OK... so I have it narrowed down to the following choices (I think)

1) Revised R/R from Honda part #31600-MV4-010
I believe this is the upgraded stocker.. $141 from bikebandit and $144 from ronayers

2) Super-Duty ESR587 R/R from electrosport $98
Looks pretty good.. obviously has a nice heatsink..


3) R/R from regulatorrectifier.com

Also has the part # ESR587 and the image looks the same.. so that leads me to believe that it is the same product?



Whatever is bought, I will be using arctic silver thermal compound between the frame and the r/r to help cool it and dielectric grease on the harness contacts.

I don't mind paying the coin for the part.. just want to get the best one that will solve this problem..

 

At this point I figure I'll update this thread in case someone down the road is facing a similar problem and does a search..

I pulled the rear cowl off.. the R/R seems to be original or at least an OEM replacement...

It is unfinned and it says " SH633-12 " and under that " T9.3 "

Battery voltage was 13.2v.. at 2500rpm the voltage was above 13.5v... at 5000rpm it was around 14.0-14.1v
I pulled the connector to the R/R and it was clean and perfect.. no melting... I tested the voltage between the green and red/white wires in the connector and it was 13.2v identical to battery voltage..

There was continuity between the green wire and ground wire of the battery.. so ground is good.

I checked for continuity betwen each of the three yellow wires in the connctor and ground.. there was none (as specificied by the manual)

I started it up and let it run.. the R/R did get warm after a while, but not blistering hot... it ran great... until....

I held the brake to get the light on.. put the turn signal on, the fan was on, brights were on... sat like that for a few seconds and I watched as the voltage dropped off... 12.9, 12.7 and then fluctuating between 12.5x and 12.7x.. bike started to stumble a bit.. never stalled but it was getting there.. blip of the throttle and the voltage went back up to the sweet spot... let it happen again... r/r was not hot...

So.. what now? Is this simply a problem inherent to the F4 that we have to 'deal with'? Will an aftermarket regulator cure its woes and keep the voltage high enough to not stumble and/or stall at idle with all of the amp draw? Should I go with an LED taillight to lower the amp draw there?

Like I said.. its not the money.. its the wasted money if it doesnt work... at this point the one from electrosport seems to be the way to go (if an aftermarket will cure it)

Adam

 

Have you checked the stator yet? The r/r doesn't supply the power so I'd see what the stator is putting out and go thru its diags.

Could be a stator issue

 

that'll be next then... I think I just have to pull the RS fairing off to get to the stator plug... I thought the regulator was more likely since the voltage is varied by it... unless the stator itself is unable to keep up with the demand... like I said.. Im speaking more from a car point of view...

I emailed electrosport with my findings to get their take on it..

more to test.. lol

 

I think I made a post once about the Shinko R/R -- I'm on my way out the door now, but I'll try to remember to dig up more details.

The important thing is that R/R is less wasteful and produces more output. It doesn't blow a lot of power off as heat.

The F4i made an extra 90 watts of charging capacity - I don't know where it got that extra juice. My suggestion would be to get the R/R from one of the bikes that has the shinko ( FJR etc) and then see about retrofitting the F4i stator. Upgrade all of the wires at that time to a much heavier gauge and test again. I think you can easily get 100 watts - maybe more.

That would be a 33% increase or more.

 

Hey Turb,

Short answer, YES. ;-)

Maybe I can help some as well...

The old "SH633-12" on the F4 is an inferior design that was superceded by Honda by "upgrading" to the 31600-MV4-010. Honda sent out a service memo to replace it w/ the 31600-MV4-010. All factory Honda shops should have this info. So, you'd want to replace your old R/R anyway due to inherit design problems & ultimate failure of the SH633-12.

Too, the factory Honda 31600-MV4-010 is indeed "plug & play". It also comes w/a waranty. Its more expensive but it is genuine Honda...if that makes a difference.

More info sent via PM.

 

Here are a couple links to the R/R I was talking about:

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/i...lation-how-to/

http://www.triumphrat.net/speed-trip...r-upgrade.html