The Radio Shack ones will do a better job than the OEM ones?
Can anybody supply specific, definite install directions, with a pic...? I'd love to do this with my bike, but electricity/electrical stuff is NOT my forte'...
Recommendations for a new rectifier
Modern silicon bridge rectifiers such as the Radio Shack one will do a better job than the OEM selenium rectifier because the silicon diodes have less voltage drop than the selenium. Your DC output voltage will be higher. Also, selenium rectifiers leak back a bit more, so your battery will lose a bit more of its charge over time. Selenium rectifiers degrade over time (sometimes with smoke!), while silicon doesn't.
Wiring is easy: there are 4 terminals on the silicon bridge. The + is the positive output going to your battery; the - is the negative going to your chassis ground. The other two are AC inputs, one for the brown wire from your generator, and the other for the yellow wire from the generator (it doesn't matter which). Use a heat sink--a bit of aluminum--to dissipate the heat from the rectifier. I think e3steve posted a pic of his install somewhere. Wilf
I want to repeat my recomendation of the rectifiers from beatrice cycle. I have done the radio shack thing many times. yes they are cheep. but IMHO having something that can bolt up to the stock mount/ look like an oem install/ and work great is worth the extra $10. and they are finned to dissipate heat right out of the box.
Randy Hi Randy,
Yes, your recommendation is a good one--the rectifier in that unit is silicon so you get all the benefits there and it does bolt right in to the existing mount so it's attractive in that respect too. On my CB77 I used a Radio Shack equivalent and had pieces of aluminum for a heat sink, but I also wanted to mount a winker relay into that space as well. It all works nicely and is a big improvement over the stock selenium rectifier. Wilf
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