Possible reg/rec faults.Want to be sure - Got home OK!
 

Hi all,

Started bike this morning and fine as usual. Rode 25 miles to work and everything fine. Got to work and decided to restart the bike (I really don't know why) and nothing at all. Its like the clutch wasnt pulled in but it is. The speedo went upto 30 and back down again and the oil and neutral light dimmed.

I think I've read about this problem on here before but I cant find it, PLEASE help!

Andy

Re: Possible electrical fault - stuck at work!
 

did u leave ur park light on?? u might just need a jump start?

Nope, parking light wasn't on and it started fine this morning before I rode to work. What puzzles me is the speedo going upto 30 then down again, its never done that before! I think I may have a short somewhere as when I press the starter the odometer goes off then on again and I dont think it did that before either but I may be wrong

Could just be a flat battery Try jumping it off or get 3 strong blokes and bump it off but use 2nd gear!!! If you get it running go and get your battery tested it might be goosed.

its sounds like either the battery or the rectifier

If it was the battery why would the speedo be going crazy?

I had the exact same speedo/rev counter issue in my car a few weeks back. The problem was that the alternator was fried. Sometimes it would start, sometimes it wouldn't. Then one day I had a speedo telling me I was doing 150mph whilst parked with the handbrake on, speedo was erratic whilst driving for the next 10miles or so, then everything went back to normal, with the exception that the battery warning light was on.

In biking terms, that's your Reg./Rect.

Expensive, yes, but think yourself lucky, it cost me £340 + labour for the alternator fitting!

I dont know, but a few times the batteries been flat on my Curvey SVS, the speedo and rev counter needles have whizzed round the dials.

TBH it does sound like the battery is flat. When you thumb the starter is it accompanied by a whirring / buzzing / clicking noise coming from under the seat.

The other thing to check would be the fuses under the seat, are the battery terminals done up properly and clean and not corroded. Rule out the basic stuff first, before you start looking for shorts etc.

Just checked the battery and its measuring 11.4V then when I thumb the starter it drops to between 3 and 5 V so sounding like the reg/rec?!

Fizzwheel, I agree that the battery is probably flat. However, WHY is the battery flat.

In this circumstance, the bike has been ridden 25 miles, so the battery should of been charging for that distance. Turn it off, try to start it again immediately, nothing.

I reckon the battery is flat because of the Reg./Rect. not working, or at best, being faulty. A faulty rectified will happily feed random values around the rest of the system (as happened in my car - the speedo is electrical, not the old mechanical type, so feed it a random voltage, the speedo reports a random speed).

Granted, I could be wrong, but thats how it looks to me.

As a point of interest, I know that a pointy without ANY Reg./Rect. at all will only go for 8 miles. Then it dies. If you have a Reg./Rect. that's plugged in but not working, you might get further than this. If you have a 25mile ride home, charge the battery if you can, and by all means try it, but take a mobile phone with you & be ready to call out breakdown recovery.

OK, where can I get a reg/rec from. Phoned the local bike shop and they say it costs £114 + VAT and according to them there are none in the country and it'll take 7 days to arrive!

I agree, its a common fault with the SV.

A '97 GSXR 750 reg/rect will fit a '99 curvy just fine. You'll need to change the connections a little though. These reg/rect's are usually cheaper, and funnily enough, more available.

The difference between the curvy's & pointies here (so I'm told), is that pointies use a 6pin connector, the curvy's a 4 pin connector, but only 3 are used.

I'm sure I can dig up more exact wiring details if you manage to find the GSXR reg./rect. locally.


EDIT: Also, look here.... http://www.gear4bikes.com/acatalog/S...ectifiers.html I don't know about stock levels, but £64.95 for a 99-00 Reg./Rect.
EDIT2: Another site, http://www.partsgateway.co.uk ... they claim a 70% discount over prices offered by Suzuki. Click the links to get to a page that says "Get a quote" and follow that system to get them to email/call you back with a price.

HTH

Ive heard about it being a known weakness, is it wise to buy another one if they are known to be rubbish?

I can charge the battery at work using a 12V 6A supply, will this be OK?

I mentionned the GSXR one for a reason. They're better units, and less suceptable to faults. However, it depends on your electrical background as to how comfortable you are fitting it.

The fitting involves splicing connections from the loom into new wires for the GSXR reg/rect as the connector doesn't fit as-is. All you really have to do is make sure you get the wires in the right place, and it's fine. Wire it wrongly, and there's a good chance you'll fry your bike (and yourself).

A new SV reg/rect should be fine, for a while at least. All reg/rects fault at some stage or another, and I've not seen a bike that's never had a faulty reg/rect to be honest (unless it's brand new, and it just hasn't happened YET - like mine).

Without the reg/rect, your bike won't run for more than 8 miles, so you do need one, it's just a matter of which one. I'm not going to offer specific advice, other than the fact that if you're worried by anything I've said (such as frying your bike), get a qualified auto-electrician to do it.

Thanks for all your help Baph, I've been looking on some salvage/breakers sites and they dont seem to have the GSXR750 ones. I've been reading some of Sid squids posts and he recommends the CBR6 is there a particular year/model to go for? I'm fairly confident wiring it all up but does anyone know which wire goes to which??? (If I got a CBR reg/reg)

Doh, My bike went to the salvage dealers yesterday, still fitted with a 2005 CBR600RR R/R.


Fitting them is dead simple you just need to be prepared to splice on the original SV connectors from your dead SV RR.

Because there were more wires on the Honda unit. I did have to download a CBR manual just to make sure the wires I was using were correct. for some reason honda have 2 live and two earth wires.

Thanks Tim, is it just a case of re-wiring or do you have to start re-wiring the extra earth/live to other parts of the bike? Is the 2005 RR the same as other years do you know?

A little google-fu magic gets you this

EDIT: Also this. Reg/Rect for the SV, £65.

EDIT2: Busters stock them too, not sure about stock levels. £59.

There are two connectors. One contains the 3 yellows AC leads and the second the live and earth connections.

The 3 yellows AC leads from the CBR R/R simply splice them into the SV connector. For the live and earth I cannot recall the colours but I think they were red and black. Simply join the two lives together the same for the earths and then splice them into the other connector.

I soldered my connections and used a bit of heat shrink tube to insulate. Then wrap the hole lot in black insulating tape and there was no indication of it not being a non standard part

Most manufacturers follow the standad of black with a red stripe. Just be cautious, as not all do ;)

Thanks for all the help guys, going to order a CBR one from eBay. Only problem now is how to get into work tomorrow and home tonight!!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUZUKI-SV650-K...QQcmdZViewItem

Any good ?

taxi :wink:

Thanks for all the help yesterday guys, I got home fine! :D

I measured the battery when I got home without the bike running and it read 12.29V, I charged the battery at work yesterday to 13.8V so can we definately say it was the reg/rec? I did 23miles after leaving work with my headlights on and a speed of about 50-60mph all the way.


Thanks,
Andy

Glad to hear you made it home!

Can't say definately it's the reg/rect, but do a search, there's a thread somewhere on the org that details the voltages that should be coming from the reg/rect. Check it out.

I can say it definately looks like it's the reg/rect, but without a closer look, I wouldn't want to advise you spend your money on a new unit, when we could be barking in the wrong forest. Can't think of what else it could be though.

Checking charge by voltage is pretty ineffective. Best check is to get a voltmeter across the terminals with the bike running and revving, and see what it reads then. Though I can't remember what a good result actually is tbh :roll:

that would be about 13 - 15 volts irrc

I'm going to check all the voltages but I've got to wait for the weekend as its raining here and dark by the time I get home so no hope of doing it yet! (I dont have a garage :cry: )

Will do a search to find voltages and pray it is the reg/rec or I'll have to start fault finding!