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 What is a rectifier?
A rectifier is used on older and smaller outboard motors with low amp output stators. The rectifier's job is to convert the AC current of the flywheel/stator generation to DC output (which only flows one direction) for the battery charging requirement. The rectifier also converts the tach output of the stator so that a tachometer can recieve the correct pulse type and display rpm of the motor correctly. There are two very important things to remember when dealing with rectifiers. Firstly, never ever connect the battery cables backwards, as it will for certain pop the rectifier every time with even the slightest touch of battery cables to the battery. Secondly, never use a maintenance free battery with an outboard boat motor equipped with only a rectifier. Maintenance free batteries can cause excessive voltage draws that will burn out a rectifier. One other note is that since the rectifier sends the signal to the tach, a bad rectifier is usually the cause of a tach not working correctly. In some instances, you can swap the yellow wires with each other and the tach will start working again.
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