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Wife is gone for a week, and the charging system on the Speedmaster takes a dump. WTF!

You know she planned it that way

But really, the entire charging system or just a dead battery?

What's up Tom? Maybe you can sort things out in time to get the most from this week!

You'd think it would have at least waited until September so you could buy another battery mid AR rally! Seriously, hope you get the charging systems sorted!

I got it figured out. This has been intermittent since I got the bike. Finally caught it in the failing mode without getting stuck in the middle of a rally. Its the regulator.
I ordered up an upgrade from here: Roadstercycle

I'll do a nice aircraft grade install, post some pics and let you know how it goes.

Well look at that, just got e-mail saying it shipped out today.

I see a mental health day in my future.

Went like this:
Noticed the headlight dimming when I rev up at a stop light. Noticed, the neutral light pulsing as well. Also, the tach would drop off intermittently and come back to life.

Got back to the house, de-cowled, cleaned, inspected, greased all the connectors (again). Checked fuse and holder for corrosion (again). All good.

Put the Fluke on it, would only get about 12.4- 12.8 on low beams. Put high beams on and Voltage jump all over from 12.2 to 13.8.
After a few minutes the voltage locked in at 13.5.

Double checked the stator resistance and AC output (again) all even.

I fell Like I nailed it now. The kit has good wire, a gage larger, and I'm doing the good connectors & running direct to the battery. Also making a new ground to the block. So if others past experience holds true this should be a tight fix.

It's the only issue I've had with the bike.

I've been waiting to catch the failure and not just shot gun parts at it.

We shall see...

OK Guys I need some intell:

Background-
While going over the electrics doing the regulator upgrade, I found the root cause of all these electric issues.

A: The 30A fuse female spade connectors are corroded and/or burnt. The fuse does not lock into these connectors. I was able to duplicate the failure mode by pushing and wiggling on the fuse. Causing Electric system Cut Outs, Tach and Voltage fluctuations. So I know I've nailed the issue.

How is pulling these connectors out of the fuse block done?

Got it. Never mind.

So what's the answer?

Looking in from the fuse side, in the center there is a small latch/pin. Using a small pic, gently push the pin to the center and gently pull the wire out from the back of the fuse block.

Luckily for me there is an extra unused spade connector. I was able to uncrimp and reuse the extra spade connector. (Why they crimped the spare is something only the British would know)

I relocated the 30A fuse up one position since the original position was a little 'crispy'.

OK, here we go-
Here are the Symptoms which manifested over the two years of intermitted dead batteries:

1: Battery dies on a long ride leaving me stranded (twice). Replaced Battery, ride continues uninterrupted 800 miles.
2: Engine backfires and dies on acceleration from light. Cranks right back up.
3: Notice Tach intermittently swings, surges, or dies for brief amounts of time (seconds)
4: Neutral light ‘pulsing’ at idle.
5: Headlight dims slightly when rpm increased from idle.
6: While cruising at highway speeds, notice intermittent rough engine vibration which would clear after a few seconds (10-15). Not excessively rough, more as if a plug was getting ‘weak’.
7: Running Voltage while troubleshooting- 12.8 to 13.4. Not stable, and very ‘reactive’ to load.


The root of the problem:
30A fuse connector, cheesy on its best day. Notice how it did not blow the link. This was causing the intermittent voltage fluctuations and drop outs. (All this resistance was on the feed side of the fuse.) It was also REALLY pissing me off!
[image][/image]
I really lucked out having a spare connector!

Other weak/resistant/easily water logged electrical connectors deleted or replaced with sealed weather resistant connectors.:
[image][/image]

New results-

Voltage at Idle with High Beams on. Notice the nice bright Neutral light: [image][/image]

Voltage at 2K RPM High Beams on:
[image][/image]

New regulator mounted. No clearance issues with the new connectors. The three Alternator outputs run directly to the regulator now. Only about 20 inches of wire.


Here's where the Alternator outputs get whacked This takes out around two feet of wiring and related voltage drops.:

Here's the new Positive and Negative wire running directly to the battery from the regulator. Again this whackes another two feet or so of wire. The 30A breaker is mounted to the Battery tray (Red rectangle in background)
[image][/image]

The 30A bus fuse, relocated up one position into the old spare position. Even removed there is no indication as to the condition the old fuse position was in. Remember, just because things 'look' good, doesn't mean they are. Sometimes you need to take things apart all the way to see what's really going on.


[image][/image]

Oh ya I'm calling this one fixed finally!
British Electrics-0
USA -1

Yep. Glad you finally got it fixed and letting us know about it. Another one to add to the old file.

Good to here its all sorted. I got identical voltage results. So where are the pics of the finished install that you promised?

I was getting anxious to to test and ride. I'll take some in the near future. There's still some more wire clean up I want to do as well.

That Fluke meter is certainly nicer than my craptastic HF...

There's no substitute for fast and accurate test equipment. One of my favorite tools.

After I rewired and installed the upgraded regulator, I was getting 13.1V at the battery, and still had some fluctuation in the reading. That's a good or even acceptable reading, but not the better then 14V I was expecting. I trust my Fluke readings and continued looking for the Loss. Took about another two hours checking connectors and voltage drops to nail that fuse block.

Interesting thing is, I pulled that fuse, cleaned and lubed the spade connectors and nothing visible was noticeable several times. I keep getting a lot of fluctuation across the back of the fuse block every time I went back to it. So I pulled the spades out and found that mess.

The Flukes fast numerical display, supplemented by the bar display swings is what made the defect even noticeable. I don't think I would have found that using a lesser meter.

Hail to the Fluke!

Also, other post from folks who have done the V/R upgrade were extremely helpful when troubleshooting, and trying to figure out what to expect as acceptable systems performance. Thankful shout out to them as well!

Just a 100 mile follow up:

Electrics are rock solid 14.3V (been riding with the Fluke attached)

The engine just purrs again while cruising. The idle speed 'loopeyness' tightened up. Holds a nice steady idle now. Haven't heard an exhaust pop on acceleration all week.

The low/unstable voltage must have been wreaking havoc with the ignition module.

All is right in the Force once again. I am- a happy camper.

That's the sort of results we like to hear.
Good work.

Im thinking the portion with pics and the link to Roadstercycle need to be in the tech vault.

Can you tell us where each of these connectors is from? I have ideas but don't want to make assumptions.

Quote:

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From left to right:

Three phases from Alternator, Cut by the Idle Speed knob

Three phase from Alternator, Cut under the seat. Plugs into above connector.

Regulator connector (Bike side)

Regulator connector (Regulator side)