.  I had the undercharging issue.

Use the search.. There is a link to a Magna Manual. There are resistance checks you can do to see if the Regulator is indicating - Good...

[TLRam1]

Lonnie,

Can you post your info here.

REGULATOR FAILURES - POST HERE

http://www.magnaownersoftexas.com/forums/index.php?topic=2622.0

[HardDriveUSA]

One more question.  I was told I should be ready to replace the stator, because it could be part of the problem.  Has anyone else had to replace the stator and R/R at the same time?  Or is someone telling me this to get some more $$ out of me?  Not really sure what could go wrong with a stator, but I would assume at some point they would.

[hootmon]

One more question.  I was told I should be ready to replace the stator, because it could be part of the problem.  Has anyone else had to replace the stator and R/R at the same time?  Or is someone telling me this to get some more $$ out of me?  Not really sure what could go wrong with a stator, but I would assume at some point they would.

I have replaced my R/R twice and the Stator is still going strong.. Once again, download the manual and it tells you how to test the R/R & Stator with a volt meter.. I would not replace the stator unless it fails the Volt meter test..

[vonE]

I replaced the regulator on my 94 in sept 08, no problems since, picked up a new one from a salvage yard here in Phx $105.00, I will see how it does when the heat cranks up here.

[hootmon]

I replaced the regulator on my 94 in sept 08, no problems since, picked up a new one from a salvage yard here in Phx $105.00, I will see how it does when the heat cranks up here.

Welcome from Safety Harbor, Fl..
Any idea what year bike the regulator came off of?? 94-2000 known to have short life issues..
Did you have a No charge failure or an overcharge failure?? (I've had both)

[TLRam1]

vonE,

Can you post your info here.

REGULATOR FAILURES - POST HERE

http://www.magnaownersoftexas.com/forums/index.php?topic=2622.0

I am keeping track of these for easy referral.

Welcome to MOOT.

Start a post and introduce yourself, where you are from, etc.