[cxer4]

Maybe we are more fortunate in the UK but Wemoto (www.wemoto.com) supply ZAB type for $180 US & the later ones for $120 US, delivered stateside. Just about the same price in the UK as we pay local tax but gain on the postage rate. If there is enough interest, I could negotiate a discount, maybe. I have no connection with the company other than to buy stuff & haven't been disappointed yet.

No, they don't have '82- camchain tensioner blades & neither does anyone else I can find.

On the subject of generators, has anyone else come to the conclusion that they are way too powerful? 200W+ means over 16A. The things seem to fail due to local overheating, which is related to current squared ie a lot. If you try to be brave & go out in the dark, you might need 80-100W for lights. Without the lights, almost all the current is shorted in the regulator & performs no useful funnction. I suppose you could warm your left hand on the reg but otherwise it is just wasted. The ignition system has its own coils if CDI & takes precious little current if transistor. So we don't appear to need all this output. What we do need is lower output, from taking a few turns off each bobbin to reduce the voltage & hence the current. The lower temperature would help a long & happy life. Not for the rider, the stator. Does anyone have a tatty but working stator & the time to try a reduced output as above?

 

[cxer4]

Bob,

Thanks for your comprehensive reply. You have done the research that myself & other armchair critics have not.

I assume that what your ammeter is reading is charge to the battery, not alternator output. The alternator actually runs flat-out at all times due to the nature of the regulator. What you are seeing is the 'excess' current available to recharge the battery after using the starter & at tick-over speeds. As I suspected, it does not take long for this charging current to reach zero. If the alternator was undersized, this charge time would be significant.

As you also point out, you have extra loads & I guess sometimes you have the machine ticking-over for lengthly periods as you have time to observe the battery voltage falling. The actual use of the machine must play a big part in the current demand. My own use is very light compared to yours as we don't have any significant trafic on the 'B' roads (that's one step up from goat tracks) we normally use on ride-outs. We don't often stop for more than a few seconds at junctions & the motor is normally running at 3000+ rpm. Most of us here are not brave enough to go out when it's dark. I would suggest that you & I are at the extreme ends of the current demand spectrum.

So we know that the alternator is always giving max current at a given speed and that a fair proportion of this output is totally wasted in my case. To return to the basic question, why do the stators fail? I have several where only one coil is black & has clearly failed. I would guess this one coil has a joint in it. Or if not a joint then maybe the wires have chafed due to the wire having a slight ability to move, especially when expanded due to high temperatures. Maybe I could get out of my armchair & unwind the coils, manyana. Thanks for mentioning there is an even higher-output stator available. Does the standard regulator cope with this output? Do you have one fitted? How hot does the reg get? Questions, questions!

 

[cxer4]

Shep, good to see someone else from God's own county here.

I tried a 75C 'stat but found it was 'on' far too much of the time. 85 was better.How's yours?

Then I found you are supposed to fit it to the bottom of the rad, not the top as I had.

Made a nice job of soldering a copper mounting plate on the header too, even if I do say so myself.

Got a 650 rad now. It doesn't seem to have any more finning but does have the nice thermoswitch that can take fan current without using a relay.

 

[cxer4]

Cobram & Linny, you are a credit to the CXer family as you clearly keep engine internals so clean.

You are absolutely correct in the observation that the old potting material is superior. Don't we know any industrial chemists who could tell us? It appears too flexible for an epoxy but too strong to be urethane. I see above that there is a notion our coils are actually oil-cooled. Sorry, I don't 'buy' that due to the buried location of the coils. There is not much oil splashing around in the rear case, I wish there was as camchain wear might improve. I still think the coils are borderline too powerful. The suggestion above to remove a couple of turns as an experiment sounds like a good first step. It would help if I knew how many turns there are as standard! At a guess, I would try 10% less on the rule-of-thumb that in real life, 10% is comfortably measurable.

Coram, you opened this out a little by mentioning oil seals. I guess you are referring to the O rings as the lip seals are easily got, even if some are a little thinner than the originals. That's good in my book as an unworn part of the shaft is then used. Yes, the O ring situation is a total ****** *****. You will have seen the list that circulates. It's OK up to a point. Why the seriously weird sizes used? A partial explanation I heard is that after WWII, Japan was helped by the Marshall plan (or was that only Europe? We didn't get any in the UK, that's for sure)or similar scheme. When machine tools were provided, they were calibrated in US-flavour Imperial units. So, if you look at the 'metric' sizes quoted, they actually backwards-transcribe to more believable Imperial sizes. The bad news is that over here, we have a relatively poor choice of Imp O rings on offer. I can recommend 'Bearing King' in the UK as a sources of O rings, no silly minimum order & they have really gone the extra mile to source some of the oddballs for me. Ask 'Adele'. I have no connection with them other than as a customer.

Final point, Bob is so right about the overheating connector effect. Last time I was allowed out in the rain, the three-way connector almost ignited as the water + plastc breakdown products made a very conductive mix. Getting the blades out of the connector block without totally ruining them was fun. As an emergency repair (6 months ago) I wound old-fashioned string around the bare wires where the insulation was missing, then epoxy to stiffen the string, make watertight, insulate & support the conductor. Very last relevant point, if you need a strain-relief semi-flexible support, add a little paint to the epoxy mix. It doesn't need much, just a quick squirt if using aerosol. The result is a nice, rubbery effect when cured. Last irrelevant point - If it ain't broke, fix it 'till it is. Anon.

 

[cxer4]

OK Cobram, you got me with that one, I admit. And the flanged one is tricky too.

If you can't live without the 6 x 14.5mm, CSM in Holland currently have 2 in stock for €3, about $2. http://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cx500ca-custom-1980-england_model16432/partslist/E07.html

Failing that, I have found that 6 x 15 is a size available in Europe, don't know about US suppliers though.

It might be worth the 'Dremel' operation or having the housing machined properly to accept this size.

I have found it is often possible to extend the usable life of a seal by discarding the metal spring & using a suitable O ring instead.

Might be worth trying? You can always blame me if it doesn't work out.