Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge LUCAS ELECTRICS.......

Not sure if this was ever posted but I couldn't stop laughing when I read it. Naturally it came from the Victory riders in my group who really don't have any appreciation for Lucas Electrics.

Oh, and I had the first Lucas Kill Switch ever on a motorcycle.... It was on my 1969 BSA and it was called the horn. Killed the engine every time I used it!

Enjoy.

ELECTRICAL THEORY BY JOSEPH LUCAS
Positive ground depends on proper circuit functioning, which is the transmission of negative ions by retention of visible spectral manifestation know as "smoke".
Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work. We know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of an electrical circuit, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing.

For example, if one places a copper bar across the terminals of a battery, prodigious quantities of smoke are liberated and the battery shortly ceases to function. In addition, if one observes smoke escaping from an electrical component such as a Lucas voltage regulator, it will also be observed that the component no longer functions. The logic is elementary and inescapable!

The function of the wiring harness is to conduct the smoke from one device to another. When the wiring springs a leak and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works afterward.

Starter motors were considered unsuitable for British motorcycles for some time largely because they consumed large quantities of smoke, requiring very unsightly large wires.

It has been reported that Lucas electrical components are possibly more prone to electrical leakage than their Bosch, Japanese or American counterparts. Experts point out that this is because Lucas is British, and all things British leak. British engines leak oil, British shock absorbers, hydraulic forks and disk brake systems leak fluid, British tires leak air and British Intelligence leaks national defense secrets.

Therefore, it follows that British electrical systems must leak smoke. Once again, the logic is clear and inescapable.

In conclusion, the basic concept of transmission of electrical energy in the form of smoke provides a logical explanation of the mysteries of electrical components especially British units manufactured by Joseph Lucas, Ltd.

And remember: “A gentleman does not motor about after dark.”

Joseph Lucas “The Prince of Darkness”
1842-1903

A few Lucas quips:

The Lucas motto: “Get home before dark.”

Lucas is the patent holder for the short circuit.

Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.

Lucas - Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.

The three-position Lucas switch--DIM, FLICKER and OFF. The other three
switch settings--SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE.

The Original Anti-Theft Device - Lucas Electrics.

If Lucas made guns, wars would not fire.

Back in the ‘70's, Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which did not suck.

Q: Why do the British drink warm beer? A: Because Lucas makes their refrigerators.

This has been referred to as the smoke theory when the smoke comes out its finished, cooked or done for.

One more for you:

Why did the British never become a big factor in computer development?

Because they couldn't figure out a way to make a computer leak oil.

Funny thing is I have 60 year old Lucas components that still work fine. Once a good harness is put in I have no problems out of the ordinary. I love the unit charging systems, nothing wears against anything, no brushes or bearings or anything. Just a big magnet on the crank and a fixed coil around it. They even will start the bike when the battery is stone dead. When the ignition failed at worst you had to spend $50 on a coil but normally it was an $8 fix for points, not $600 for a freaking CDI! I MISS POINTS! Didn't need a starter because if you could tune your bike properly it only took 1 kick to start them. Could fix most things along the road. The downfall of those old bikes was the wiring harness, that was crap. I like the pos. grnd., it helps inhibit corrosion.

Of course the positive ground inhibits corrosion. If the bike don't start it stays in the shed away from the rain. Lol j/k.
In truth I have no clue what the difference between a positive ground and a negative ground and why one is better. Is it that instead of running the negative terminal to the frame you do so with the positive and then run all the pieces of the negative instead?. I guess that would work as the electrons just need a path not necessarily one way or the other?

Yes, the harness is negative and the positive bolts to ground, it used to be much more common than it is today but I don't know why it isn't anymore. My Studebaker is also Positive ground.

so is my Dodge, and I have no intention of changing it

+1 to everything Ian said. Natch.

Another issue they had was at the connectors. They just slipped the wire through the bullet end and folded it over. No solder or crimp.

but how does a positive ground prohibit corrosion. what are the advantages/disadvantages?

Both work but the oxidation is inhibited from the way electrons are transferred. I was reading some on the subject and it seems that on a positive ground system the center sparkplug electrode erodes again because of the way electrons are transferred. I have never noticed any real difference but that's what they say.

Actually Ian, yesterday after I read what you wrote about this "Positive Earth(ground) inhibiting corrosion" thing, I started a little online research for a couple of hours. And, from what I could discover from maybe a dozen different sources or more was that there's not only a "school of thought" out there which believes as you do, but there were probably also an equal number of people who believe the opposite as you do and believe that one of the reasons for a universal switch to a Negative Ground system was in fact their belief that IT inhibited corrosion better.

And THEN there were probably even more sources who felt that it didn't matter either way, and that there was never any "proof" to back up either of these claims, AND that the ONLY reason for this overall switch to the Negative ground system was SOLELY to make it the universal and standard system throughout the world.

In other words, it just "won out"...sort of like how years ago the Sony Beta recording system "lost out" to the VCR system as "the standard".

Beta lost!? When did that happen?!

Actually from what I have read beta was actually a better system. You could have used HD DVD (Toshiba) vs. Blue Ray (Sony) for the younger crowd here.

course the real reason that blue ray won was they bribed walmart

Too often Beta would not hold an entire movie and would not record six hours of TV. Consumers simply bought VHS and passed over Beta. That is why I bought a giant top loading RCA VHS back in 1980.

I borrowed one of those giant RCA VCRs from a film company in the early 80s and had a movie night party. I had got my hands on a pre-release copy of a NZ movie "Goodbye Pork Pie". The idea of watching a movie at home drew a big crowd. They didn't even show movies on TV back then. Today it would big a big yawn.

I then borrowed a camera as well and made some homemade porn, but that's a bit OT...