Guest veemexx Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Just bought the '99 a couple of weeks back and last week it did not start. Charged the battery and traced the probable cause of the discharged battery to a broken rectifier-regulator (RR). So I've disconnected the RR and have ridden the '99 to work today while waiting for a replacement RR to arrive in the mail. Will there be any other problems (besides the problem of a discharged battery) riding without a RR hooked up? ps. Commute is just 15 miles to and fro, so drain on battery is replenished with a battery tender once home. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthshake Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I agree it's a bad idea. If I'm not mistaken, the rectify part of the equation is changing the AC coming from the stator into a DC current. The regulator part controls the voltage sent out. If you have bypassed the RR, you are probably frying several items. If you have completely disconnected the stator from the bike by unplugging the RR, you are most likely running on battery power only, which will quickly leave you stranded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer KevCarver Posted July 16, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted July 16, 2012 You're just running a total loss system as long as the stator is not plugged into anything. Not great for the battery. As long as you make it home, count your blessings and don't bother doing it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspanglish Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I get the feeling he just disconnected the r/r so no drama with AC issue. That distance to work w no waiting at lights etc can probably be viable 4 quite some time w tender at home and work.. no damage done provided the battery isnt critical, a low battery WILL stress the charging system components Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V4 Rosso Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 You'll be fine. You can do about twice that distance on a full battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 MY RR bolts Fell off on a hard ride... It was hanging. I made it about 30 miles before the bike died. Once I remounted the RR with locktite and charged the battery, it ran fine again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Id disconnect the headlight if you can, your good for atleast 30 miles or so on a full battery charge, minimum!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Thanks for your input guys. The consensus from everyone is that it's bad for the battery. I'll have to agree. Battery was fully charged at 12.8 v and came home 11.8v. Definitely not good. On the upside, I now know that the RR is not completely dead. With the RR hooked up, I would come home with the battery reading 12.6 v. However, the RR isn't providing >12.8 volts at the battery terminals @ 5k rpms, so I'm thinking it is on it's way out. Anyway, I've purchased a new RR, and will now probably consider a new battery since I've stressed the hell out of it (and besides I'm not even sure of it's history). I'm leaning towards a Motobatt MBTX12U. Does anyone have anything negative to say about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer kaldek Posted July 17, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted July 17, 2012 The consensus from everyone is that it's bad for the battery. Only for lead acid - Lithium batteries are fine and you can use them for total loss systems all the time with no battery damage (unless you run it DEAD flat). As always you would never run a total loss system with the headlights running as this is a full 10 amps (if you have two globes) and will flatten the battery real fast. The biggest amp draw on a total loss system will be the fuel pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V4 Rosso Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Only for lead acid ...when the battery is low on charge for a longer period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCDekker Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Just put a trickle charger in your backpack and you'll stay fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer trjerm Posted July 17, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted July 17, 2012 one of my VFR's was set up as a AFM open superbike racer and it had a full loss ignition system and most races were 20 laps x 2 1/2 mile= 50miles w/ no issues. It didn't have a rotor/ stator, reg./rect. or starter and of couse had no lights.You should be fine going 15 miles, but to be on the safe side I'd throw it on a trickle charger while @ work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Thanks for your input guys. The consensus from everyone is that it's bad for the battery. I'll have to agree. Battery was fully charged at 12.8 v and came home 11.8v. Definitely not good. On the upside, I now know that the RR is not completely dead. With the RR hooked up, I would come home with the battery reading 12.6 v. However, the RR isn't providing >12.8 volts at the battery terminals @ 5k rpms, so I'm thinking it is on it's way out. Anyway, I've purchased a new RR, and will now probably consider a new battery since I've stressed the hell out of it (and besides I'm not even sure of it's history). I'm leaning towards a Motobatt MBTX12U. Does anyone have anything negative to say about it? I depend on my Bike, I travel remote areas, ONLY the AGM st1300 battery is THE choice, you want to play guinea pig with Hard electrical parts and potential failure at the most inopertune time, by all means get one of those Unproven batteies, and there is no one on this Board who has any real milege and time on the Guinea pig batteries, many have ended up with issues. Nuff Said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer dutchinterceptor Posted July 18, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted July 18, 2012 I'm leaning towards a Motobatt MBTX12U. Does anyone have anything negative to say about it? CLICK HERE This guy did a bunch of tests on several batteries including the Motobatt. I didn't read through it all but initially it appears to do well in his tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer swas Posted July 18, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted July 18, 2012 I fitted a Motobatt MBTX12U in May 2011 and it has operated faultlessly for me. My bike sits idle for long periods nowadays, like a month at a time, but the battery has never looked like being low on charge when starting. It is not one of the new Ubeaut lithiums but just another type of glass mat type. My only criticism would be that it is a tight fit in the battery box of the 5th Gen, even though I took careful measurements and checked these against published dimensions. It may be difficult to remove when replacement necessary, but I'm happy to put up with that on comparison to the published prices of other batteries available to us here in Oz (no Walmarts here!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 My replacement rectifier-regulator (RR) finally arrived in the mail. Connected it up and performed a regulated voltage inspection per factory service manual with the 'headlight on Hi beam'. Surprisingly, at idle, voltage reads 14.3 V and at 5k rpm I get 14.9 V. This is with a Rick's 10-125H mosfet RR and Everstart ES12BS (of unknown history but still charges up to ~13 V with trickle charger). I'm glad that I'm getting voltages close to factory specifications at 5k rpm, but isn't it high at 14.3 V, idle? Stator is good, <1 ohm between all three connectors, and no continuity to the ground. ~11 VAC at idle and around ~60 VAC at 5k rpm between all the connectors. So I think it's not the stator. Ok, I found some posts from Mazeav and Cogswell that list 14.2/14.5 at idle to 14.8 V at 5k rpm. And I think this is 'normal' for the mosfet RR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I depend on my Bike, I travel remote areas, ONLY the AGM st1300 battery is THE choice. I've read good reviews for the Yuasa battery but at that price, it might have to wait. CLICK HERE This guy did a bunch of tests on several batteries including the Motobatt. I didn't read through it all but initially it appears to do well in his tests. Maybe if we can have someone on this forum test the Motobatt and Yuasa batteries side by side we could settle this once and for all? Anyways, will hold off on the new battery for now since I've blown my monthly budget on the RR and a VFRness from tightwad. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I depend on my Bike, I travel remote areas, ONLY the AGM st1300 battery is THE choice. I've read good reviews for the Yuasa battery but at that price, it might have to wait. CLICK HERE This guy did a bunch of tests on several batteries including the Motobatt. I didn't read through it all but initially it appears to do well in his tests. Maybe if we can have someone on this forum test the Motobatt and Yuasa batteries side by side we could settle this once and for all? Anyways, will hold off on the new battery for now since I've blown my monthly budget on the RR and a VFRness from tightwad. Thanks guys! You can get the st1300 yuasa for $120 online, Ive been testing the St1300 AGM Scorpion only $80, to see if it atleast matches the yuasa, otherwise the Yuasa is worth the extra $40, but so far the scorpion has Met the Grade, It did come with cheap nuts, had to transfer my yuasa's to it. I've only got about 15,000 mile on the scorpion, if it goes 40 to 45,000, its meets yuasa life. Battery testing comes from time and milege, the lithiums are great for power tools, but Ive seen over 1/2 dosen issues from various people with them on the VFR as a Battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspanglish Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 My replacement rectifier-regulator (RR) finally arrived in the mail. Connected it up and performed a regulated voltage inspection per factory service manual with the 'headlight on Hi beam'. Surprisingly, at idle, voltage reads 14.3 V and at 5k rpm I get 14.9 V. This is with a Rick's 10-125H mosfet RR and Everstart ES12BS (of unknown history but still charges up to ~13 V with trickle charger). I'm glad that I'm getting voltages close to factory specifications at 5k rpm, but isn't it high at 14.3 V, idle? Stator is good, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer kaldek Posted August 10, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted August 10, 2012 but isn't it high at 14.3 V, idle? Nope that is *awesome*. It means your stator is top notch and your regulator is set to regulate at 14.9 volts. Basically 14.3 volts at idle and 14.9 at revs means it's not regulating at all, just rectifying the AC to DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspanglish Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 but isn't it high at 14.3 V, idle? Nope that is *awesome*. It means your stator is top notch and your regulator is set to regulate at 14.9 volts. Basically 14.3 volts at idle and 14.9 at revs means it's not regulating at all, just rectifying the AC to DC. oops.. i was quoting the OP there but my message didn't come out.. what you can read is actually from the OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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