Temp Gage voltage reg

[tmorgan]

Greetings folks.I'm a new member,new owner of a RE5 and 1st time poster.Let me start by saying how impressed I am with this RE5 group.I've never seen such intelligent and informative questions and answers.Lots of it way over my head.I own and have always loved the Wankels in the early 70's snowmobiles but never knew a motorcycle used them until a 75 RE5 came up for sale near by a few months ago.Lucky for me I'd never been to this site before or I might have been scared off by the posts that advised "walk away from the ran when parked bikes".This bike hadn't ran for 31 years but had aways been inside.To late to make a long story short but I did buy it,Took it apart,cleaned,rebuilt or repaired as needed and with the help from the fine folks at RR,It looks and runs pretty good.From what I've read about all carb issues,I'm real happy with the way it runs thanks to a rebuild kit and protractor from Jess.I knew nothing of the RE5 model or options available when I bought the bike but was happy to find that it is the touring model with exhaust extensions.Any way my only remaining issue at this time is the water temp Gage doesn't work.I started by checking the sending unit as described in my shop manual.It's working as it should.I do have power to the 3 wire con. under the Gage and can operate the temp Gage by connecting power and ground directly to the terminals,even with the sending unit attached and heated with a heat gun.I'm thinking the voltage reg. just beneath the Gage must be the culprit.It has the 3 wire plug on 1 end and 2 ires coming out the other to attach to the Gage.Does any one have an opinion on this or know how to check it for proper operation.Apology's for the long letter.I guess I waited too long to post. TMorgan

[riversidogs]

The one on my bike started to fail a few minuets after the bike was started and the gauge went back to 0. I turns out that the regulator is a 6 volt unit. The three leads are 12 volts, Ground and 6 volts. Rotary Recycled may have one. He seems to have almost everything needed.
I replaced mine with a common 6 Volt 3 terminal electronic regulator and two bypass caps.

Riversidogs

[tmorgan]

Thanks for the info.I'd checked with RR and just got a reply back that they do have one so I'll give it a try. TMorgan

[HGH 770N]

TMorgan, Welcome and congratulations on how far you have got with your bike,
I have a spare regulator if you still need.
Regards
Rog

[tmorgan]

Thanks for the offer Rog,but I did jump on the one RR has to get this little issue fixed as soon as possible.I might even put the bike back together for now so that I can ride it some more until the part gets here.I've only been 40 miles on it thus far and love it.I've always had big fat V-twins in the past that thundered down the road.Its to the point where they're so common now that they don't even turn heads anymore.I still like the hogs and the hog-a-likes,but these little Wankels really sound different and are just fun to ride and tinker on.I've had several guys come up to me and ask"what was that old bike I saw you on.It sounded great".I think if these RE5's with they're inherent problems had the support and dedication of this group and RR back when they first came out,there would be a lot more of them loping around now. Thanks again- TMorgan

[toystoretom]

I just fixed my temp gauge....

Check your temp sensor by unpluging it and check for any ohms of resistance, if it is not an open circuit and shows some kind of ohm reading it is probably all right.

Move to the voltage regulator. It has a 12 Volt in, a ground and a 7 volt out to the gauge. Check the yellow for 7 volts, if you have that you are OK there.

Move to the gauge. Take the two wires off and check across the posts for some kind of continuity. If you have an open circuit there that would be your problem.

My gauge was dead. It has very fragile wires wrapped around a bi-metallic strip and the wire broke. You can't see the break because that wire is coated with a fiber like insulation, but it had no continuity through there.

It is also possible that the wire coming out of the gauge going to the sensor could be broken so check that too.

Look at the circuit diagram in the service manual (you can down load it) and it shows how the silly thing works. Just check it with your Digital volt meter until you find the problem.

Tomo

[tmorgan]

Thanks Tomo for the simple breakdown of tests for the temp gage.It confirms my suspicions of a bad voltage reg.I hope so because I have one on the way. TMorgan