Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods Charging System Voltage Gains

Does anyone have any information/helpful advice/benchmarks for rewiring the charging system, i.e. generator, R/R and battery? I'm wondering what can be done to improve the electrical system to put more volts to the charging system at lower RPMs.

My impetus for this is my Nology coils, wires and silver core plugs. I moved my battery to under the seat so I have some space options.

Sandmann, you out there? I seem to recall you saying something about replacing the brushes in the generator...

Here's a nice thread on that very subject:
http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...part=1&vc=1

I am most of the way through cleaning up the otherwise horrible, horrible wiring on the charging side of things, and I'm very pleased with the result in both performance and aesthetics.

In a nutshell:
I connected the generator directly to the R/R and then the R/R directly to the fuse panel (bypassing several quick-connectors and extraneous lengths of wire).

The result is much less wiring mess and better voltage from the generator, especially at low engine RPMs – which means more potential for low-end spark.

The detail:
• Directly connect the three yellow wires from the generator to the three respective black wires on the R/R.
• Directly connect the brown wire from the fuse box to the respective black wire on the R/R.
• Directly connect the ground wire to the respective black wire on the R/R.

Notes:
• The R/R is located under the pivot point of the swingarm: It is attached via two 8mm bolts and has five wires.
• To release the blade connectors in the quick-connectors, insert a pin to the rear of the blade connector to depress the retaining clip.
• I recommend always using marine/exterior-grade heat shrink tubing for all connections.

Considerations:
• I removed the wiring for the carb heating business.
• I highly recommend the color wiring diagram from the service manual.
• I have Nology coils, wires and silver-core plugs (K&N pods).

I did not take exact voltage readings prior to this mod, but my voltmeter consistently reads a full green LED more voltage at all engine RPMs, and my butt tells me I have more power at all speeds and revs.

I will post pictures one I’ve finished tidying up all the wiring.

"I will post pictures one I’ve finished tidying up all the wiring."

Please do, I'd love to see it.

How has this mod been holding up? Any adverse effects?

what is the R/R?

I think that's the regulator/rectifier

So...to the guys that did this mod....
Did you also run a new ground to the Reg from the battery as well?
In my knowledge of electronics the batt wire and ground wire shoud be the same size for better power (amperage, which is what we need more of for accessories). (I was a car audio installer for many years...yes, a professional one). Power flows from Neg to Pos so if the ground isnt the same size it will impeded the amount of power (amperage) that will actually flow through the system.

In this image of the wiring for the Ameri/Speedy...
looking at the power flow from the battery it flows from ground then through the battery and via a connector (weak point) to the rest of the system (multiple grounds and to the reg via pin #6, another weak point). After passing through the reg power flows from the reg via pin #4 (ANOTHER weak point) to the fuse box to the rest of the fuses.
So...it makes sense to me that if your going to do this mod it needs to be done on both ends which should produce better results.

Your thoughts?

Z man, I read what you posted and all I get is
Then I look at the wiring schematics and all I get is
I'm not much with electricity, more just like
I added no extra ground wire.
All I know is that before the mod, no chargie, after the mod, good chargie!

just remember, our charging system max is 22 amps. anything over and and the r/r dumps to ground. this was built into the system from the factory to protect our electrical system......angelis

I recommend leaving the TPS untouched. There are 5 engine maps that the TPS uses to advance the timing. Without the TPS, the only engine map used is WOT. Which is fine when you're running the balls off of your bike...but I've found the TPS makes the engine less twitchy at the lower throttle positions.

As far as the R/R: I cut out all quick connects and used dedicated 8 ga. marine grade pos & neg leads from the battery. While I did not solder the connections, I used exterior grade shrink tube - twice. Between the R/R and the generator, I cut out the quick connect, shortened the leads on the R/R side (they are a lighter gauge) and shortened the run as much as I could (ran the wires under the motor instead of over, back, down, etc.).

The only other possible upgrade is to dig into the generator and see about better brushes - and to run heavier wires from inside the generator back to the R/R.

My only regret is that I didn't take a definitive reading @ 1000 rpms before the mod...so I can't really attest to the actual improvement.

It is on my to-do list this winter to dig into the alternator...I don't know what it is about this bike, but I sure do love taking it apart!