Regulator / Rectifier leads

I just bought a 2 in 1 unit and I'm curious about the leads on it. I have some suspicions based on wiring diagrams, but can anyone tell me for sure?

Obviously the yellow wires are for the stator, the black is the ground, and both the Brown and Red/White wires are some kind of hot. What's the difference?

My new theory is that the brown wire is AC voltage, the white/red wire is rectified DC voltage.

Looks like the brown wire connects mostly to lights, which don't care if it's AC or DC whereas the white/red connects to the coils, started and battery where DC voltage is the only option.

Weird.

Off the top of my head white is hot (to battery) and brown is for all switched connections. Wait till Lou chimes in he'll be able to tell you for sure.

Dutch is right. The red/white is DC-output and actually goes straight to the battery (via the battery connection on the starter relay) on most bikes. Some later ones go through a fuse before going to the battery.

The brown wire is the voltage-sense wire. It connects to the switched side of the ignition switch. There's usually other brown wires to tap into. This wire gets battery voltage when the ignition key is on. The regulator senses the battery voltage through this wire. Without the brown wire hooked up properly, you can melt the electrical system, so be careful.

Can you explain to me a little theory on the function of this voltage-sense wire?

I've read a little, and from what I gather it checks out how much voltage is at a spot in your circuitry and adjusts it's output to push that monitored circuitry closer to the desired voltage.


I'm rewiring the ride, and I'd really like to wrap my head around the needs of everything.

I'm thinking that if I run the red/white direct to battery as well as fused and through the key, connect the brown in after the key, and then to fused outs to drive the acc, ignition and light circuits, that that's a pretty sound approach?

Cardin wrote:

Can you explain to me a little theory on the function of this voltage-sense wire?

I've read a little, and from what I gather it checks out how much voltage is at a spot in your circuitry and adjusts it's output to push that monitored circuitry closer to the desired voltage.


I'm rewiring the ride, and I'd really like to wrap my head around the needs of everything.

I'm thinking that if I run the red/white direct to battery as well as fused and through the key, connect the brown in after the key, and then to fused outs to drive the acc, ignition and light circuits, that that's a pretty sound approach?

That looks good to me.