R1 Voltage Regulator / Rectifier Upgrade

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gleno

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Bike died when running WOT (doing nothing I or the guy who lost wish to put in writing in a public forum). Bike was completely dead and it turned out that the voltage regulator had died, gone short circuit and blew the main fuse.

Prior to this total failure I have been experiencing charging problems and had to recharge the battery every month to keep it cranking properly. I also had the hot start problem with typically weak starter motor cranking when hot. I did all the mods to solve the hot starting problem but nothing really fixed the symptoms. They may simply have been a set of symptoms generated by a failing / out-of-spec voltage regulator-rectifier:confused2:
Have you have ever wondered what was in these units :ummm: I have too. Now you can satisfy your curiosity by checking out the first pic below. I picked the epoxy off the thing to see what was in it.

The epoxy came off surprisingly easily once I broke the outer seal. The epoxy was not bonded to the components and may not have had a proper heat transfer capability to the heat sink packaging.

I decided to get rid of the standard unit and replace it with a unit out of an R1 after reading this article http://imageevent.com/jkvmax/regulatorrectifier

The unit featured in the article is from a late model R1 or MTO1 and does not have as large heat sink cooling fins as the unit I obtained (pictured below) from a 2004 R1. Both systems are MOS-FET type voltage regulators and run way cooler than the old V-max units.

That makes it a bigger package to mount than the model featured in the article. Still, for $59 I will make it fit somewhere.

My bike still has a standard air box so mounting it near the instrument cluster was out of the question.

I elected to use the old wiring harness and socket connectors from the old regulator. I soldered new connectors to the bare wire end and hooked it up to the R1 regulator per the instructions in the article. I emailed Johan, the guy who posted the original article to confirm the connections for the stator wires. It doesn’t matter which of the three stator wires you connect to the three pins on the R1 unit, just so long as all three are connected.

Where did I mount it?

For the moment the voltage R/R lives under the pillion seat in the tool box compartment. To make it fit I had to remove most of the heat sink fins, but fit it does. Nice and snug and no vibration because the retaining clip for the tool bag rubber strap braces the unit and the strap lashes it down. Some adhesive foam protects the rear mud guard under the pillion seat.

How does it go?

The unit does not even get warm when running but what a difference to the electrics of the bike! There is not even a hint of a flicker in the instrument lights at idle and no detectable dimming of the headlight either. Battery is constantly charged and the hot start issue has not happened since installed. (it’s summer here).

I’ll relocate the unit to a permanent home when the air-box goes.

Worth the effort :clapping:
 

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Excellent write up! :thumbs up: And worthy of being a Sticky!
 
Absolutely, bar none, the BEST mod for the "older" Max's out there!

Best $ I ever spent on the bike!!!
 
Thanks gleno , I am doing this upgrade tomorrow . my stock 1986 r/r went kerplunk.I have been having charging issues for some time now . I thought that my starter was getting hot . i would let the bike cool down and she run again . But just about 3 days ago it showed it's ugly side ( the r/r that is )I was heading home and I had to shut the lights off to keep the bike running . Thats whenI realized I may have a charging problem . Then in my searches to figure it out . I come across your write up and busters with the pdf to test the charging system. And wolla on to the upgrade . I will post the results when I finish it thanks again ,:thumbs up:Jason
 
I've been trying to figure out locations for a R1 R/R. What's everyone think of mounting it to the front of the battery box? Other than that, under the passenger seat or moving the vboost controller are about it.
 
I guess anywhere that is not going to sit too close to a big heat source would work. I opted for under the passenger seat because it was unused space and relatively cool. (air flow too).
 
Is this regulator the same size as the R1?

Would be very close to '06 and onwards. Mine pictured above, is an '04 and very chunky. Had to remove a lot of the cooling fins to get it to fit happily in any location.

I quess if it's MOSFET and can handle the 300watt input from the generator then it should be ok. Probably other bike regulator units that would also do the job. (and fit better).
 
Would be very close to '06 and onwards. Mine pictured above, is an '04 and very chunky. Had to remove a lot of the cooling fins to get it to fit happily in any location.

I quess if it's MOSFET and can handle the 300watt input from the generator then it should be ok. Probably other bike regulator units that would also do the job. (and fit better).

Mos-Fet transistors generate very little heat compared to the old Zener diode regulated R/R.

I've been thinking about doing this myself but don't really need to now since I did this

http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=1734

See post #263, I'm getting 14.4volts at idle with the headlight on now

Rusty
 
I have mine mounted under the left scoop. I moved two of the items there inboard and it left a nice tidy space for the R1 R/R. It even sits in a "hook"!
 
great info but as useual I read it a day late and now I'm a dollar short lol
My new reg/rec from Dennis Kirk arives in the morning so I guess I will just run with it until it chokes again then defintely do this mod.
:th_peace:
 
Is this regulator the same size as the R1?


I took a look at this regulator on the German web site and I can't really tell what electronics it uses.

Judging by the form factor I would say it's a diode rectifier (same as the standard Vmax unit. It should work just fine though because its well away from the heat of the exhaust, the harsh road environment and gets good air flow through the scoops.

It's a very neat mount-up.

The R1 unit uses MOSFET electronics to achieve the it's result. This is a more precise method for rectifying an AC signal and runs cooler.
 
I took a look at this regulator on the German web site and I can't really tell what electronics it uses.

It's an diode rectifier and it generates some heat, but when the scoop is mounted you can hold your hand on the scoop... I wold say it's warm (not hot)
 
The last time the R/R on my Virago went kaput, I went to a junk yard and looked at the R/R from Japanese made cars. I found one and it was slightly bigger than the OE but the amperage rating is higher. The wiring is a little different. The Yamaha R/R is body ground so I grounded the green of the replacement R/R wire to the mounting bolts. The other wires have the same color code. I've had it installed a year now and my battery has not failed yet.
 
I guess anywhere that is not going to sit too close to a big heat source would work. I opted for under the passenger seat because it was unused space and relatively cool. (air flow too).

I just got the same R1 rectifier from on 05 model, and it's a big clumsy sucker!!! How did you cut the cooling fins down? Is it possible to cut "too much" off of it? I just don't want to mess this up, I have a dremel, and was assuming this would be the easiest way to cut it, I'm going to mount mine under the passenger seat like you did!!!!!!
 

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