Zener failing?

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Found my headlight and pilot bulbs burned out at the same time. Noticed the blinkers cycle very fast at 4000 RPM. Put a volt meter on the battery and reved it up: a little over 13v up to 4000 RPM ( not excessive?). Should I just replace the zener? Has a newish gel battery- Scorpion brand
 
The 13 volt reading sounds correct. Not likely needing a zener. Jim
 
Is the Zener wiring OK?
The symptoms you describe would lead me to the same conclusion, but perhaps it's an intermittent open circuit.
 
B+Bogus said:
... perhaps it's an intermittent open circuit.
+1, and that would be on the wire leading down to the zener. The schematic shows this line originating off the rectifier as a "Medium-blue", but I'm not next to my '74 to verify that. It's prone to corrosion in its current location on the Zee plate, and, if it can't crowbar the excess current to earth, it's going to spike the system high.
 
Nater_Potater said:
The schematic shows this line originating off the rectifier as a "Medium-blue", but I'm not next to my '74 to verify that.

The Zener (and battery negative) wire is coded "NU" for '71-on models, which is Brown/Blue. Pre '71, it's "NW" = Brown/White.
 
L.A.B. said:
Nater_Potater said:
The schematic shows this line originating off the rectifier as a "Medium-blue", but I'm not next to my '74 to verify that.

The Zener (and battery negative) wire is coded "NU" for '71-on models, which is Brown/Blue. Pre '71, it's "NW" = Brown/White.
Hah! You beat me to it! I was just coming back to correct my mistake.
So I can't read, either...
 
It's also worth checking that there's no corrosion where the zenner connects to earth in the Z plate.
 
My own zener failed recently and I knew right away from a LED voltage monitor, flashed green for overvoltage so I was able to fix it before blowing bulbs, cooking the battery, etc...also a friend w/ a Triumph and the same monitor was able to limp home as he knew immediately when the charging system had failed...anyway definitely a good addition for old Lucas equipped bikes

Zener failing?


http://youtu.be/PhVAacA3kiw


(tried to embed the video but no luck w/ that, looks like that feature is broken, made it work in the past))
 
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