Thanks John. 2-stroke is still common here. I have just bought for the princely sum of £30 a spare brand-new 700 watt modern generator, via ebay.

Yamaha told one of their agents, who told me, that the unit has not got a voltage regulator, only a rectifier pack. I have a replacement rectifier pack (via the Yamaha agent) - but so far I have not yet found where it is fitted. I expected it to be inside the control box, but it isn't. I have not yet taken the electrical bits of the generator itself off the engine since I was concerned about lining the bearings up again on reassembly. I've had that problem when stripping and rebuilding motor vehicle dynamos and alternators before now, and once succeeded in ripping the commutator of an electric lawnmower to pieces by not lining new brushes up correctly. Sounds like maybe I should put a load on before bitching further!

The repair place told me that the problem HAD to be the voltage regulator, and that they hadn't touched it.

Until a few months ago hunting was not noticeable. When the output voltage is roughly in the right region, the hunting causes the vlotage to vary fromabout 200 volts to about 260 volts. Here the normal is 240.

I also am familiar with the running speed, and it came back from the repair place running a LOT faster then when it went in.

It just seems so wasteful to throw the thing away!