Is this really a regulator AND a rectifier?

[daves66nova]

Seems to me it's pretty small to be both. Also, is this very easy to make? Kinda high price for such a small item. Thanks

https://www.partsgiant.com/p325741-electrosport-regulator-rectifier

 

[dnewton3]

IMO, that is not a rectifier. It looks to me like a rudimentary load management device to keep the voltage from going too high (it regulates; it does not rectify). However, I'm not an electrical engineer. Other may have better insight than I do.

Way back in the day, some systems actually used the battery to absorb the voltage fluctuations. An example would be the old Honda motorcycle like the CT-70 IIRC.

 

[DCDG]

whats this devices purpose to shed heat of a circuit or some sort of power limiter? Looks like its just part of circuit like a heat sink is missing unless it goes (Parallel) with the battery

 

[JohnnyG]

I don't see the company selling an item like that, with warranty, if it wasn't as claimed.
What does the original look like?

 

[fsdork]

I don't see any reason to doubt that it performs both functions. Disassembly would tell us definitively.

A bit of googling suggests this is a common method of packaging rectification (full bridge rectifier) followed by voltage regulation using a thyristor used to shunt excess voltage to ground. It makes sense.

Edit: Given the two-wire setup, the suggestion in subsequent posts that this is a Zener diode makes a lot more sense than the rectifier/thyristor setup. Those have more wires, and it seems they're more commonly potted within a more substantial heat sink.

 

[CleanSump]

Diodes and resistors don't have to be large and packaged in ceramics or big plastic blocks. The old fashioned ones used a wire coil resistor mounted on a ceramic base. Not needed with light draw on todays better materials.

 

[Jim_Truett]

Seems to me it's pretty small to be both. Also, is this very easy to make? Kinda high price for such a small item. Thanks

https://www.partsgiant.com/p325741-electrosport-regulator-rectifier

I would really need to see a schematic diagram to prevent misleading you, but a zener diode used on the AC power coming from the stator would in fact provide half-wave rectification as well as clamp the peak voltage in the system. I assume that is all this is, but I have never disassembled one to be sure. If that is the case, it could legitimately be called a regulator and rectifier and only have two wires.

 

[zzyzzx]

My guess is that it's just a diode.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I would really need to see a schematic diagram to prevent misleading you, but a zener diode used on the AC power coming from the stator would in fact provide half-wave rectification as well as clamp the peak voltage in the system. I assume that is all this is, but I have never disasembled one to be sure. If that is the case, it could legitimately be called a regulator and rectifier and only have two wires.

My guess is that it's just a diode.

I am agreeing with these two. Its likely just a half wave rectifier / diode.

What does this do - power a headlight?

 

[Lubener]

My guess is that it's just a diode.

Which is the basic name for rectifier.

 

[daves66nova]

I am agreeing with these two. Its likely just a half wave rectifier / diode.

What does this do - power a headlight?

no, this is for a motorcycle's charging system ; for the alternator voltage regulation

 

[UNC031]

Yamaha's sport bikes in the 90's and 00's had issues with these regulators. Both my sons R1 and 600 had them go bad while out riding and ended up stranded. They were not cheap to replace.

 

[daves66nova]

Company just wrote back to me, it's just a regulator. Description should not have rectifier in it, according to them.

 

[ironman_gq]

You want a mosfet regulator/rectifier, if you want to go cheap and have an ATV salvage yard nearby or ebay (lots of counterfeit so find a used one) and grab either an FH020AA or SH775 or SH875 from a polaris or can am ATV or a seadoo jetski. They work with 2 or 3 phase stators and are a popular retrofit for motorcyles and their poor charging systems, they also build less heat in the stators. The three I mentioned are all functionally and physically very similar, Shindengen makes many styles though. Used you can find them for $30-45 and around $130-300 new on eBay but you need to watch out for the counterfeits.