The Rally Rectifier
Anatomy of the rectifier ---Tim
House
The top two spades, and corresponding
YELLOW wires are for AC in, the wires come to
this point directly from the junction box on top
of the engine.
The third one down, actually two spades, side
by side, is, Hell, I don't know, but it has
nothing to do with the rectifier, because all that
those two plugs do is join the two wires
together, it's a "jumper". Take the cover off the
rectifier, and you will see that they do not do
anything inside the rectifier. This is not clearly
shown on the diagrams. I have not traced the
wires out, but my guess is that one of the
wires goes to the key, so can turn on the DC
circuits. Any help on this one would be
appreciated.
The bottom spade is the DC out. There are two
separate wires there, but only one spade on
the rectifier. The two wires join together with a
strange plug "splicer".
House
The top two spades, and corresponding
YELLOW wires are for AC in, the wires come to
this point directly from the junction box on top
of the engine.
The third one down, actually two spades, side
by side, is, Hell, I don't know, but it has
nothing to do with the rectifier, because all that
those two plugs do is join the two wires
together, it's a "jumper". Take the cover off the
rectifier, and you will see that they do not do
anything inside the rectifier. This is not clearly
shown on the diagrams. I have not traced the
wires out, but my guess is that one of the
wires goes to the key, so can turn on the DC
circuits. Any help on this one would be
appreciated.
The bottom spade is the DC out. There are two
separate wires there, but only one spade on
the rectifier. The two wires join together with a
strange plug "splicer".
| How to check if you rectifier is working in situ---Kristian Storli The best and simplest way to see if it is working is to test it's output. Hook it up in the bike, set your meter to read DC volts in the correct range and put the leads on the battery. If the rectifier/regulator is good, then the meter should read a few volts higher when the engine is running, than it does when the engine is off. A healthy Rally battery will read 5.5 to 6.5 volts with the engine off, and a healthy rectifier should feed it about 6.5 to 9.5 volts, depending on the revs, with the engine on. If you find low DC output, you have confirm it's the rectifier and not the AC input. Pull the two yellow wires off, set your meter to measure AC volts, and put it between the two yellows. I don't remember exactly what the unloaded AC output should be at that point, but I'm guessing that your meter will read somewhere between 4 and 12 volts at idle, which should be ok. The AC voltage output over around 8 or 9 volts is why those resistors are inside that box, and why using a bridge rectifier without a 6v zener diode (or some other form of voltage regulation) is bad idea. Using a bridge rectifier by itself with the battery as the only voltage regulator may protect your bulbs, but is also likely to boil your battery. The battery will fill out the "valleys" in the system, but offers no self protection for the "peaks". Hope this helps. Kristian Storli BAR ITALIA CLASSICS 14767 Calvert St. Sherman Oaks, CA, 91411 818-997-0082 www.baritaliaclassics.com |
How to test a 12 volt rectifier using a multimeter - John Stafford
Click here
Has anyone tried rebuilding a rectifier? Well of course.
Click HERE to see some photos and an explanation.
Click HERE to see some photos and an explanation.
