Regulator/rectifier, do I really need it?

[loom34432]

Hey can anyone tell me what exactly the r/r does and do I need it. I have a 85 XL 600, mine looks like its melted, the one without the cooling fins. I've turned my XL into a XR; no tail light, no turn signals or headlight or horn. Thanks for any info.

[Beyond The Pale]

If you have no electrical then you can get by without it. The unit probably fried due to no load. With no load at all the regulator has to take all the juice from the stator. The ignition runs off it's own stator winding that has nothing to do with the headlight or DC electrical system.

[joeskiguy]

I have installed a new Ricky Stator on my 1984 xl600. I have power to the headlight plug, both high and low beam ports, but the light does not come on.  Of course I concluded it was the bulb, but I had bought a new bulb and it still didn't work.  I checked old bulb by directly connecting it to a battery and it lit up. I believe that the head and tail lights run off the d/c charging leg of the stator so that they will remain operable when the bike is not running. I believe the voltage I am reading at headlight plug is a/c as the meter does not read anything when switched to d/c mode. COuld this be due to a bad rectifier/regulator? a/c regulator?

 

Can anyone explain the function of the rectifier/regulator vs the a/c regulator? 

[joeskiguy]

I have recently rebuilt my 1984 xl600. New 101mm piston and bore, replaced head due to valve seat coming loose during inspection and spark plug hole cracked through to bad valve seat pocket. When I tried to start after final assembly I got nothing. Spark: yes; Fuel: yes. I had read about the stators being a common issue and possible weak spark.  I checked resistance according to what I thought it said to in manual and it didn't match. After installing new stator and the bike still not firing I performed ohm check of new Ricky Stator as well as old stator.  Both check ok and I realized that I must have been measuring wrong leads on the old stator.  When I was installing the pulse generator gear I did not have the aligning marks on the spline and assumed the paint dabs were from PO to mark the timing points.  This turned out to be the problem. I removed pulse generator side cover and aligned pulse generator gear to trigger sensor at the firing timing mark located inside opposite side cover. After getting everything back together after correcting timing issue the bike started on second kick.  Seems to run really well, better than I remember prior to rebuild, but I now have a new problem. 

 

After installing the new Ricky Stator on my 1984 xl600. I have power to the headlight plug, both high and low beam ports, but the light does not come on.  Of course I concluded it was the bulb, but I had bought a new bulb and it still didn't work.  I checked old bulb by directly connecting it to a battery, (not the one on the bike because it is dead, but I did touch it to the on bike battery while the bike was running) and it lit up. I believe that the head and tail lights run off the d/c - batttery charging leg of the stator so that they will remain operable when the bike is not running, safety to allow head lights and brake lights to remain operable if motor stops running.  I believe the voltage I am reading at headlight plug is a/c as the meter does not read anything when switched to d/c mode. Could this be due to a bad rectifier/regulator? a/c regulator?

 

Is there a way to tell a d/c light from an a/c light? I am starting to think the PO might have rigged the headlight and led tail light to run off the d/c leg.  I have removed some wiring that I thought was grounding wires and reworked some of the connector plugs to try and make it more stable and durable.  I used the wiring diagrams in the manual to guide me, as well as before teardown pictures. 

 

What I am finding most confusing is that there is power to both the headlight and tail light leads, right up to the plugs for bulbs. The bulbs on both the head and led tail lights work when tested on an outside battery or when tested on the d/c - charging leg of my bike while running, but when put together the lights are not lighting. Is it possible that the PO had tied the headlight and led tail light into the incorrect circuit? Am I correct in understanding that the head and tail light should be running of the a/c current and it is possible that the headlight and led tail light I am using are meant to have d/c current?

 

 

Can anyone explain the function of the rectifier/regulator vs the a/c regulator? 

[heart_of_darkness]

The XL has three independent wiring circuits.  One for the ignition, one 12vAC for the headlight, and one 12vDC for the battery and all other electricals.

[joeskiguy]

I found that I had the stator grounded to a bolt that had a rubber grommet. No connection to ground. Lights are now working, but I still have the dimming of instrument panel lights when revving the engine

[Horri]

So only the instrument lights dim when you rev the engine..???..does the horn work when the engines running ??

 

Pull a battery out of a car or another 12volt vehicle and run some jumpers from it to the leads the battery is supposed to connect to on the bike...then..Test lights etc without the engine running and your battery connected..then test them with the engine running and your battery connected...

[joeskiguy]

Thanks for replies and help guys. This really had me stumped when I was getting juice to headlight plug but no light. Turns out I was checking voltage across two hot leads and not using one ground. Now I wish I would have figured out the timing issue prior to installing the new stator so that I would know if it had the dimming instrument lights with old stator. As my memory serves, I don't recall the instrument lights dimming, but it has been a few months since I have had it running. I have yet to hear anything bad about the Ricky Stators, so I'm optimistic that it isn't a problem with the stator. I'm leaning towards rectifier/regulator, but I'm stumped by the fact the output at battery leads is only 8.5v and that it actually stops add the engine turns faster. Seems opposite of what I would expect. Faster engine should mean higher voltage output, no?

Yea horn works. Battery was old and not holding a charge at all. Had it tested and bought a new battery. Going to install new battery today after charging and will also try to substitute a known charged and good battery while new battery is charging. When I check with a meter the voltage at battery terminals at idle is about 8-8.5 v. When I rev the engine it drops to 2-3 v.

Any thoughts on if this sounds like a rectifier regulator problem? I've also been told to test voltage at the rectifier regulator input side vs output side. But does the stator put out d/c or does it only put out a/c on all three legs and the rectifier regulator converts to d/c?