The bigger Cycle Electric rectifier supplied as stock on the M3W are supposed to have a feature that lets them adjust the voltage to the load. I think it was this 'feature' that caused a certain amount of failures. They are known as being on the delicate side. Whether that is electrical or mechanical is a good question.
The H-D unit doesn't use that system. It is a brute force rectifier that is always cranking out at 100% and any voltage not needed is just dumped to ground. It weighs less and has a thinner profile. Me like.
Very interesting - thanks for that, now I understand!
Looks te me we had the same problem with my wife's M3W rectifier. The first day on our last trip to France she was complaining about a low output of her regulator, just 12.2V. After some fiddling on the wire's all was OK again and the reading was 13.2V Next day the reading dropped again to 12.1V. Checked the wire's, redone the earth cable to the frame but nothing helped. Changed the rectifier for the HD unit and reading was back around 14V at idle. But with this HD unit the reading shows most of the times around 16V when driving. This looks a little bit high to my opinion. Checked if the battery went warm with this load, this was negative. Did now about 500km. with the HD unit and all still works well. Can anybody tell me if this is OK or do I need to go back to the original rectifier?
My hd cold start 14.5...i dont remember seeing much higher..too hot though to drive it these days.maybe in 2 days i will test drive it after midnight around the neighbor hood
I think you'll be fine. The over voltage just gets dumped to ground. Your battery is not getting cooked.
In this case anything over 14 volts means the battery is getting charged and not being used to run the car electronics in a long, slow drain. Voltmeters on cars are fairly sloppy. They have to be since the charging rate changes so much due to engine speed. They're charging or not. When you see the meter take a dive or reading low then you know there is a problem.
What's your mileage? Who cares. Is it practical? See #1. What happens when it rains? You get wet.
Yesterday the meter was even going to 18V and engine warning light went on with this high load. Went today for a new HD unit and found out that the one which was giving to much voltage was not original HD but from Drag Specialties. Now with HD unit (which was 4 times the price of the DS rectifier) gives good reading. Wife now very happy, because she was afraid she couldn't drive the M3W Treffen next week.
Yesterday the meter was even going to 18V and engine warning light went on with this high load. Went today for a new HD unit and found out that the one which was giving to much voltage was not original HD but from Drag Specialties. Now with HD unit (which was 4 times the price of the DS rectifier) gives good reading. Wife now very happy, because she was afraid she couldn't drive the M3W Treffen next week.
Interesting. Please, if you can, post the DS part # as one to avoid. The H-D unit should be on the cheaper side as well but markups...
What's your mileage? Who cares. Is it practical? See #1. What happens when it rains? You get wet.
