Blown Main 30 Amp Fuse -- Is This A Bad Voltage Regulator?

Plugged the regulator back in and the fuse blew, so maybe I have a first. VR kills fuse...

Interesting! I'm surprised that it runs with the reg/rec disconnected.

30 amp fuse?

Blowing straight away??

(didn't even know I had a 30amp fuse :-))

major short there somewhere - I doubt its the votage reg....

If the bike is blowing the main fuse, it's unlikely to be the reg/rec unit, much more likely to be a short somewhere. By the sounds of it, it may be one or more wires that have been chafing against something for a while and just happened to short as you were riding the bike. I'd start by checking all the main wiring looms especially where they run close to frame members and particularly around the headstock where there's a lot of wiring being moved about as the steering head moves.

Good luck ... (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/blink.gif)

So everyone said it probably is not the regulator, but then when I was testing it and the wiring on the bike using the directions in my manual (the wiring harness on the bike tested as it should), I noticed a tear in the regulator:

(IMG:http://home.csumb.edu/s/simpsonhenryk/world/mm/vfr1.jpg)

Then I got stupid and tore it open:

(IMG:http://home.csumb.edu/s/simpsonhenryk/world/mm/vfr2.jpg)

It looks like everything inside melted including the solder and it smelled like it!

So whether I needed one or not, this one is no longer usable. To finish it off I got out the hammer and feel much better now...

Now I am thinking about going with one I have to splice in because the people that have done it seem to report good things and they are waaaay cheaper. One off of a newer GSXR is about $20 on Ebay.

To be clear, it starts, runs and does not blow fuses without the regulator installed. Might be useful to someone to know and it would have saved my day today.

The only good thing about my bike stopping is that I was able to coast up an offramp and there was a Dairy Queen two blocks away.

GASP!
You must have let out the rest of the magic smoke!

The one on my '97 looks exactly like yours, minus the tear. My bike was new-to-me with 21k mi (33.8k km) on it, and I have no idea if it's been replaced. I'm wary of going on a 1500+ mi trip with it, though.

[partial hijack]
I see you are replacing yours with a non-VFR model. I may buy a spare VFR or other r/r to bring with me on the Fall Dragon ride.
Does anyone know if you order a new one from Honda, if it truly is one with the fins on it? If not, I'm just going to get a random one and bring enough parts on the trip to make it work.
[/partial hijack]

The Phantom, Aug 31 2006, 05:14 AM
Interesting! I'm surprised that it runs with the reg/rec disconnected.

With u fully charged battery you may be able to ride a dozen miles or more. Non FI will get more miles then FI VFRs.

hksimpson, Aug 31 2006, 07:39 AM
Now I am thinking about going with one I have to splice in because the people that have done it seem to report good things and they are waaaay cheaper. One off of a newer GSXR is about $20 on Ebay.

I recently relocated the R/R to the back of the bike, mounted on a large heatsink from an audio amplifier, attached to the underside of the undertray. The reason the R/R on 3rd & 4th gens can't dissipate enough heat is because the frame it is mounted on also heats up pretty well. That, and because there is hardly any flow of cool air in that area. On sunny days, the (improved and finned) RR of my 3rd gen used to get to 165F/74C. That's with cpu fan mounted to it: pic of previous setup
I took these measurement while riding, with a digital thermometer with the sensor attached to the RR and the display in my tankbag.

With the new setup I haven't seen the RR reaching temperatures above 96F/36C. I made a writeup of this modification in the forum of the Dutch VFR owners club. Although it's in Dutch, the pictures pretty much show what I did. Here is the link: [url=http://www.vfroc.nl/forumVFR/index.php?s=&showtopic=2848&view=findpost&p=97072]Reg
rec relocation for 3rd gen[/url]
Hmm...the current version of the forum software doesn't allow "scripted" links. So copy/paste the link in a new browsertab to view the pics and post.

I also took temperature measurements where the RR originaly was located on the seatframe. When the outside temp was 62F/17C I measured a seatframe temperature of 112F/44C, outside temp 80F/27C -> frame 143F/62C. Temperature drops the further you get to the rear of the frame. Temperature on the left side of the frame is about 15F/7C below that of the right. Maybe that explains why they moved the RR on the 5th gen to the left and a bit more to the rear. Also do 4th and 5th gens have more air vents in the rear fairings. The rear cliniders of the 5th gen also are less shrouded by the rear fairing and seat than a 4th gen. So I think Honda was aware of the problems with the RR, but did not come up with a good solution to the heat problem untill the sixth gen. At least I haven't heard of low milage 6th gens with a blown RR (or have forgotten about them as there's nothing new to a Honda with a blown RR (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/goofy.gif) )

V4 Rosso, Aug 31 2006, 06:47 AM
I recently relocated the R/R to the back of the bike, mounted on a large heatsink from an audio amplifier, attached to the underside of the undertray.

I'm planning to relocate my 5th gen r/r to the underside of the metal fender eliminator and am curious why you went to the trouble to mount the r/r (apparently) under the seat, attached to a heatsink that extended out into the air flow, rather than simply mount the r/r, itself, out in the air flow?

I thought of that, but that also puts the connector in a nasty environment. From the last pic in the third part of the post on vfroc, you can see that the the undertray is quit muddy (bad weather doesn't keep me from riding). Now I can clean the the heatsink with a gardenhose not having to worry about getting water in the connector.

I also thought about moving the RR to the inside of the rear fender, using the large dutch licenceplate as a heat sink (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/biggrin.gif) with the connector upwards through the undertray between the rear headlights (I hope you get the picture). But a connector in this upward position is also a moisture trap.

V4 Rosso, Aug 31 2006, 09:03 AM
I thought of that, but that also puts the connector in a nasty environment. From the last pic in the third part of the post on vfroc, you can see that the the undertray is quit muddy (bad weather doesn't keep me from riding). Now I can clean the the heatsink with a gardenhose not having to worry about getting water in the connector.

I also thought about moving the RR to the inside of the rear fender, using the large dutch licenceplate as a heat sink (IMG:style_emoticons/oldemoticons/biggrin.gif) with the connector upwards through the undertray between the rear headlights (I hope you get the picture). But a connector in this upward position is also a moisture trap.

Good points. Thx.