Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 HELP!!! Regulator/Rectifier Dead. Need specs

I was yesterday in my garage (Merz & Pabst, Stuttgart) for fresh oil after 200 Miles and the competent mechanic told me, he knows about this problem: disrupted or chaffed ground cable/wire under the regulator/rectifier. He said to me to first check this before replacing the unit.

was actually going to post today about the ground wire as i recently came in to some info about it. turns out the ground wire for the rectifier is attached to a powder coated part of the frame which makes for a less than ideal setup which eventually fries the rectifier.

the solution seems to be removing the ground from the frame and taking some steel wool and rubbing it around the hole that's drilled for the ground and cleaning off the surface for a proper contact. also be sure the ground itself is properly brushed/cleaned off.

i think this would be some preventative actions that might serve everyone well.

below is a pic of the wire for reference for those who have yet to become familiar with their rectifiers.

certainly seems like an afterthought, shame really to have to scratch of protective coating which will help prevent rust...

Yep. My thoughts exactly.

Thanks for that, it's always nice to have an explanation as to why things have gone wrong :-)
Just checked mine and it's got a good contact with bare metal so I guess Krazy Horse checked it when they fitted the replacement .

To stop any rust, I'm sure something like Vaseline petroleum jelly could be spread around? It's used on battery terminal posts to stop them oxidising after all.

That would be my suggestion too Paul!

Great to see a longer term solution identified

I have found a helpful Harley dealer in UK who if I give him the exact specification and connection can provide me a spare. I also saw on here (buy now cannot find!) a pic of a chrome elliptical shaped one, mine is black and square. Maybe I can find a nice looking replacement and stick mine in the bag under the "bonnet" just in case I am miles from civilisation and am let down.

If your voltage regulator is working OK at the moment and the earth is good I suggest you add another earth strap between case mounting bolt and the chassis earth bolt. Cheaper than buying another regulator "just in case". My car has all this from manufacture and (fingers crossed)it has been OK. I suspect that all the problems have been caused by poor earths and chassis to case bonding rather than duff regulators. You may also notice in the photo that one of the rubber mounting "Bobbins" has sheared. This is the 4th one to go in 1700 miles. Another temp repair carried out until it gets replaced soon, not an ideal installation.