Electrical help needed in the Outback

[Precis]

Forum Member BigAdam just called me - he's off on a 4000km odyssey into the Outback and is in the Flinders Ranges, about 430km from Adelaide.
Which is to say that he's a long way out of town - where he is now, the Buggrall grows a metre high and you can see Thursday coming on Tuesday...
And BigAdam has an electrical problem and having quickly exhausted my meagre electrical knowledge, he's asked me to pose a question for the Forum's Brains Trust...
Essentially the bike's not charging enough to fire up without a jump-start (I haven't yet told him of the dangers of that); we've discussed the need for personal hygiene on electrical connections and earths, but we're suspecting that his almost-new Rec-reg is misbehaving.
It was replaced by the PO shortly before he bought the bike, but probably just with another problematic OEM item instead of an upgraded one; before he left, BigAdam checked the brown connectors and they were fine (this seems to be true of very early, Australia-delivered bikes - both of the Capos in this household have neatly soldered wires in the brown connectors), but he's only getting about 12.4 volts to the battery at idle.
He says the Rec-reg unit is getting as hot as it normally does and when we spoke on the phone a moment ago, I suggested that he checks he's getting exactly the same current on each of the three yellow wires on each side of the brown connectors, to eliminate those from the equation.
However, he's leaning towards a dying Rec-reg and there's a local car mechanic who has access to "some" motorcycle parts at about 24 hours notice (regular post only gets delivered to this area once or twice a week).
So BigAdam's specific question is: can any modern Rec-reg work, assuming it can be made to fit, or are there different "types" that will and will not work on our bikes?

Update:
The mechanic reckons the battery is dead and they're going to get a new one, but I think he'd like to know about the suitability of what can be found, probably in a wreckers yard where there won't be a lot of choice.
Hoping someone can cast some light...
TIA

[Capoandrew]

I'm not surprized his battery may be the culprit. It get's pretty cold out there in the morning.

Hope Adam has a thick wallet, cause everything seems to cost double or triple up that way.

Pass on my regards when you speak with him next.

[catfish]

...,
but he's only getting about 12.4 volts to the battery at idle.
...

The battery may or may not be dead from what I've read, but is not being charged on the bike. The 12.4V at idle & HOT Reg. tells me the regulator is trying to work, but several high-resistance connections probably exist from alternator to rect/reg. to battery. The wires in all of those connector pins (Brown, white, & ground wires too) should be checked. If the wires in the crimps look darker than normal copper color, then soldered each with a rosin-core solder. Also loosen grounds at engine, clean surfaces and re-tighten bolts.

If these do not work, then try direct wires from reg. + & - wires to battery terminals to test charging voltage. If this fixes it (gets him 13.4-13.8Vdc at the battery at idle), replace each with 2 wires paralleled to carry the full reg. current & limp home. He may have a ground failure inside the wiring harness, like mine did.

If riding during the day, un-plug one headlight to reduce load & improve charging voltage.

Tell him Good luck!

Catfish ...

[Stanleybobly]

any rectifier with a 3 phase input and 2 output will work

[Precis]

Thanks gents; I expect BigAdam to call me (from a payphone - no mobile coverage out there!) either tonight or tomorrow morning and I'll pass on this info; He works as a diesel mechanic, so he has some idea of what he's doing, but the specifics are sometimes not clear - plus English is his third or fourth language, which doesn't help!
Catfish, Aussie-spec bikes have the option to turn the headlight off at the handlebar, so I'll recommend that to him too - thanx!

[falcojake]

Forum Member BigAdam just called me - he's off on a 4000km odyssey into the Outback and is in the Flinders Ranges, about 430km from Adelaide.
Which is to say that he's a long way out of town - where he is now, the Buggrall grows a metre high and you can see Thursday coming on Tuesday...
And BigAdam has an electrical problem and having quickly exhausted my meagre electrical knowledge, he's asked me to pose a question for the Forum's Brains Trust...
Essentially the bike's not charging enough to fire up without a jump-start (I haven't yet told him of the dangers of that); we've discussed the need for personal hygiene on electrical connections and earths, but we're suspecting that his almost-new Rec-reg is misbehaving.
It was replaced by the PO shortly before he bought the bike, but probably just with another problematic OEM item instead of an upgraded one; before he left, BigAdam checked the brown connectors and they were fine (this seems to be true of very early, Australia-delivered bikes - both of the Capos in this household have neatly soldered wires in the brown connectors), but he's only getting about 12.4 volts to the battery at idle.
He says the Rec-reg unit is getting as hot as it normally does and when we spoke on the phone a moment ago, I suggested that he checks he's getting exactly the same current on each of the three yellow wires on each side of the brown connectors, to eliminate those from the equation.
However, he's leaning towards a dying Rec-reg and there's a local car mechanic who has access to "some" motorcycle parts at about 24 hours notice (regular post only gets delivered to this area once or twice a week).
So BigAdam's specific question is: can any modern Rec-reg work, assuming it can be made to fit, or are there different "types" that will and will not work on our bikes?

Update:
The mechanic reckons the battery is dead and they're going to get a new one, but I think he'd like to know about the suitability of what can be found, probably in a wreckers yard where there won't be a lot of choice.
Hoping someone can cast some light...
TIA

my capo has a CBR900 rectirfier fitted by a previous owner, its a shunt type, runs quite cool, i bought a spare as a plug and play spare for 30GBP. its a possibility. as an easy to obtain part.

i improved my charging voltage by running a 4sqmm black wire from the -ve battery to the -ve rectifier connection. and a 2.5 sqmm red from the rectifier +ve terminal to the protected side of the 30 amp fuse. this forms a ring circuit on the +ve side so you have more than 2x the csa.

this improved the voltage at the battery at idle from 13.4 to 14v.

[TomPuch]

Do check the AC connector from alternator to wire harness. It is situated between the rear cilinder and the right frame tube, if the plastic is molten bingo!

[Satellitebikema]

Forum Member BigAdam just called me - he's off on a 4000km odyssey into the Outback and is in the Flinders Ranges, about 430km from Adelaide.

TIA

So..where is he,the Flinders covers a few hundred/thousand square miles...?

[Precis]

No idea mate - a caravan park with a pay-phone is all he told me! But I got a txt today to say that with a new battery, he was getting 13.6v charging, the bike started perfectly and he seemed as happy as Larry.
I'm not convinced he's solved the problem entirely, but as CapoAndrew said, a few sub-zero nights could just push a tired battery over the edge.
Wonder if it works for mothers-in-law?

[Capoandrew]

He's probably in Wilpena Pound. Could be worse places to get stuck.

I can't think of many mechanics up that way apart from Hawker, Wilpena, or Blinman. The Pound has the decent caravan park.
God help him if Adam was in Hawker. (shit hole)

[Satellitebikema]

On thinking about it,I bet its the battery,rough roads up there have shorted out one of the cells(its already happened to me) so a new battery will probably fix it.

Its just a bit of bad luck that I've decided to recable all my charge wires so I'm unable to help otherwise I would have gone straight up there (know the area pretty well)

[Precis]

I will ask him where he is...

[Leanit]

Look, if you're getting 12.4 volts at idle from your charging system, you can't blame the battery. (It might be worse than new from having been scavenged to run the bike from its reserve, rather than the duff charging circuit.) But the battery isn't the issue reported here. That's like blaming the bloodstain on your shirt for why you're losing consciousness. There's something else.

The Reg/Rec is reported to be hot. Short of more data, that at least implies that charging current is getting that far.

My bet: The white connector from the reg/rec has failed. Current is getting to the regulator, but not to the battery. Power isn't getting out to the battery, and the excess is making the regulator hot.

Check the white connector carefully. Pull it loose and turn it over. Mine looked good on one side but burned on the other.

Worse case (if the battery isn't too sad, and the regulator hasn't baked itself) is that you can splice around the failed connector and be on your way.

[Precis]

Thanks - I have no way of contacting BigAdam to pass this on, as I gather with his new bettery and a pulsating 13.6v, he's pushed on with his trip and is now well outside mobile coverage. He's in one of the most ancient mountain ranges on the planet and it's very, very remote - you have to plot a route that takes in a roadhouse occasionally for fuel and a prudent person will carry 5 litres of water, even in winter (as it is now), because if you suffer any kind of mishap, you could go several days without seeing another soul.
Very early on I told him to inspect ALL electrical connectors - mostly the earths, but everything "connected" with the charging circuit. While waiting for his new battery, I expect he had nothing else to do, so I'm sure he's done that.
I never heard of the white connector FROM the Rec-reg failing before - has anyone else reported this?

[Leanit]

Sorry, I missed the detail that he was back to 13.6. That doesn't really make sense, but it's good news. He may have an intermittent issue with a connection that could worsen. Voltage at idle doesn't have anything to do with the battery. You could put a badger or a ripe mellon where the battery is, but you're still going to be measuring the charging output once the bike is running. Good luck out there, Big Adam!