Yet Another Charging Issue

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My 850 E-Bay chopper is not keeping the battery charged, especially with the headlght on--it's been converted to negative ground with a standard alternator and what looks like a Radio Shack generic rectifier. When it's running the DC voltage dances around with ghost readings all over the place. The AC leads ghost around as well but seem to be providing enough voltage and amperage to be adequate, rising with RPM.

With the battery connected to the rectifier and the ignition off I notice that one of the AC input terminals is bleeding 2 volts DC or so while the other AC terminal shows about a millivolt. That seems to indicate a breakdown in the rectifier's polarity--I'd appreciate your suggestions--many thanks


Tim Kraakevik
kraakevik@voyager.net
 
Symptoms imply a new rect/reg. Broken leads inside insulation must always be suspected as well as flakely fuse or terminals. Norton choppers are on my mind so a picture would please me to contemplate the flavor.
 
Has anyone tried the Motorola MDA-3501 rectifier mentioned in the Norton Tech Digest--or used a stock Norton rectifier in a negative-ground charging system?


Tim Krakevik
kraakevik@voyager.net
 
Tim,

If by "stock Norton rectifier" you meant the original Zeners, they will not respond kindly to reverse polarization, as their cases are firmly connected to the frame. In an earlier post, a forum member remarked that later Triumphs used Zeners on their negative-ground bikes. But why bother, since the usual suspects (Podtronics, SPARX, etc) offer regulator/rectifier boxes with floating outputs for 50 bucks for single phase, a bit more for 3-phase. The boxes fit neatly at the front of the battery caddy.

Rick
 
One superfluous "custom" AC lead connector had parted above the chaincase, and in the course of the investigation I apparently blew a fuse between the rectifier and the battery.

The bike was running around with lights for a couple of hours on one AC feed and battery power alone. I noticed that the Tri-Spark would run at nine volts--and got me home with the lights off.

Many thanks for all the suggestions on this forum and elsewhere


Tim Kraakevik
kraakevik@voyager.net
 
Great you worked it out , BTW headlights suck power real good on these old machines, haven't turned mine on but once this season (late geting home), run a 9 v pilot constantly ,not even a switch for on /off. Halogen pilot power. Power to the horn. Daytime only.
 
My mega-mile Combat has a 21-watt halogen pilot light to satisfy the local gendarmarie--this setup is for the E-Bay chopper I may very well keep--the RH10 engine has unbelievable grunt


Tim Kraakevik
kraakevik@voyager.net
 
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