87 430 WR Lighting

I'm trying to hook up the lights on my old WR. There was a rectifier or something in the circuitry that bled off the excess amperage put out by the stator at high revs. I remember the stator would burn up the bulbs the first time the engine speed increased above 4,000rpm or so.

Who remebers what these gadgets are, where to get one, and knows where in the wiring harness it goes?

LHill

The stock SEM ignition puts out AC current on the yellow wire. Yes, it will blow the bulbs. You need a voltage regulator which does exactly as you say... bleeds anything above (roughly) 12 volts to ground so the bulbs don't blow. If you just want lights you can leave it AC and all you need is a regulator. They're cheap and any cycle store should be able to hook you up. If they don't know what you're asking for... find another store! You don't need to rectify the current to DC unless you're gonna try to hook up a battery.

Usually the regulator has two wires coming out of it. Yellow from stator to one of the regulator wires, other regulator wire goes on to the headlight switch, through the bulb, to ground.

Typically, the regulator must be cleanly mounted to unpainted frame for a ground, and they ground through the body of the regulator. You MAY get one with a ground wire. No big deal, just run the ground to the coil mounting bolt.

one more thing... if you get a voltage regulator with just one wire... no big deal. Just tap that wire in parallel to the yellow, and ground the case of the VR to the frame.

Thanks for the help. I thought there might be different types of regulators. Glad to hear any old one will do.

L Hill