Electrical Aggrivations

[krimsonchin]

I just got my hands on this '77 Ironhead. It runs & rides great, but I can't keep a charge on the battery & the signal lights only work when the engine is not running. My dad recommended this site & after a little browsing I can see why. I am hoping someone here can help. The battery charge is my biggest concern at the moment. Here are my symptoms & what I have done at this point. It has all new wiring that was covered with heat shrink before running. I have 1 head light, 1 brake light & 2 signal lights. only switches on the handlebars that are wired are the high/low beam & signals. Everything is fed from a solid state electrical control box. To start it there is a key switch above the battery. When you flip it to acc the it energizes the park & brake light along with supplying 12V to the box. The box then feeds the headlight & signal lights. Turn the key one more position & it fires the starter. When I turn the key to acc I get about 11.7 V on a full charged battery. When I start it it stays about the same. When I rev the engine I never see the voltage go up. I suspected the generator so I followed the steps on a page I found here to polarize & then started testing the high & low voltages. With wires off the A & F, I hooked up my meter red on A, black on ground & F open. Running around 2K I get about 2V. That's good. When I ground F, I get nothing, but was expecting 40-50V. Then I took the generator off. It was dirty inside & the connectors inside had some corrosion, but nothing show up shorted. I still can't rule it out, but I'm not sure. I also have mixed feeling about the box, but I don't want to run in too many directions at once.

[Pynzo]

First step would be getting the Generator straightened out. Cycle electric makes an out of the box Generator with built in regulator that's unbeatable, or you could get some rebuild parts for the HD Generator you already have. Accel makes Field Coils, Armatures, and Brushes, and small parts come in kits.
Did you get a wiring diagram with the bike? The signal problem could simply be that the Generator is not pushing enough amps to trigger the signal flashers. Do you get headlight and taillight on with the motor running? How fresh is the battery, what size and make is it? Is there a part # on that Cycle Electric Regulator?
They make two different amp rated models to fit that Generator- you may have the one set for kick only batteries.

[Lew]

Your test indeed shows the gen to be faulty.  With more test procedures found in the service manual you'd be better able to isolate the exact problem with it.
Pynzo has some very good points to follow up on.
FYI...if you hook a battery up to the generator it can be tested.  Connect battery positive to the A terminal, battery negative to the F terminal.  Add another wire from the battery negative and momentarily touch it to the generator case.  If the generator is good it will run like a motor.  Good luck!

Lew

[krimsonchin]

Thanks for the quick responses. I did get a hand drawn diagram that I used to check everything out. I can't find any grounds, which leans me more to the generator. I can't find a part# on the regulator. When I got it, the battery was for a kick only & it wouldn't start. Bought a larger battery & it fired right up, so it could be a kick only regulator. The current battery is an Ever Start ES16B. I have been trying it at a full 12.7V charge. I do get headlight & tail lights with the motor running & kinda wondered if the signal problem could be related to the generator.

As far a the wiring goes, the headlight & tail light are wired straight to the key switch so that they come on as soon as you turn the key to the acc position & continue to work with the engine running. They will work with or without the control box. The box seems to basically give me control over high/low beam & signal lights.

I like the test for the gen by "lewy". Hadn't heard that before. I'll give it a try.

[wreck74]

try this.



[attachment removed after 60 days by system]

[krimsonchin]

Thanks for the diagram. I was talking to my dad about eliminating the box & going with something like this. Giving credit where it's due, he built the bike ground up to what it is. The box worked fine on another chopper he has, but I am skeptical. I'm going to get the generator squared away 1st & then move to the signal lights. Gotta get it working, it's calling for great weather next week & I'm dying to get back on the road.

[Pynzo]

I'm looking closely at your picture of the box and switch. A bike switch with three posts has Battery, Ignition, and Lights(which also powers ignition.) It looks like you have a universal car ignition switch instead of a bike, they are marked BAT, ACC, and IGN. I can also see by the picture that only two of the posts are being used, with power to lights (box post 12) and power to ignition(box post 13) pigtailed off of the ACC switch post(first key position). Check the ignition switch  for continuity between the posts through the key positions, BAT,ACC and IGN should have continuity through all three with key turned to second position. You should be able to seperate the ignition and lights hot leads at the switch. I had one years ago and I recall hooking the coil to the ACC terminal, and the hot lead to the Lights dimmer switch to the IGN post. Sounds backwards, but it worked right. Not running the headlight all the time will give you a better charge to your battery and could give you enough amps to run your signals.  Where's the starter button located? Try eliminating the box and rewire the whole bike using the Easyrider wire diagram that Wreck74 posted. These are very simple to do. I've been using them since I began working on bikes and never had a problem. Seriously reduces wire cluttering. Pulling the plastic shield off of crimp on terminals and using heat shrink tubing will give you a much cleaner looking harness also.

[saltcaveminer]

when you rev the engine(2000rpm) see if you have +13volts at the battery.if not rev the engine and see if the generator puts out +13volts.if it does replace the regulator.Salty