Problems with battery Charging

Hey folks, for some reason, my battery wont charge for my 1974 norton commando. I cant seem to find the problem and was wondering if you guys had any experience with problems like these. I was told to start it and take the fuse that is connected to the battery out and when i did, it died. Maybe an alternator issue? Thanks in advance. Any help will be appreciated.

Does your red light go out when started and you rev it a bit ?

Do you have a good working "blue thingy" (condensor on a sproing) fitted in the wiring ?

Monjebricks said:

Hey folks, for some reason, my battery wont charge for my 1974 norton commando.

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Do you have a Volt / Multimeter ?

With everything connected 13.8 to 14.2 volts across the battery (or close) is what you should see with the motor doing at least 2500rpm.

If not then we can start the trouble shooting.

Cheers

Monjebricks said:

Hey folks, for some reason, my battery wont charge for my 1974 norton commando. I cant seem to find the problem and was wondering if you guys had any experience with problems like these. I was told to start it and take the fuse that is connected to the battery out and when i did, it died. Maybe an alternator issue? Thanks in advance. Any help will be appreciated.

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First, removing the fuse will cut electrical power to the bike, so removing it should kill the engine.

A bad battery will not take a charge, at least not an effective one. Back in the day it was known as a surface charge - don't know what it would be called in modern terms.

Both the other posts have relevance. A bad capacitor can cause problems (and simply unplugging it without jumping some wires will cause a problem too). And if you don't have a volt meter, I don't know how you could verify the bike's charging circuit, except through seeing the warning light go out (not conclusive proof of a good system, bit it is a good indicator).

Monjebricks said:

Hey folks, for some reason, my battery wont charge for my 1974 norton commando. I cant seem to find the problem and was wondering if you guys had any experience with problems like these. I was told to start it and take the fuse that is connected to the battery out and when i did, it died. Maybe an alternator issue? Thanks in advance. Any help will be appreciated.

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The bike shouldn't die if you disconnect the battery when it's running if there is no electrical load other than the ignition. Like someone brought up recently, it might not be component failure. The wiring, connectors, or switches are just as likely as the alternator as the cause of the problem. That goes double for old British looms and switches. Have you replaced the rec/reg with a solid state unit?

It doesn't sound like a battery problem, but check it with a multimeter without any load without the engine running, then check it with out the engine running and the ignition switched on, then hit the brakes and watch the meter. If the voltage tanks then the battery is taking a 'surface charge'. How old is it?

I will sure check with the voltmeter. I also have another problem. When the bike is turned on the first switch the headlight starts to glow. Maybe that's why when I take the fuse out it turns off? Its not the high beem just the regular light. However, i don't know why the headlight is turned on on the first position.

First position on mine is pilot light. Yours may be re-wired, lots of people got rid of the pilot in favor of a sealed beam. Just don't try to start it with the lights on. The fuse should disconnect all electrical items or it's not fused correctly and use a regular 20A fuse unless you can find one of the original 17A ones.

Dave
69S