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Post by re5martin on Aug 31, 2011 13:25:01 GMT -5
 hi guys, dragged the re5 m out of its two year slumber this weekend stuck a battery on had afew problems with no spark (dodge earth) the oldfaithful fired up pretty easily .main problem is the four wires too the rectifier are getting exremly hot but with the rectifier disconected no heat so would i be save to presume the rectifier is kaput or should i be looking elsewhere ?. cheers martin .
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Post by Al Corelli on Aug 31, 2011 18:32:22 GMT -5
Not really a top notch RE5 mechanic, but doesn't the heating of the rectifier point to a dirty ground (mounting point)?
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Post by Jess on Aug 31, 2011 23:32:52 GMT -5
The rectifier is designed to shunt excess charge/voltage to ground... generating heat.
Suzuki cheaped out on the recitfier and grounded through the chassis. One of the modifications I recommend to any Re5 that will be ridden is to replace the rectifier with a better unit (I have them made for me) that adds an additional dedicated ground wire. in addition to the chassis ground through the body of the rectifier.
As the factory rectifier ages, bikes that are run hard will melt the connector, and send a great deal of heat up the harness causing problems because the rectifier cannot shunt enough current.
My unit includes new plugs, both sides (those were hard to source, but we did it) as well as all new terminals and instructions on how to do the swap. It should take no more than 15 minutes... tops.
If your wires are getting hot... you have a problem. Solve it before it becomes a disasater.
Just my 2 cents...
Best
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Post by riversidogs on Sept 1, 2011 8:07:17 GMT -5
The rectifier is used to convert the AC voltage generated by the alternator to DC to charge the battery and also run the bike. I can think of a couple of reasons for the heat. First since the bike has been sitting for a year the battery may not be full charged or could have a shorted cell. If that is good the ground may have corrosion causing a high resistance and heat. Third one of the diodes in the assembly may have shorted in which case you will need one of RR's new diodes.
Riversidogs
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Post by Jess on Sept 1, 2011 13:28:56 GMT -5
Yep...
I forgot the first part... Thanks riversidogs!
The rectifier converts ac to dc to run the electrical system of the bike. If there is excess electricity, it is sent to the battery.
When the battery is full, it has to do something with the excess electricity... That is when it shunts to heat....
The factory regulator when new was not robust enough to handle the output once the battery is charged... It was a common problem, poor design.
If, after a time the rectifier becomes slightly weak, it produces significantly more heat, melting the wires and connectors.
If it were produced today, it probably would be a recall item, and lawsuits would be flying...
I have personally seen burned wires, and connectors fuse welded from the heat created when these fail... I have heard of actual fires, when they fail spectacularly.
Best,
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Post by re5martin on Sept 3, 2011 12:29:21 GMT -5
thanks for all that guys lucks like it will be anew unit.
on a second note my two m models that where US imports and both non runners (at present)
have different type rectifers too my other m and A model , the US models have a black square unit about 1 1/2" square and four fins rather then the flat grey one the wireing is the same and is hard wired in rather then the plastic plug and looks origanal or a profesional repair at least.
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Post by mike500 on Sept 3, 2011 19:21:49 GMT -5
on the gt750 and the gs550 , 750 ,1000 we use the honda rec./reg off the superdream and it cures it
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hi guys, dragged the re5 m out of its two year slumber this weekend stuck a battery on had afew problems with no spark (dodge earth) the oldfaithful fired up pretty easily .main problem is the four wires too the rectifier are getting exremly hot but with the rectifier disconected no heat so would i be save to presume the rectifier is kaput or should i be looking elsewhere ?. cheers martin .
