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FROSTY
5th May 2007, 12:36
A mate of mine had a gutsfull of the shitty honda reg/reg units cooking up
He came up with a nice tidy solution.
He's fitted a big ol heat sink (a chunk of steel) and a 12 volt cooling fan from a pc.
As long as the bikes running the fan is blowing cooling air over the reg/rec unit
Motu
5th May 2007, 13:35
Ally would be a better heatsink.Get them out from behind the covers and into the air stream - Harley's have a big finned reg between the front downtubes,max airflow.
tl_tub
5th May 2007, 13:55
On the vtr1000 I found a computer cpu heatsink and fan was the perfect size.. Just file the regulator top flat, apply some heatsink compound and diy attach the unit :)
merv
5th May 2007, 13:57
My reg/rec went on the VFR when it was 5 years old and the battery fried too. I put the issue down to the fact I don't ride my bikes often and figured the battery probably started going first and helped burn out the reg/rec. So at the time I bought new reg/rec from Econohonda and fitted a finned alloy heat sink and a pc cpu fan and heat sink also, bought a new battery and then made sure since then our bikes are on battery tenders (which we've talked about a lot on KB) and now 8 years later no further problems.

So way back in 1999 I read this article http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/6198/reg-rect.html and fitted the CPU fan because of it. When I was younger and had more hair we all seemed to bag Suzukis for frying their electrics, but the sad fact is all bikes have rather basic alternators and charging systems and they rely on the reg/rec to dump excess power that is generated as heat. I guess if they stuck a decent alternator on bikes like cars have then weight would go up.
merv
5th May 2007, 14:16
On the vtr1000 I found a computer cpu heatsink and fan was the perfect size.. Just file the regulator top flat, apply some heatsink compound and diy attach the unit :)

Same with the VFR so they probably have a very similar reg/rec fitted.

Don't forget what I'm saying about the battery too, if you don't use it much it will sulphate and give your charging system hell, so battery tenders are the way to go to preserve battery life.
Motu
5th May 2007, 15:11
Car altenators have a built in fan,they are always getting cooling air flow.From the '80's bike manufacturers started hiding those ugly regulators,they went out of the airflow and started cooking.Put that ugly fucker outside where it needs to be.
merv
5th May 2007, 16:02
The other thing is car alternators have field coils and brushes so they only really produce the power they need whereas the bike ones keep pumping and you've got to dissipate the excess as heat.
scracha
5th May 2007, 17:18
A mate of mine had a gutsfull of the shitty honda reg/reg units cooking up
He came up with a nice tidy solution.
He's fitted a big ol heat sink (a chunk of steel) and a 12 volt cooling fan from a pc.
As long as the bikes running the fan is blowing cooling air over the reg/rec unit

Yawn. Repost.
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=724772&highlight=cooling#post724772

There's a UK firm that make replacements (for all makes) at about 1/3 the price of the originals that according to the viffer club last forever as the heat dissapation is much better.
Warr
5th May 2007, 18:05
The other thing is car alternators have field coils and brushes so they only really produce the power they need whereas the bike ones keep pumping and you've got to dissipate the excess as heat.
Agree with you Merv, but the reason is room.
To manufacture a motor with a 'proper' alternator on the end of the crankshaft the engine would be wider. An alternator with slip rings and electromagnet rotor must run in air, not oil.
To create the required air cavity would increase engine width.
There are of course plenty of bikes with real alternators like the XJ's, RF's and plenty others. The alternator is usually mounted behind motor and driven via a chain or gear cluster.

On my VFR I have a 3+1/2'' CPU cooling fan mounted over my Reg/Rec which runs as soon as you turn the key. So far its prevented its failure.
limbimtimwim
5th May 2007, 18:12
Ally would be a better heatsink.Get them out from behind the covers and into the air stream - Harley's have a big finned reg between the front downtubes,max airflow.
When I was younger and had more hair we all seemed to bag Suzukis for frying their electrics...Looks like they, Suzuki, have come to their senses then.

Observe the location of part number 10 in the attached PDF.

Aplogies for the size, of the PDF, but it does show up the wonderful quality of a Suzuki service manual PDF.