right here goes,mc18 r5k
bike stopped today. was all going well , slowed down to drive into work and she just died on me. no power in the electrics, no lights indicators nothing.
checked the fuses an the 10amp next to the 15amp had gone.
also noticed the battery was very warm to the touch.
then noticed burning smell coming from the PGM2.
changed the fuse and kicked the engine over, it started for a few seconds and then died, and a wisp of smoke from the pgm. turned everything off straight away.
when i kicked the engine over the oil and neutral lights glowed.
even with the new fuse i had no lights, battery seems to be dead as a dodo.
what the hells wrong? battery? reg/rec? PGM or all bloody three?
any ideas???

dunk

Smelly PGM-II's are a bad thing. Been there myself.

There are so many things it could be and so many things it could of done.

Best you start with the simple, check battery voltage, check the reg rec and gen windings.

Pop of the cover off the PGM and see if its all burn inside.
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took the cover of two little black bits right in the middle look to have got hot but nothings melted as such, what would cause the battery to get hot? and loose all it's charge?
would a dodgy reg rec send too much voltage to the pgm and battery?

dunkenb wrote:
would a dodgy reg rec send too much voltage to the pgm and battery?

Absolutely... given that regulating and rectifying output from the AC generator is it's job!
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Andy.
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cheers fo the fast response guys. as the reg/recs looking the most guilty how do i test it to see if it's mullered? especially as a new ones gonna set me back 80 notes?
got a mate looking at the pgm to test if anything fried just in case?
and gonna see if the battery will recharge?

When the bike is running it should measure 14.4 volts across the terminals and at any revs it should barely fluctuate, anything over 15 volts is big trouble, turn it off and replace the reg/rec.
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well it aint running at the mo so it's safe for now .lol.
do reg/rec off of anything else fit that would be a cheaper alternative?
can i test the reg rec off the bike ?

Just about any reg/rec from a 12v bike can be fitted, they all do the same thing; take in whatever power from the stator and chuck out something useable.
The wiring on Honda's tends to be;

Yellow - attaches to the stator feed.
Red - runs into the live feed to/from the battery.
Green - runs to the negative side of the battery.

Plus on some early stuff;

Black - runs directly to ground, i.e. a bolt into the frame.

The MC16 and MC18 both have the reg/rec sat in-line between the charge circuit (from the stator) and the loom, which in reality is how all reg/rec's work.
But on the MC21/MC28 and just about all later Honda's it looks like the yellow wires from the stator run into the loom and the reg/rec plugs in somewhere else. This really isn't the case, the power coming from the stator is death to anything except the reg/rec. Those yellow stator wires always run directly to it.

I spliced an MC18 PGM-II loom to use an MC28 reg/rec, it's just a matter of finding the right plugs and putting it togeather, there can only really be 3 connections, feed from the stator, feed to the positive side of the battery and an earth.
But you have to either butcher your loom to fit a later reg/rec or of you feel clever you could hack your old reg/rec wiring up, get hold of the plug(s) that attach your chosen reg/rec to it's bike normally and make up a little auxillary loom.

Make sure you bolt it to something good, heat is what kills them, especially those rubbish o.e. MC21 and MC28 ones and even more so if you run 55w UK h/l bulbs.
I believe Honda have since superseded them all with a bigger finned thing that doesn't like up on the o.e. bolt holes.
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So some Velcro tape is all that you need to uprgrade to a better OEM reg/rec?

If that's the case I must be on the lookout from now on.

Dexter wrote:
So some Velcro tape is all that you need to uprgrade to a better OEM reg/rec?

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fontyyy wrote:...
I believe Honda have since superseded them all with a bigger finned thing that doesn't like up on the o.e. bolt holes.

don't suppose anyone has a spare PGM2 unit that they don't need should mine decide to give up the ghost once i've replaced the reg/rec??????

Dexter wrote:

fontyyy wrote:...
I believe Honda have since superseded them all with a bigger finned thing that doesn't like up on the o.e. bolt holes.

And fitting it with velcro will kill it umpteen times quicker than using a stock one.

They get hot... they need a decent heat sink! You're hardly going to get decent thrmal transfer with some velcro are you?!
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I thought the fins on the other side of the unit took care of the heat, but you 're likely right.

On a side note, maybe that "heat paste", that is used on CPUs maybe of some help.

So drilling new mounting holes on the subframe is the only way, to use the newer type of reg/rec?

Yes, they should be bolted down flat onto a decent surface, even if they have additional cooling fins.

A thermal compound may help, but I wouldn't like to say. It's not quite the same as fine temperature changes that a CPU experiences. I have heard of people trying to fit small CPU fans to them though, but again, doubt the effectiveness to be honest.
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