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How are your eyes now, kawboy?

biltonjim wrote: How are your eyes now, kawboy?

Eyes are amazing now. Such a simple procedure. Each eye took about 15 minutes to do once in the room. The lenses can be selected to compensate for near or far sighted. I had the far sited correction and now 20/20 vision. Near sited for doing fine work is +1.5 which is not bad. If you're told your on the border for cataract surgery, don't wait just do it. It's like getting a new pair of eyes. L

I stumbled across this YouTube video which demonstrates how the shunt and series regulators function and why you should upgrade to a series regulator like the Shindingen SH847 or the SH775 from www.roadstercycle.com . It's a 4 minute video and clearly explains the advantage of running the series regulator.

That video is very interesting and informative.
I would like to see a power meter on the ' crankshaft simulation motor' though. This would show true power loss / gain with each type. My reason for raising this is with the shunt style RR we see all those unused amps being dumped, but what is voltage of those amps?? They could be very low and as POWER (watts) = V x A it may not be as much as expected.

That said, if they reduce winding failure... all is good.

When using the shunt regulator, the stator and regulator are running full tilt 100% of the output of the alternator can make. Any current not required by the load is shunted to ground. In other words, shorted to ground.
In the series regulator, the feed wires coming off of the stator are switched open and closed to control the output of the alternator. If the load required to run the bike under a condition was 12 amps, then the output of the stator is controlled at 12 amps. Less current generated = less heat created during the generation of that current. Of course, if you have everything turned on then the output would meet or try to meet that load and more heat would be generated.
The bottom line is that if all you need is 12 amps to meet the load, then all you generate is 12 amps when using the series regulator, so you're working the alternator and regulator at a reduced output to meet the demand.

Kawboy wrote: When using the shunt regulator, the stator and regulator are running full tilt 100% of the output of the alternator can make. Any current not required by the load is shunted to ground. In other words, shorted to ground.

Not sure that's 100% correct. For Regulators that are made using SCR's, the SCR's are uni-directional - like diodes- so when they're opened, i.e. in shunt mode, they're only conducting on one side of the voltage cycle (effectively an open circuit on the other side). This would reduce the power dumped by 50% (excluding other thermal losses).

As an aside, MOSFETS are also uni-directional so will only conduct in the forward direction but they are often packed in configurations that mimic rectifiers, i.e. when the 'package' is switched ON, it conducts in both directions. Not sure if that's the package configuration used in MOSFET regulators or not (but I assume it is).