so as i understand the regulator has diodes some of which can fail therefore it is not necessarily an all or nothing situation when they go west?.
Faulty Alternator or Regulator
- Thread starter brian gains
- Start date
If the battery is reading 13.05 then it is fully charged so you would not expect a high output from the regulator.
Maybe try discharging the battery and repeat the test, you should then see over 14V.
Cheers Bill
If you are not into electronics a simple analogy of a diode is that it is a one-way valve, e.g. a valve in an inner tube. The valve lets air in but doesn't let the air out. When the valve gets old it can leak and let the air leak back out so the tyre slowly goes flat. The same can happen with a diode and when it leaks you get a flat battery.
Diodes are often wired together to form a full-wave rectifier turning all the "waves" in AC current into D.C. current. If the rectifier is faulty the battery won't get its fair share.
The regulator has four diodes in it. As above, they are a one way gate so we need to carry out eight tests to see if they are all working.
I test a lot of these and if one diode fails everything will appear to charge but give insufficient current - Sound familiar?
Because of the input impedance of a multimeter they are not much good for this sort of work. I much prefer Amps that you can see. The first job is to construct a simple test light circuit. I would use a 12V battery and a 5W rear lamp bulb in some sort of bulb holder. See the picture below. Note that I haven't included a fuse in the line, you probably should. Certainly don't leave it connected up unattended.
I am assuming that your regulator has a red wire, a black wire and two wires of the same colour, I am going to say that they will be yellow but they could be something else. With the regulator removed we need to check...
Red wire on Black test point, First Yellow wire on red test point - Bulb Lights
Red wire on Black test point, Second yellow wire on red test point - Bulb lights
Red wire on Red test point, First yellow wire on black test point - Bulb should not light
Red wire on Red test point, Second yellow wire on black test point - Bulb should not light (edited)
Black wire on Red test point, first yellow wire on Black test point - Bulb should light
Black wire on Red Test point, second yellow wire on Black test point - Bulb should light
Black wire on Black test point, first yellow wire on Red test point - bulb should not light
Black wire on Black test point, second yellow wire on Red test point - Bulb should not light.
If all of these tests come out ok then I would reconnect everything back on the bike but use the bulb and bulb holder alone across the red and black leads to ensure that there is a good path to the battery. There is often enough to work a Volt meter but a dodgy connection will not light a bulb.
I test a lot of these and if one diode fails everything will appear to charge but give insufficient current - Sound familiar?
Because of the input impedance of a multimeter they are not much good for this sort of work. I much prefer Amps that you can see. The first job is to construct a simple test light circuit. I would use a 12V battery and a 5W rear lamp bulb in some sort of bulb holder. See the picture below. Note that I haven't included a fuse in the line, you probably should. Certainly don't leave it connected up unattended.
I am assuming that your regulator has a red wire, a black wire and two wires of the same colour, I am going to say that they will be yellow but they could be something else. With the regulator removed we need to check...
Red wire on Black test point, First Yellow wire on red test point - Bulb Lights
Red wire on Black test point, Second yellow wire on red test point - Bulb lights
Red wire on Red test point, First yellow wire on black test point - Bulb should not light
Red wire on Red test point, Second yellow wire on black test point - Bulb should not light (edited)
Black wire on Red test point, first yellow wire on Black test point - Bulb should light
Black wire on Red Test point, second yellow wire on Black test point - Bulb should light
Black wire on Black test point, first yellow wire on Red test point - bulb should not light
Black wire on Black test point, second yellow wire on Red test point - Bulb should not light.
If all of these tests come out ok then I would reconnect everything back on the bike but use the bulb and bulb holder alone across the red and black leads to ensure that there is a good path to the battery. There is often enough to work a Volt meter but a dodgy connection will not light a bulb.
Last edited:
Sorry Pete, I am no good at this but 4 th one down,
Red wire on red test point, Second yellow wire on red test point ?? surely that's not a loop ?.
Cheers Bill.
Red wire on red test point, Second yellow wire on red test point ?? surely that's not a loop ?.
Cheers Bill.
Phew , I thought I was going to look stupid 
.
.
Different Alternator, but the principle should be the same
so, regulator had failed all be it progressively which I did not realise was possible on a solid state unit. This high lighted that the cheap lead acid battery fitted to sell the machine had started to fail.
I guess regulators can be added to the list of components that fail through lack of use when a machine is left sitting.
A huge thank you to SRM Engineering who supplied the original Podtronics unit, they bow stock Wassell, which arrived within 24hrs.
On first start up all indications are the regulator is regulating, thanks for all the suggestions
I guess regulators can be added to the list of components that fail through lack of use when a machine is left sitting.
A huge thank you to SRM Engineering who supplied the original Podtronics unit, they bow stock Wassell, which arrived within 24hrs.
On first start up all indications are the regulator is regulating, thanks for all the suggestions