Extreme Farkling: Series Regulator

[spets]

Thank you for pointing me in the direction of a series regulator! I am going to order the 775 and replace the factory one with the series one to take advantage of my LED bulbs. At the moment I Just want plug and play solutions without rewiring half the bike

 

[Beemerphile]

Thank you for pointing me in the direction of a series regulator! I am going to order the 775 and replace the factory one with the series one to take advantage of my LED bulbs. At the moment I Just want plug and play solutions without rewiring half the bike

Please confirm from Jack at Roadstercycle.com that the connectors are the same between the SH775 and the FH014AA regulators before you buy one. Roger will answer your questions even if you buy from somewhere else. I have been told (unconfirmed) that the power connector may be different. Apparently I may have not done enough work to confirm this as I dismissed the option early. Shindengen specs a required 2 meters per second airflow for this unit at rated output. I don't know how much would exist in the stock location at road speed, but 2 m/s is only about 4-1/2 miles per hour.


Once you confirm that the connectors are the same, the cheapest source for the SH775 is your local (or internet) Polaris dealer...

 

[Beemerphile]

OK, after the post by spets, I took a closer look at the connectors. The connectors between the FH020AA and the SH775 are the same, however, neither is the same as the FH014AA on the NC700. I am sorry for any confusion, but I did not look at the connectors closely because I would have relocated it anyway with new connectors. By the way, this regulator is available from Roadstercycle.com in a kit which includes the required connectors. Once the stock regulator is removed, it is easy to pull the harness out the left side of the bike far enough to easily make the terminal connections. Using Jack's kit, this would be easy to do.

I did confirm that dimensionally they are the same.

The link to Roadster Cycle...

Home

 

[LM15]

A quote from the first post of this thread: "the SH775 is rated at 27 amps where the NC system is rated at 30 amps."

Will this difference in amps make any difference? I can see the value in changing out the R/R to a series one and utilizing the current mounting area.

 

[Beemerphile]

A quote from the first post of this thread: "the SH775 is rated at 27 amps where the NC system is rated at 30 amps."

Will this difference in amps make any difference? I can see the value in changing out the R/R to a series one and utilizing the current mounting area.

You will see this item rated from 27 to 35 amps. I guess it may depend on how much cooling is provided. I found somewhere that it was 14 amps "uncooled". The alternator on the NC is rated at 420 watts at 5000 RPM. Chances are you don't cruise at 5000 RPM so chances are your alternator is not putting out 420 watts. At 14.2 volts, 420 watts is 29.6 amps. At 30 amps the NC pops a fuse. Chances are really, really good that it will be fine. Especially (you won't like this) if you put it somewhere it can get a breeze.

See above that Polaris calls it a 35 amp item. Polaris locates it just in front of the radiator, so the radiator fan is drawing air over it. Curiously (to me) the fins are towards the radiator instead of facing the airstream. The Polaris regulator used to be located under the seat. In 2009 Polaris moved the voltage regulator to in front of the radiator due to overheating issues with them. Some owners use a relocation harness to move the older ones. The SH775 was first used in 2011, so they were all located in front of the radiator. Continued research shows that the Ranger with this R/R has a 500 watt alternator. So, it is looking better.

 

[spets]

Woops! Looks like I'll need to investigate either creating a PnP adapter harness or swallowing the bullet and chopping off the OEM connectors.

 

[JoeTx]

Awesome work, I wondered where our power came from.

 

[Beemerphile]

Here is an interesting thread where a couple or three self-certified Brainy Smurfs take sides on the 3rd point in my opening post...

Facts about shunt-based regulators

They seem to have proved it both ways (for and against the argument). Curious to me are the many reports that bikes which were prone to eating stators quit doing so after the installation of a serial R/R. Missing from my research is someone who has fried a stator with a series R/R. Maybe it would have delivered the same benefit to go with a MOSFET shunt R/R as the OP posits. I have two series R/R's now and remain happy with both of them. Interesting on my BMW is that the characteristic "whirring" sound of the EME permanent magnet alternator went away when I installed the series regulator. I should have done some before and after infrared scans of the alternator, but I did not, and I am too lazy to reinstall the shunt R/R for testing. I'm just not that curious.

I forward this link in the interest of full disclosure concerning this mod in case it impacts your decision to go forward with it. I am keeping mine unless it craps out or kills a stator - which I consider an unlikely outcome.

 

[lootzyan]

Here is an interesting thread where a couple or three self-certified Brainy Smurfs take sides on the 3rd point in my opening post...

Facts about shunt-based regulators

Interestingly just last night (or today early morning) I read this thread and bookmarked it for ... I don't know for what.
For what I see, OP of this thread (Time Bandit) got himself into a corner by trying to "over explain" technical difference between two methods of voltage regulation. I think he forgot to be more objective (if he feels to be a technician, in general sense) and not to invoke "conspiracy theories".
What I see, technically he is correct, at least in theory. I don't have practical experience in electricity generation in vehicles. My involvement in this field stopped over 30 years ago. Zener effect and diode? I had to dig very deeply in my memory when the last time (and only time) I heard about them. It must be around '65 in my industrial electronics classes. SCRs or what we called them "thyristors" where a real cool stuff of late '60-70s. I built photo exposure timer, windshield wiper timer, lighting dimmer with them. But not a vehicle DC regulator. This was resolved by electromechanical regulator. Mostly reliable.
For over of last 25 years I stopped to pay attention to how is voltage regulated in cars. I just didn't have a single case of broken alternator or R/R - 4 vehicles and over 400k miles. I wasn't thinking, to this moment, what type of generator is used in my NCXD (and SH150i) and why. I admit that term "series regulator" confused me. It's not what I remembered from my classes. Now I see that it is a type of linear regulator. And more, I see that majority of motorcycle manufacturers are using combination of stator type generator and shunt regulator. Is lower price a reason?
After 4 years of my "motorcycling" I observe that reliability of motorcycles (and scooters) and expectations among owners are very low compared to other modern vehicles. Making 30,000 miles is some kind of achievement (excluding maybe Gold Wing). Just because moving parts are smaller in motorcycles compared to cars is not a good explanation. Load and stress is much less also.
Why stator is failing? Current cannot exceed over 40 Amps for extended period of time. Running on average 10-25 Amps is not so critical. Maybe improving connection points would help - better permanent soldering. We did that in "mission critical" devices working in harsh environment. Soldering connectors with copper cable was mandatory.
I see that series regulator requires pretty big heat sink. Is it getting hot as much as shunt regulator? Modern CPUs are very hot with over billion of transistors in them and working for many years nonstop. Is problem with regulators because of quality (purity) of silicon used (in general meaning)?