A couple years ago I was driving and my speedo started to shut off, then work, then off, then work....then all lights on the dash went out. Then back on. A day later my battery dies. I replace it and two years later my dash starts acting up, then after a 200 km ride, I pull over, turn off the engine to get gas and it won't start, dead battery. I bump start it and it is fine when I stop 50 kms later and restarts no prob.

Anybody go through either of these before? I don't even know if they are related. My battery terminals are all tight.

You probably have a loose connection elsewhere in the charging system, or the battery connections are dirty even though they are tight. I'd check the R/R connections, clean the battery, etc.

Damn, takes me forever to unhook the winrack crap. Alrighty I'll give this a shot.

Have you hooked up a voltmeter and checked chargeing? Sounds like you are operating on battery output alone. Are you using a Battey Tender? I would hook mine up after every ride so it took a while for me to realize my reg. was dead.

Well, since it's less of a pita to check the charging system, I'll do that up tonight. I notice the "simple" test where my headlight will glow brighter when I rev the engine, but I"ll be a tad more precise tonight.

I am by no mean a great mechanic (usually break more than i fix), but wasn't it mentioned that the birds have a bad voltage regulator? Put a volometer on it and see what she says ($15 buck at Radio Shack).

Yo, Mikey

Same thing happened to me last fall. Was out for about an hour or so on a very hot day, when all my gauges (speedo, tach, even fuel light) started getting all wack!
Got the bike home as didn't affect the engine at all. Tried to start it the next day - dead! Got a new battery and everything was cool. About a month later on another hot day, stopped after an hour or so to get some fuel, tried to restart - zilch!
I have seen some websites that mentioned the rectifier/regulator on Honda's in general are shite!
Now I don't know if that's true or not as I am also not the world's expert on ANY kind of repairs, but this site mentioned picking up a Yamaha R1 rec/reg instead as it uses the same contacts as the Honda more or less and is much beffier, etc.
I got one at a salvage yard for $40. I am going to put it on this weekend. I'll let you know if it seems to solve the problem for me, but before I took it to some dealer and payed huge bucks to get it scoped out, I figured an hour or so in the garage would be worth it to see if It'll solve the problem. I guess it can't hurt.

Cheers,
Kevin

Does those R1 regulator/rectifiers mount in the place for ours or do they have to be tie wrapped

I need another regulator/rectifier....I just changed it last year but I had gotten it from a salvage yard.I need to change the plug for the R/R also. Mine had melted a little when the R/R went bad. Not sure where to purchase this plug without having to buy the whole wire harness. I hope they can sell me just the plug at the salvage yard. Besides the plug being a little melted, I found some corrosion on 2 of the terminals ofthe 3 yellow wires that come from the alternator. Some of you that are experiencing prblems with the battery not being fully charged could also be experiencing a bad connection to the R/R. Also if the R/R is really hot,it's no good.

Have a look in the locked threads section. There's a link to my tutorial about how to replace r/rs there. Also note that the 02 model seems to have a very different r/r than the older birds. It's huge and very heavily heat-sinked. You may be able to pick up one of those and have it plug straight in. Don't quote me on that - I've only had the rear of my bike off twice and don't really remember the visual details very clearly.

Warchild, I tried to respond to your private message but I don't know if it went through. My bike if a `97. I think I'm gonna go with the R1 r/r if it fits and there won't be a problem mounting it.

I'll wait to hear from you. Lemme know!

My R/R is for a 2001, and they are most definitely different from the '97 versions, so it's probably better if you went another route.

The R1 farkle seems interesting, but I would be a touch concerned that you have blown two R/R's in such a short period of time. It'd make me a little suspicious.... :sad:

Mikey,

Put the R1 rec/reg in this past weekend. I haven't ridden in any REAL hot conditions yet, but so far, it's working like a charm! I even saved myself some work by wedging the spade connectors out from the Honda harness and simply plugging them into the R1 rec. Wrapped it all up and mounted. (One of the mounting holes needed to be widened a bit with a round file, but that didn't take more than a couple of minutes) and used the same mounting holes in the frame. I did need 2 new bolts about a 1/4 longer to accomodate the beefier R1 rec, but all in all, for even a repair "neb" like myself, it went along seamlessly.
Only time will tell for sure I guess, but there's no arguing that the size of the Yamaha part certainly makes the Honda one pale in comparison.
If you have access to one cheaply from a salvage yard near you, I would certainly try it!

Cheers, Kevin

Well I kinda figured it was my stator that was bad but I also installed the R1 rectifier. I changed the stator last week and my electrical problem is solved.