Problem with Regulator / Rectifier

hello mate tbh i wouldnt bother with electrex stuff i used one of there stators and it ****** up after about 500 miles(they told me they just cant get the stator to work right on our bikes nice ppl though to deal with) id bite the bullett and stick with genuine stuff,or you could try mark at timemachine bikes
cheers jonty

Hi mate are you sure the rectifier is shot? A common charging fault on 1st generation millies is the brown conector shorting out! Not sure if 2nd generation have the same brown connector but I would carefully check all conectors first mate! I have had problems with mine (not the rectifier though) and that turned out to be just a conector!

daveyboy said:

Thanks for comments, I`ve checked all connections and all seem OK, no corrosion or anything like that. Think i might have to bite the bullet as suggested.
I`m even thinking of selling the bike once repaired after this and other problems i`ve incurred. I seem to be paying out more and getting no enjoyment out of it.
Don`t get me wrong , when it`s working i feel like i`m on cloud 9, as it`s fantastic to ride.
Thanks again for comments

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mate ive had mothing but trouble with my rsvr last year but now ive sorted all the little issues with it its now one of the best bikes ive owned,stick with it mate
cheers jonty

I found this ont the AF1 forum then remembered seeing this thread http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211850

Hello

Thanks to this thread in the apriliaforum.com I have changed the burnt stator and the R/R.

I installed the Compu-Fire 55402 and made some pictures with the infrared camera.

This is a picture of the original aprilia R/R:

and this is a picture of the Compu-Fire 55402:


I made also pictures of the stator cover.
Temp with original R/R:


Temp with Compu-Fire 55402:


For those who are interested I wrote a Media Wiki post. It's in german but there are a lot of pictures...

Regards
René

daveyboy said:

Thanks for the encouragement Jonty, even my Wife thinks i should stick with it and she calls it a rolling tombstone!
I`ll post the outcome in a couple of weeks. I`m going on holiday to forget about it ( as long as this Volcanic ash cloud keeps away from Birmingham Airport)
Thanks.

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love it lol rolling tombstone! ******* great :thumbup:

René,
Thanks for the pics. I'm new, just joined. If possible, any chance of some pictures of the Compu fire on your bike so I could see the wiring and how you wired it up please. I'm would like to do the same to mine.
Andy

Experiences with Compu-Fire 55402

Hello Everybody

The motorcycle season in Europe is just before it's start.
I'm curious about your experiences with the Compu-Fire 55402 modification.

I installed the Compu-Fire back in 2011 including the wiring harness conversion kit for Compu-Fire 55402 installation which I'm still selling for those who are interested.

Just let me know what your experiences with the Compu-Fire are.

Regards
René

Here's what I have just done;

rewound the 500W (Aprilia/Denso f.... up) after it was toast, with less turns (roughly 370w) to protect 40A campfire regulator - 500w divided by 12V = 41.67A - total cost £110

compufire regulator from US £100

Chocky block £1

Isolate the old connectors that plugged in to the rectifier with heat shrink or leave the connector block on there. I had got rid of the old connector block a long time ago and replaced with chocky block because of poor connections. If you squeeze the end of heat shrink when you are warming it with a lighter it will stick together sealing cable ends. I double heat shrinked mine, then just tuck them out of the way.

When using chocky blocks the best way to get a good connection is to put both wires in from the same end and terminate then between both screws. Better connection. Seal chocky block, I used gasket sealer that I have for my remote control car engine. Expands, seals block and is easily removed as it goes like rubber. Connect in any order it doesn't make a difference. Lets face it, I only removed my R/R connector blocks in 2 years purely to clean them...

Compufire fits exactly on the same bolt holds as your old R/R and fits under the fairing and connects directly up the battery using supplied leads already pre-terminated.

Total cost way less than £250. Works for me. Notice bits inside the flywheel where the stator burnt itself to a crisp. Threaded cables to battery up through fairing between the radiator filler cap, in under frame, behind ignition coil and up to battery. Can't see cable and they are far heavier than anything on the bike for less loss. Not the neatest job that I have done but works for me. Can't be bothered with all these funky push in connectors and stuff. Waste of money if you ask me when you can do this.

In theory the lower wattage stator should protect the compufire R/R from excessive current but still being able to run the bike. The compufire R/R should protect the stator from getting as hot as it did before and melting

2008 rsvr factory

Talking to a friend of mine about electrical motors and generators yesterday and he said that if you disconnect the wires coming from a generator there is no resistance in the generator, basically if you have an open circuit the generator will not have any resistance in the windings and it will not heat up what so ever.

What I believe the compufire does then is this; basically any excess current in the old R/R or mosfet type R/R is put back through the earth so there is always a circuit which causes resistance in the generator which makes it heat up. What I think that the compufire does is shut off the electricity going back to earth some way or another, basically a sort of open circuit, so there is less resistance in the windings hence less heat build up.

Well thats how I understand it at the moment any road. When I start the bike the voltage goes from 12.3V to around 14.2V at idle. It did seem to drop down a little to around 13.8V when I was revving the engine. All the systems on the bike seem to be working fine and I can't see why this set up won't work. You don't need specialist tools like crimpers and plug in connectors to do the work either and the supplied cables that come with the compufire and far thicker than any of the existing wiring on the bike by far.

I will have to comment later on how the system works as I haven't taken the bike past 100 miles yet which is about the limit that the bike can go on a full battery without the alternator. If my battery stays charged then I know its working. Will also have to comment in a few months time how the system performs once I have thoroughly tested it. But as far as I can tell everything appears to be working fine

The reason why I put less turns on the windings is to help protect the compufire R/R as it is only rated at 40A. It does have a 40A inline fuse that goes to the battery. But still. I don't think trying to put more than 40A in to the think is going to help it. I have read about people frying them on 500W generator/stator

Been out on the bike today. Did over 300 miles. Every time I started the bike I checked the voltage on the dashboard before I started the bike up. Never less than 12.4V. 300 miles is 3 times more than what I was able to drive the bike before it would conk out running without an alternator and just on the battery. So, as far as I am concerned, this set is working fine. Not a hint of the battery going flat.

Also I tried instant gasket (I know a bodge) because the gasket that I bought from an Aprilia garage was slightly too small and I never noticed. When I ran the bike I ended dumping all the oil. So tried some instant gasket because that was all I had. It doesn't work as the tolerances on the crankcase cover are too fine and the engine won't turn over with the crankcase cover screwed down. You need to have a gasket in there for clearance. Any road, you live and learn. Ended up using the old gasket (which was broken) with some loctite 5910 (really good stuff), just a thin layer on each side and not a sign of an oil leak what so ever. I'll be using this stuff all the time now with gaskets.

albrown001 said:

Here's what I have just done;

rewound the 500W (Aprilia/Denso f.... up) after it was toast, with less turns (roughly 370w) to protect 40A campfire regulator - 500w divided by 12V = 41.67A - total cost £110

Click to expand...

Hello Andy

You made a little mistake in your calculation. The stator/rotor puts out about 60 Volts AC at about 4000 rpm.
To charge the battery the Compu-Fire 55402 output is about 14.1 Volts DC.

I made a lot of measurements by myself with a Fluke 179 True RMS Multimeter. Also posplayer aka Jim Moore made some interesting measurement with a cathode ray oscilloscope showing that also a MOSFET Type R/R isn't the right way...
Datei:Statorstroeme im Vergleich.jpg ? RSVwiki

I know some guys who made more than 10'000 km with a new stator and a Compu-Fire 55402. Working all very well.

albrown001 said:

Chocky block £1

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I could not recommend using Chocky blocks because of the vibration. Use instead sealed type connectors like the Delphi Weather or Metri Pack!

Regards René

I don't know M8. Whatever. I am only using the dashboard voltage check to check voltage at idle. I just know that the bike is running now and I've done 600 miles on it now and the battery is not going flat. The battery has not dropped below 12.3 on the dashboard, engine off, since I have done the mod. So as far as I am concerned this system is working. The bloke who rewound my stator has been doing it for over 30 years, so when I asked him to make me a stator which produces around 370w from a 500w stator and he says that he has done it and now the stator will produce 370w, all things being equal and I am using the same flywheel, then I believe him and thats what the stator is producing. As long as it can put out enough juice to charge that battery up and run things then all should be good.

As for the compufire, I am just going off what people have written and what I have read on the forum. I'm not really bothered what other people want to do or how much they want to spend. This is working for me so I'm happy

That and the fact it cost me less than £250 compared to the £800 aprilia new stator and I would still be left with a crap rectifier, I'm not bothered. I can ride the bike now, all the systems are working fine and the battery doesn't go flat is good enough for me. In fact, if the weather is good tomorrow I will be blasting it around Dorset. Its a black and gold 08 factory with full Akrapovic system baffles removed..... so give me a wave if you see me

Understand what you are on about with the chocky blocks, nothing that a good bit of thread lock can't fix and gasket sealer which is what I did

When I had my previous RSV I put chocky blocks on that after the connectors failed and I had no problems with them for the 3 years that I rode the bike before I part ex'ed it for this one. If I get another 3 years out of this one and have no problems with them then I'll be happy. But will keep an eye on them them though. Thanks for the advice.

The other thing is I am rubbish at doing connectors and stuff like that. I don't have a very good soldering iron and I just can't be arsed trying to put a good connector block on there when I don't have the tools to do it. Even if they are crimp on ones I don't have a crimper

Took the bike out again today. It was raining yesterday.... Started throughout the whole day, no problems at all. Been running the bike for about a week now. It has been in the garage over night, not plugged in to the optimate battery charger and has been fine throughout the whole week. Any voltage taken out of the battery can only have been replaced by the compufire R/R. So have confidence that everything is working fine and the battery is getting charged ok. Which is pretty good if you ask me as my battery is getting on for 3 and a bit years now.

One thing I have noticed (I know its not accurate) is that the voltage on the dashboard is not constant. When I left the bike standing a couple of days on the alarm when I first started it in the morning the voltage on the dashboard was 14.2 at idle. Throughout the day it went down. I am sure that the compufire is intelligent and is only charging the battery for what it needs. Any road, have constantly been checking battery voltage before starting up the bike throughout the entire week, first thing every morning and before every start up and it has not dropped below 12V.

Will post in a few months and let you all know how it get on after a few thousand miles are on there and if I have any problems.

Thought I'd add to this thread. Don't think I will be running the bike for sometime now that the rear suspension linkage has broken again. But since I have been running it after the mod completed over 1000 miles with it the last few weeks and it has been fine. Not had it on the optimate charger at all and the battery has always been good next day or even a few days later so I would say that this is working. If I get any reliability issues when I am back on the road I will post them straight away. But battery seems to charging fine, stator and compufire R/R seem to working fine.

Just to add to this, my alternator on my 05 model fried when the brown connector became brittle and shorted it out (39.000 miles), bought a s/h genuine stator from a breaker (£65 if I remember), and a s/h reg/rec for £10, banged them in replaced the brown connectors with 35amp crimps with heat shrink, and touch wood has been fine since at now 65.000 miles.

update;

1 year, 1000 miles on, 2x 3000 mile round trips around Europe last summer. Battery not gone flat

lets hope it lasts this year now