What is a “Rectifier-Regulator”?
On any modern vehicle, there are parts which consume electricity; that electricity has to come from somewhere, which is the charging circuitry. In the old days they used to used magnetos for ignition (still found on lawn tools) and before that make-or-break (too hard to explain. i’ve seen it on one of Dave LeClercq’s old old donkey engines, basically there isn’t a spark plug, there’s a switch inside the cylinder head where the spark plug would be.. when it opens it makes a spark). A Rectifier-Regulator is a standard part of the electrical charging circuitry on most recent (whatever that means) motorcycles. It differs from the usual automotive charging circuit primarily by its use of a shunt regulator, which “soaks up” excess electricity instead of preventing its formation in the first place.
