{"id":384,"date":"2017-03-29T20:11:01","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T01:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/tips\/?p=384"},"modified":"2017-03-21T14:10:50","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T19:10:50","slug":"rectifier-regulator-signal-wires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/rectifier-regulator-signal-wires\/","title":{"rendered":"Rectifier Regulator Signal Wires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ok, guys – we’re going to get a little technical in this blog post! \u00a0We’ve had so many questions about a “missing” signal wire that we asked our tech guru Sean for an exact answer. \u00a0This is what he had to say.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many Rick\u2019s Motorsport Electrics<\/a> Rectifier\/Regulators<\/a> eliminate what is commonly referred to as a \u201csignal wire\u201d on original equipment (OE) pieces. For example, on a 1981 Kawasaki KZ440<\/a>, there are 5 wires going to the OE part: 2 yellow wires (AC inputs), white\/red (DC \u201c+\u201d output), black\/yellow (DC \u201c-\u201c output), and a brown wire. The brown wire is the signal input from the battery. The Rick’s piece<\/a> features only 4 wires; the position where the OE brown wire was is vacant. This is because the Rick’s<\/a> part is capable of regulating through the DC wires without the sensor input.<\/p>\n

Why is this advantageous? Because a regulator, like any electrical device, is only as good as the information you put into it, and any voltage drop between the battery and regulator on a signal wire can result in a \u201cfalse positive\u201d reading of an overcharge at the battery. To illustrate, here\u2019s a diagram showing a full-wave Rectifier\/Regulator with a signal wire operating properly:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The battery in this circuit is charging correctly. However, if corrosion, a poor contact, or any weak point occurs (this can commonly occur if the contacts in the main ignition switch have any kind of wear on them), the regulator will \u201cmis-read\u201d the battery and overcompensate in terms of charging voltage. Here is the same circuit with an oxidized or worn-out contact in the switch causing a .75 volt drop between battery and regulator on the signal wire:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The rectifier\/Regulator appears to be over charging, however nothing is wrong with the component itself. \u00a0It is simply acting on inaccurate input.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And finally, the same circuit with no connection at all (as if the signal wire was cut):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The regulator no longer has input from the signal wire and no way to properly regulate the battery. \u00a0This results in an extreme overcharge. \u00a0The same rec\/reg can produce 3 different results depending on the integrity of the signal circuit. \u00a0And THAT is why Rick’s<\/a> eliminates the the external signal wire = problem prevented!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ok, guys – we’re going to get a little technical in this blog post! \u00a0We’ve had so many questions about a “missing” signal wire that we asked our tech guru Sean for an exact answer. \u00a0This is what he had to say. Many Rick\u2019s Motorsport Electrics Rectifier\/Regulators eliminate what is commonly referred to as a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1,37],"tags":[28,77,32,5,35,45,87,48,75,76],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","category-new-from-ricks","category-reviews-opinions","tag-battery","tag-classic-motorcycles","tag-electrical-connectors","tag-how-to","tag-motorcycle-battery-charging","tag-rectifier-regulator","tag-regulators","tag-tutorials","tag-vintage","tag-vintage-motorcycles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1166,"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions\/1166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ricksmotorsportelectrics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}