For all you reg/rec experts...

[vfrman]

Ok,

So I was on a Superhawk forum and there I found a list of regulator/rectifiers that are compatible to the Superhawk. I figured if it would work for one Honda, it would work for another....

So I bought a unit from a 2007 Ninja ZX-6R. Apparently this unit is MOSFET and is "cut and splice" to the Superhawk. Perfect, I think.

The unit came in the mail today, and there is an extra wire!!! Oh shit. So, I download a wiring diagram and trace the wire to the signal side of the headlight relay...you know, the side that sends the current through the coil to close the relay and supply. I traced this wire back further to the 30A main fuse. Looking at the wiring diagram, it LOOKS like this extra black wire (which is at least half the size of the rest of the wires) ties in directly to one of the alternator outputs BEFORE it goes into the R/R! WTF?

Check out the diagram and the pics...



The white wire (bk/bl on the R/R) goes directly to the 30A main fuse to the battery, the fuse block, and the ignition switch. The black/yellow (bk/w) goes to ground. My question is what do I do with the green (bk on r/r) wire? Do I wire this into a relay? do I ignore it? You can see in the pics of the r/r that all the wires go into the R/R....

Do MOSFET R/Rs have a signal from the ignition to turn on?

[Cammo]

Your answer could be here Steve - info in 2nd post:

http://www.svrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207425

[vfrman]

Thanks Cammo! My friend called it a bullshit wire...because Kawis are bullshit bikes!

[JZH]

The later VFR800Fi reg/recs have a sixth wire as well, which I believe is used as a voltage sense wire, to help make sure the regulator is achieving the correct voltage. If I were sure that the Kwacker reg/rec was the same (and I'm not), I would connect it to the bike's wiring harness in the same location as is done on the later VFR800Fis. But leaving it disconnected would probably still work okay.

Ciao,

JZH
London, UK/So.Cal., USA
www.vsource.org

[barryfzr]

If its going through the relay coil then it is very probably an output and could be taped up and forgotten about. This is only my opinion from the limited information available

[vfrman]

Thanks all. I figured it out...It is a signal wire to the headlight relay to tell the lights the bike is running. It is an A/C signal that goes through a diode to become D/C before hitting the relay.

Cheers!

[NGneer]

Steve

I don't know anything about the MOSFET reg recs, but I noticed Ricks Gucci bit of kit (viewtopic.php?f=64&t=43335) also has an extra wire and according to his post "This is the voltage sensor which is simply attached to the +ve terminal of the battery."

[vfrman]

It is a different animal. I would love one of those Gucci reg/recs, but for the track bike, I'll stick to the Prada knock-offs you get from the pikeys.

[vfrman]

OK. Got it all installed today...and after blowing the main fuse, all is good. FYI, blk/white is ground and blk/blue is +ve...oops.

So, here we go...Ideally I would like a better mounting place, but I'm thinking of making some vents in the track plastic allow some air in.









And with the tail on...




And here is the TINY stock unit in the stock location...

[gepe]

Appreciate the effort you spent on investigating how to fit a MOS-FET reg/rec to the v4s, but you seem to have neglegted one very important aspect when looking for a new mounting position: classic as well as MOS-FET reg/recs get very hot and if they are not mounted to a large flat metal structure which supports the small fins in cooling, the reg/rec will not live too long.
Because the r/r on my RVF had heavily degraded after just 15,000 km, I was investigating what could be done to improve the cooling. I have done measurements of the surface temperature on a stock RVF reg/rec as mounted by the factory and then after I had planed the back and put on some thermal compound on the back to improve heat transfer to the structure. Here are the measured values:
First run w original setup:
air temp was 16°C, I drove for 30 min. at around 120 km/h, temp. afterwards was 104 °C.
Second run 2 days later, w thermal compound:
air temp was 22 °C, I drove the same distance at the same speed, temp. afterwards was 92°C

So even though the air temperature was 8K higher, the surface temperature was 12K lower. I can't tell how much that will help the r/r live long, but you can see that the way the r/r is mounted is very important. Junction temperature of the semiconductors in such a device should stay below 125 °C for prolonged life.

At your new mounting position there are two issues: The surface contact where the r/r is mounted is so small that little heat can flow from the r/r to the structure. Second problem: It will probably not get any cooling from the wind during driving.

Would be interesting to know to what level the surface temp. on your r/r climbs.

Cheers,
gepe.