Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Electrical charging issues...

There was a service notice that came out, maybe two years ago or so, correcting the gap measurement in the service manual. It went on to say, and I'm paraphrasing here, that once the correct gap was set no further ignitor issues had been observed. I don't know if I buy that but you might as well give yourself every advantage over Gill that you can.

Ah, that's interesting! Glad I went in there for that reason alone.

I went in to resolve the issue after a blown ignitor and my gap as a little over 1.1mm I'd swear the bike ran better after the reset but who could know since I also had a new ignitor?

Again, interesting... this is good stuff and I thank you Ed. And as a side note, I've hijacked my own thread, lol!!

But just to swing back to the original topic I'd like to mention the degree of difficulty (hard) in extracting the connector on the end of the stator leads. Those leads go up and behind the carbs on their way to beneath the seat. It took some doing to get them out but I wanted to keep the connector attached just to get an idea of how hard it might be to thread the new stator leads and connector back up. It won't be easy... let's put it that way.

I'm glad you found what the problem is, shame you hadn't checked into it during your winter, but its almost fixed now

That's why everyone should have some form of voltmeter installed on their cycles. Without it the only way to know if you aren't charging is when the bike quits.

Then it's too late

It would be neat to install an old Meridan style ammeter in the dash along these lines http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...true#Post443745

KisanTech has this:

ChargeGuard
However, I'd prefer an actual guage in the dash rather than this thingy hanging off the handlebar.

H.

I'd just love a "do it all Acewell" speedo / tacho with the works. You know, instead of having all these add ons like a voltmeter, oil pressure, oil temp, how about a fuel gauge etc etc. Hey, they're just toys but to have the gauges in one package in a location where you could easily see them would be IMHO safer and of course easier to monitor.

I've been onto the US Acewell distributor but their latest unit hasn't been released yet and findind out info on connection to our bikes has been hopeless. Might have to wait a bit longer that's all m

I haven't given up but I'm getting the impression this all in one technology is still in it's infancy as an after Market part.

Staffo

That's right Staffo, the phantom offering from Acewell does have a voltmeter built into it. I wanted that one too but as you say, they are not available (yet). Looks good to IMO.

Good one Keith!thinkin the oil is normal as I had the same in mine.

no I was goin with a chrome cover.Nancis batt was dead last year tho,kind of made me wounder why as the bike is fairly new and stored in a heated garage.New batt and no problems this year yet.

mine alternator wires were soldered to wiring harness!!!! no connector (one of the first America registered september 2001)


during recent bike rebuild project I added connector

Well after installing four! batterys in less than 8500 miles and taking my bike to the dealer twice to have the charging system checked out the dealer replaced my voltage regulater rectifier under warranty and pronounced my bike fixed. Two weeks later...dead battery. So I broke out my voltmeter and discovered that the bike charges great at idle and above (14.5 volts) as long as my driving lights are turned off,with them turned on voltage dropped to 12.8 volts. Well I always drive with my driving lights on for added safety so I thought I'd try this mod and see if I could get any improvement. I took detailed pictures and posted a link to see them. The end result was an increase to 13.4 volts at idle, a modest increase but hopefully enough. It does however jump right up to 14.5 anywhere above idle even with the driving lights on.This is an easy mod. for anyone with basic mechanical skill. Thanks to roadworthy for helping me figure this out. Here is the link for pictures http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/mailman3129/Triumph%20charging%20system%20upgrade/

The only thing I would add is an inline 30 amp fuse since you're jumping past the fuse block and going directly to the battery.

Hey Mailman, does that bike ever see any dirty roads? That's the cleanest I've ever seen those areas on a bike and I thought mine was clean...

Hmmm, the 30amp fuse is a good idea!

GOOD NEWS!!!! The used stator (from Freedom's bike) arrived. It's since been installed and tested and I'm getting 14.4 volts at the battery at a fast idle. Good as new!!

Greg and others were interested in resistance reading so....
- Across each 2 wire combination of the yellow wires coming from the alternator I got 0 resistance.
- From each yellow wire to ground I got infinite resistance.

WITH FAULTY STATOR
Each terminal pair gave a reading of less than 1 ohm. The same can be said about checking for continuity between each of the three terminals and ground. Less than 1 ohm on all three.

While I was in there I adjusted the pickup coil gap from .65mm to .9mm.

My bike is fixed! I feel Triumphant!!

Thanks for the update Keith. Glad you have everything running well.

Hello again from Staffo in downunder land.

I've just read this thread from go to whoa because I broke down again with electrical probs a few days ago riding up to Queensland from my joint 1400klms away.

A bit of history first. I also broke down last time I rode up 6 months ago in the Summer and luckily I had membership to a road service provider (NRMA to you Aussies) who got my dead battery recharged so I could ride to the nearest Triumph dealer 75klms away (Gilgandra to Tamworth).

The mech tested and found the regulator was stuffed and got another after market one delivered overnight and all was fine for another 6000klms or so.

Then this time my bike wouldn't start again in a place called Goodniwindi. I knew it was a dead battery as I know what it sounds like. So I went across the road to a Repco parts shop and asked them where the nearest bike shop was. It was about 2 klms away but luckily a local said he'd drive me there and bring me back with a battery (can't beat our country folk here in Aus. Salt of the earth).

Anyway, so off we went and again luckily the bike shop had the correct battery for my Speedy.

Paul, the good samaritan bloke brought me back so I gave hime a $20 for his troubles and then I got my tools out and replaced the dead battery.

I should mention the first mechanic who replaced the regulator was surprised that I hadn't cooked my battery as the regulator/rectifier was charging between 0 to 25 volts. So I suspect the battery may have been suspect anyway.

My main concern now is I'm thinking my bike is not charging as efficiently as it should, particularly after reading this thread, and will definitely be doing the mod Mailman (thanks mate, excellent explanation) put up on PhotoBucket for us.

My questions to those more experienced in electrical mods than myself, which would be just about everyone is:

1) Would having my headlight on (we are hardwired in Aus to have them on permanently), an Iphone with GPS and Music playing be enough to drain a battery without the 10 gauge wire mod???

Btw, thanks also to Keith, our resident Mountain Man for being let me say, even a little bit more experienced than myself but not too much, cos it lead to an excellent thread and Mailman's Brilliant PhotoBucket explanation in improving the charge aspects of our bikes). Even I think I could fix this one now.

One last thing. Before I left home I cleaned and put dialectric grease on as many connectors as I could find including every harness and battery fuses, so I don't think I have a connection problem.

I would appreciate anyone's comments about my question cos I don't know whether to use my iphone or not. I think it must be alright cos it does charge up now as I'm riding along, but before the new battery the charge just stayed constant on it, making me think the battery was cooked last time.

Thanks for your time reading this post.

Regards staffo

ps: I've got no idea how to use the voltmetre testers. Something I need to rectify.

Gidday Staffo,
There is a formula to work out whether your accessories are greater than what your elect system can handle. I.E The no of watts divided by the voltage equals the amperage drawn from the system. I should imagine the phone would be very small but the music system could be another story and the driving lights wattage is easy to work out. Triumph should issie a spec on what the charging system can handle-i.e alterator output in amps. Must be a tad cold riding over your way!!!

Hi Kent, I created another thread yesterday cos I wanted to try and get some answers quickly. So my results after doing the mod are here if you haven't already realised.

Regarding your comments though, yes if would be nice to have some specs on what the output of our alternator was. If the mechanic who replaced my regulator/rectifier can be believed, he said the volts being put into my battery ranged from 24 to 0, hence the need for a newie.

So if that's the case, it gets down to the wiring and the amount of resistance which is stuffing us up mostly. That's how it looks to me anyway but I'm such an amateur still, I'm merely working off what's I've read here etc.

As far as cold goes, did you know that I'm tapping away at these puter keys only a few k's away from you in Ningi. Yep. Small world matie.

As a matter of fact, last time I was up I had a beer with Benny or Islandbum (another Bribie Bloke) and Richard or Foglefar. Great blokes and I was planning on trying to see them this time to but I've been camping in the hinterland from the Sunshine Coast and haven't got round to it unfortunately.

You guys listening???

We've also got Boof from the Sunshine Coast and FrankW from Brisbane around these parts who are also members here so you're in good company mate.

As far as the cold goes. I'm from Canberra so it only gets warmer the more north I ride buddy. I wouldn't mind a plug in heat vest though. I'm too scared to even think about it at the moment cos how much would it drain hey?

Anyway, nice talking to you and apologies from me to everyone else for hijacking this thread for a few lines.

staffo