the two relays....

[xj4m3]

under the rear fender, what do they do and how important are they? one looks like it has been through a lawnmower and it hums while the key is on. Also i noticed that the black wire on my voltage regulator gets pretty warm while running what would cause this and do the voltage regulators ever have any problems?

 

[jasonp]

under the rear fender, what do they do and how important are they? one looks like it has been through a lawnmower and it hums while the key is on. Also i noticed that the black wire on my voltage regulator gets pretty warm while running what would cause this and do the voltage regulators ever have any problems?

Voltage regulator (or rectifier) takes ac voltage from the stator charging coils and basically makes it DC voltage/current. This has diodes inside and the diodes act as one way check valves, only allowing postive side of the ac wave form to pass why'll the other negitive side of the wave form to be blocked. Another job is to regulate voltage so you don't over charge the battery. So an easy way to tell if this is working or not is to see how much voltage your producing at the battery when the machine is running. You can check before the regulator to see if you have proper ac voltage and your charging side of the stator coil is working. When you run the machine with out a battery that is when its the hardest and chance of causing damage to the regulator.