There's a good chance my rectifier/regulator is bad. Am I correct in seeing that I need to remove the left side pod to get to it? I'm hoping there's some trick that I'm missing. Would hate to remove the side pod as I think I then have to drain the water, etc. Why the heck wouldn't you mount it where it can be accessed from inside the cockpit?
This is on an SR4, if it matters...
Thanks!
John, The location may be different depending on what engine and ECU are in the car. What engine and ECU do you have? I am hoping that one of the members with an SR4 will chime in here, but here is a diagram that shows where the Rectifier is on an SR3 RS (with a Life ECU). Since your car is a 2004 it won't have a Life ECU, but since Radical tends to keep the components in similar places, it is a good place to start. I don't know if this will be helpful or not for an SR4??
Charley
Hey Guys i have been thru this problem multiple time, most the the charging problems that we have on these radicals is because the plug from the stator to the harness goes bad and then kills the rectifier ,, Richard at Rilltech has a solution , he makes his own stand alone charging harness that is a quick plug and play. basically it doesn't charge thru the radical harness , it charges direct to the battery .. works great,
John, The location may be different depending on what engine and ECU are in the car. What engine and ECU do you have? I am hoping that one of the members with an SR4 will chime in here, but here is a diagram that shows where the Rectifier is on an SR3 RS (with a Life ECU). Since your car is a 2004 it won't have a Life ECU, but since Radical tends to keep the components in similar places, it is a good place to start. I don't know if this will be helpful or not for an SR4??
Charley
Charley, thanks -- unfortunately, it looks like it's installed on the front side of the firewall on my SR4. The starter solenoid is located where the rectifier is shown on that diagram.
I'm going to see if I can loosen the left side pod and slide it out enough to get to the rectifier without removing it completely. Ugh.
Hey Guys i have been thru this problem multiple time, most the the charging problems that we have on these radicals is because the plug from the stator to the harness goes bad and then kills the rectifier ,, Richard at Rilltech has a solution , he makes his own stand alone charging harness that is a quick plug and play. basically it doesn't charge thru the radical harness , it charges direct to the battery .. works great,
Thanks for the info. I'll contact him.
Stator plugs going bad appears to be pretty common with motorcycles, especially when the connector gets dirty and resistance builds up. Seems that most people wire the three stator wires directly to the rectifier (solder or crimp connectors with heatshrink tubing over top) to avoid this problem.
I think it is a case of removing/loosening the side pod to get to it unfortunately.
In addition to what has been said above the fuse/fuse holder in the charging loom is also known for melting and this will stop the car charging - try removing the fuse to check the condition of this and also the fuse holder and wires that lead into it.
The charging loom is separate as standard from Radical so it can be removed relatively easily, it just plugs into the chassis harness for an ignition live. Radical know offer a new updated version, along with a few other companies that are much improved.
Hi all. Forgot to update this thread...
I loosed my left side pod enough to remove the voltage rectifier/regulator (VRR). Looks like it was somewhat bad -- output voltage never increased much above 12V.
Also, as mentioned above, the connector from the stator to the wiring harness was melted. So, I cut both sides of the 3 wire connector and rather than soldering the wires together decided to use some 12 GA Delphi Weather Pack connectors.
Then, I purchased a Gen 2 aftermarket Hayabusa VRR that uses MOSFETs vs standard diodes -- which generally produce less heat. The catch with Gen 2 VRRs is that there are two 12V outputs. I only connected one of these outputs and found the voltage output to be erratic. Connected the second 12V output by adding another fused connector going to the battery and everything looks good -- I'm seeing a consistent 14V output now.
I also used 12 GA Weather Pack connectors going from the VRR to the battery.
Decided not to put the VRR back behind the pod so have temporarily mounted it to the frame near the ECU.
Planning to swap my double seat for the single seat and will put this stuff on the inboard side wall in the cockpit.
BTW the Weather Pack connectors have a good setup for preventing dust/grime/liquids from getting to the contacts which is the primary reason the stock stator output connector melt -- too much resistance from all the buildup.
I should mention that I have two track days complete with this setup and no problems thus far, knock on wood.
Thanks for the update John. Looks great!
