CX500 GL500 650 Global

I would like to check the 7V regulator, in case its deficiency is causing my bike just to APPEAR to overheat quickly. I couldn't find it in the Honda manual; where on the bike is it?

(This is a continuation of my thread about the cyl coolant drain bolts, which is itself a continuation of a post on the choppercharles forum. I have a bike that overheats according to the gauge, but no coolant seems to be flowing. After replacing the thermostat with no success, I removed and cleaned the water pump impeller, which appeared mostly fine to begin with; dressed the mech seal with silicone; flushed all coolant passages with a garden hose; put everything back together; and again watched the bike idle to overheat in about five minutes. After the 7V reg, I don't know what else to look for.)

It's located inside the headlight Nacelle on the back of the Speedo/Tacho.It's a PITA to get to.You can check the voltage 1st by pulling the bullet connector apart under the tank.With the ignition on connect a meter on a 20v setting to the harness side of the connectors and then to ground/frame.It should read around 7v.I think this is right.I will check one of mine tomorrow.

Also click here,

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/cxism/

Little confused here but not really. Nacelle - Thats a new word for me. Had to look it up. Is that on the 78 Shep.
If you go to the front of your bike look just under the back of the speedometer there is a little black box held onto the speedo/tach bracket with a piece of rubber.

My rubber broke so I put it in the headlight afterwards.

Sorry.Yes on the UK CXs the Speedo and the Tacho are in a crappy Plastic cowl like this,



You have to take the headlight out to get to back of the speedo etc and un-bolt the actual speedo and tacho and pull them away IIRC.

I see. Over here only the 78 has that assembly. The bottom of the post says he has a 79. and a 79-82 have the same style of duel speedo/tach. I grabbed this pic off the internet to show.



The 7volt regulator us just under where the wires come out of the speedo.

The stinkin' thing started at around 8.5V, then crept up to 10V over the next minute or so. BAH! I should have had the brains to check that first, but isn't that how these things go the first time around. Now I know how to strip the bike a little better, and I spat some silicone onto the mech seal so maybe that will stop its weeping.

I got the 7805 and green LED at Rat Shack on my lunch break, and am anxiously awaiting my chance to flee the workplace and solder my way to a working bike.

Please post back when you have made the regulator as it's one of the jobs I've not had to do yet so I'd like to see success

PS
You have had it easy.Look at the thing I have to fight to get to the ruddy Regulator

PPS

and can you post some piccys of the job in place?

I have yet to do the radio shack method as I have a spare 7 volt that works but most people tend to blow the first one so for the price it's always good to get twice as many parts as needed.

an update from the trenches:

I have now built three bad 7V regulators using the 7805 and green LED method. The first one put out 12V, but I thought it was from maybe frying it when soldering the 7805's tab to a quarter as a heatsinking measure. The second I did not solder to a piece of devalued currency, but still it put out under 6 volts; I measured the voltage across the 7805 as 3.95V. The third one came out the same as the second. Perhaps Radio Shack isn't the right place to buy 7805s... they should relabel them 7804 and toss them in the bargain bin or something.

I am sick of the bullshit, and am using an LM317T adjustable voltage regualtor for my next attempt. The 317 is pretty easy to use. It has three pins, IN OUT and ADJ, and tries to keep exactly 1.25V between OUT and ADJ. All else it needs is a voltage divider; you can wire a potentiometer across OUT and ground, with its wiper connected to ADJ, and fiddle until you have what you want. 5K or 10K linear-taper pots work best in most applications. However, for this job, I will use fixed resistors since pots don't like weather at all.

I also have a clutch lever and five O-rings, one of which is immediately headed for the end of my water pipe, due to arrive at my local Honda dealer tomorrow. If the stars align, I think I can get her in shape this week and make the Amish Rally this weekend.

What about the 2 amp versions as it may be a current issue?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=7939&&source=14&doy=11m8

I may build one just as a hobby project.