Fried rectifier issues?

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nthach

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A bike I've revived from the dead, a 1997 Honda CBR600F3 has an rectifier issue. The friend/owner took it out on a ride, he was almost home but smelled smoke and the bike died a few miles later. He sent me a pic of the burned connector and while I thought it was the CDI module for the ignition going out, it looked like the rectifier for the charging system went kablooey.

Turns out it's a weak spot on these bikes, my plan of attack is to order a new rectifier pigtail from the local dealership(too bad I can't order this from Honda Cars) and install a new rectifier along with soldering on a new pigtail. He told me that the last electrical system mod he did was install a Battery Tender, I ruled it out but I've heard of stories of Battery Tenders killing electrical systems on cars.

Should I get a new OEM piece, or will one of the "upgraded" aftermarket ones - not the cheap Taiwanese/Chinese ones Emco/Dennis Kirk/Tucker Rocky/Parts Unlimited distribute work? He's getting a new battery, it seems like the USA-made Yuasa AGM lived a short life and all I can find are Taiwanese-made ones at WM/AZ/O'Reilly.
 
Go to eBay, buy one of the genuine Furukawa from Motoelectrix or Jack Fleming, they are OE japanese high quality, and they are going to be much closer to $100 than the chinese ripoffs that do not work long. Get the connector kit with it. Problem solved

Yes, I know them both. I have tested the knockoffs, they last less than one day, sometimes less than 1 hour at 35 amp load. I could wear out the tester at the same load with the genuine ones without a failure..
The chinese knockoffs are almost impossible to tell apart from the real thing . They have done well copying the appearance. The insides, not so much.

Rod
 
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Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
Go to eBay, buy one of the genuine Furukawa from Motoelectrix or Jack Fleming, they are OE japanese high quality, and they are going to be much closer to $100 than the chinese ripoffs that do not work long. Get the connector kit with it. Problem solved


I just looked that up. Looks pretty cool and cheaper than the OEM rectifier.
 
What causes melted connections is corrosion that builds up between the
quick disconnect pins generating resistance enough to melt the plastic
and insulation and it may go as far to cause a fire... Everyone should
perform a one time inspection of their QD and take appropriate action
like replace the QD or just solder the wires together...

As the RC45 Club's tech advisor I received this urgent photo and a
request as to the reason why QD fire almost claimed Pam's RC45 ...

[Linked Image]


My own RC45 QD quick disconnect also went bad and about to turn my
bike into a crispy critter...

[Linked Image]
 
I see why they all burn up. They're trying to run 35 amps through a type of plug and wiring that is usually used for tail lights.
 
Honda had a problem with stator wiring back in the '70's and '80's on their Goldwings. The accepted cure was to cut the plug out of the system, and directly solder the three yellow wires together...
 
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For the Harley guys, a problem area for us is where the battery cable grounds (with Dynas it's on the swingarm). If you notice your batteries don't seem to "last long" that would be the first thing I would do. You get a decent amount of white corrosion on the terminal. I wire brushed it and greased it w/dielectric grease. I also grease the + terminal and cable on the battery although that doesn't seem like a major inherent problem.
 
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Originally Posted by JPowell490
I have this battery and it is fantastic. Have never needed a tender for it. Get you one of these.

https://www.batterymart.com/p-Big-Crank-ETX14-Battery.html


Nothing more high performance about that AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) battery except maybe the sticker...

The days of the old heavy AGM battery are number... smart money
is on the new light weight Lithium Iron battery like Shorai... not
only is it 5lbs lighter but doesn't require trickle charging and will
not sulfate... I also recommend Shorai's balance charger because it as
two modes one for storage and one for charging...


RC45 drop the weight not the juice...
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
 
I assume the RR is an older thyristor type. I preemptively replaced my RR with an improved mosfet RR from a different bike, I believe you can typically get more power from them, they regulate a better voltage for charging your battery, and they run cooler.. I chose to solder the wires to hook it up. You should be able to fine a good used MosFET based RR with a little ebaying, for a good price.
 
my brother had a 96 F3 with the rectifier issue.


burned up at least 2 rectifiers before i put on some kind of aftermarket rectifier that was a lot thicker with a huge heatsink, it came with longer bolts because thats how much thicker it was. after that no longer had an issue with it.


a lot of guys also take a rectifier off of an GSXR and put it on, of course you have to put on a different connector.
 
On my ‘87 VFR, I stuck a 12v ball bearing CPU fan on the R/R, which is tucked under the seat away from airflow otherwise. Gets hot even with the fan...
 
I've got an '85 Yamaha Vmax that had charging problems for years. I finally solved it by getting a Shindengen SH775 regulator and a set of Furukawa connectors. I've previously removed the ignition coils and installed coil sticks, so there was room under the seat for the regulator.

There are 3 main types of voltage regulators used in bikes. The earliest kind was the Shunt regulator, which would ground the stator to cut off voltage when the battery was charged. This type of regulator would get very hot when operating, so it had to be mounted in a good airstream to keep it from burning up. Grounding the stator, "shunting" the voltage to ground was also really hard on the stator, causing failure after a period of time.

The next generation of regulator is the MOSFET type. This is more efficient and did work a lot better, but still worked by shunting voltage. Stator life was still affected by this.

The type I'd recommend is the SERIES type, which is sold as the SH775. This controls charge by opening the stator coils, in effect, turning them off. This switching happens very quickly. The stator doesn't overheat, and the regulator runs cool enough to not need cooling airflow. If you have one of the MOSFET units installed with the Furukawa connectors, the 775 is a direct plug in replacement.

My Max now charges 14.3 volts at just off idle, and the regulator runs cool enough that you can rest your hand on it after a 100 mile ride on a hot day. The unit works so well, that I bought another one and replaced the unit on my Roadstar.

As far as connecting the 3 stator wires, I use PosiLock connectors, then heat shrink over them. Never had a problem since.

SH775 units are available used. Be sure not to buy a Chinese knockoff from EBay or Amazon. I found my units on EBay for $40.00 each. Roadster Cycles sells a complete kit, and you can get them from a Polaris dealer, as they're used in newer quads. You want genuine Shindengen units...
 
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Looks like I sold the friend on the new Shindengen rectifier. I have the old one in my hands, I thought it was an OEM Honda one. Nope, aftermarket.
 
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