my regulator/rectifier harness is toast !! whats the scoop on these aftermarket ones available ?? claim 2hp ,, do these come with the factory harness plug and play ?? anyone have any experience with these ?? thanks
Not sure if this was directed to me, but my guess would be they are using a diode and/or transistor that isn't rated for the harness (gauge). In this type of configuration, the transistor is a voltage controlled current device. The diode is simply in place act as the half cycle voltage switch at the base. If the battery charge is above 12V (or whatever they set the transistor switch at), then all that magneto current will short out to ground above this 12V switch level (and not continue to charge the battery). As the magneto rmp increases, so does the current and if the harness can't handle the peak current then all that heat (caused by the high current draw) goes somewhere...like melted insulation. Essentially they arcing the magneto current direct to ground through a diode and the transistor. If it was the harness before the rectifier/regulator circuit, then I'd say the diode failed and caused the negative half cycle of the AC magneto output to drop across the harness and burn it up.Why do you think so many of them were/are melting harnesses? The guy whose wife called the fire dept called swore the machine had been parked for a week. All the others I know of happened while the machine was running.
As far as I know, the harness damage always happens in the harness leading to the rectifier. But at least at the time, you couldn't buy sub harnesses.
No, it wouldn't catch fire just sitting there, more likely is you go to start it (magneto starts to turn) and the harness and/or diode, transistor is already damaged and this causes the fire/smoke. Hard to tell though.Thanks Bob, that's what I was going to say Acutally I didn't follow a lot of that, but I got the general concept. And so, it is feasible that these can fail even if the machine is not running?