charging problem isolated and thanks

a big thank you to all who patiently answered my questions concerning which electrical bits were bad on my bike.
I may almost kind of understand how they work now.

I finally found the time to run the rest of the diagnostics and have isolated the rectifier as the culprit.

Alternator output at 2000-2500 rpm with a 1 ohm resistor was a respectable 13.8 ac volts - thanks Dave!

Should I also replace the emergency start capacitor because it 'looks' old or since I have a Boyer ignition is this unnecessary as I cannot start it with low voltage from the battery anyway?

Now I just need to order the parts as the guy here in town has them but wants a king's ransom for them.

I'm glad you found the problem and thanks for letting us all know.

roqueweiler said:

Should I also replace the emergency start capacitor because it 'looks' old or since I have a Boyer ignition is this unnecessary as I cannot start it with low voltage from the battery anyway?

Click to expand...

If the 2MC is still capable of holding a charge for a reasonable period of time (see the testing instructions in your manual) then I would't bother to replace it, although some members might consider the 2MC to be unnecessary?

Thanks for posting the follow-up.

If it is the rectifier there is no need to replace it with the expensive Lucas item. Try the Radio Shack version for 3 bucks..... http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2062584. Lousy picture in the link but it has 4 tabs on the other side for the connections.

My bike will start with just the 2MC and Boyer but you really have to give it a good kick and don't even think about hesitating in mid kick...

roqueweiler said:

Alternator output at 2000-2500 rpm with a 1 ohm resistor was a respectable 13.8 ac volts - thanks Dave!

Click to expand...

Do you mean 13.8 dc?

13.8 VAC straight from the alternator lead wires.
Anything greater than 9VAC is deemed acceptable with a 1 ohm resistance if I have read things correctly.