glennpm
Another Old Biker Nut!
Well so much for a nice ride today ... not! I got about 6 miles from the house and my bike just died cruising along.
I have one of Hugh's PMA and regulator kits. I have 1,000 miles on the combo now. When it quit today I noticed smoke coming from the left side cover/PMA small cover. since I had done recent work 400 miles ago to replace a bad 5th gear OD, I thought maybe I had one of the PMA wires exposed from inadvertent rubbing. This was not the case. Other than evidence of running hot as you can see from my picture, the wiring was okay. I did notice though that the black wire sleeving beyond the PMA, was pretty brittle from the heat exposure. the rest of my wiring and crimps are first grade. i have good crimping tools.
I called my friend and luckily he was home and he rescued me with his trailer. Only good part was a passerby stopped as we were loading my bike and he loved it. He was real knowledgeable about our bikes too but unfortunately since I was focused on getting home, I didn't get his name although I thanked him a couple of times. Per usual around here in NC, lots of bikes went by and not a one asked if I needed help.
Anyway back to what I found:
For reference I have a kickstart only, small alarm system type battery and a Spark capacitor. Wiring is first rate with excellent grounds.
PMA
- infinite resistance for each of the three yellow wires
- .4 ohms between all combinations of the yellow wires
(my meter with leads reads 2.8ohms at the 200 ohm setting. I got 3.2ohns for resistance for each check between the three yellows)
I connected a motorcycle battery to my circuit. The bike started right up and ran fine.
I reconnected the PMA and started the bike again monitoring the voltage output to my little battery. I got 14.4 volts at high RPM but then it started decreasing down to about 8 volts or so. I shut the bike off and tried it again but the second time with my slightly drained battery it kicked in at about 14.6 to 14.7 volts at 3500RPM or so, then lowered a bit. It did not drop back to the low voltage like before.
I'm thinking that I have a failing voltage regulator. I'm going to send this to Hugh too, but would love feedback on perhaps a better voltage regulator to buy.
Thanks
I have one of Hugh's PMA and regulator kits. I have 1,000 miles on the combo now. When it quit today I noticed smoke coming from the left side cover/PMA small cover. since I had done recent work 400 miles ago to replace a bad 5th gear OD, I thought maybe I had one of the PMA wires exposed from inadvertent rubbing. This was not the case. Other than evidence of running hot as you can see from my picture, the wiring was okay. I did notice though that the black wire sleeving beyond the PMA, was pretty brittle from the heat exposure. the rest of my wiring and crimps are first grade. i have good crimping tools.
I called my friend and luckily he was home and he rescued me with his trailer. Only good part was a passerby stopped as we were loading my bike and he loved it. He was real knowledgeable about our bikes too but unfortunately since I was focused on getting home, I didn't get his name although I thanked him a couple of times. Per usual around here in NC, lots of bikes went by and not a one asked if I needed help.
Anyway back to what I found:
For reference I have a kickstart only, small alarm system type battery and a Spark capacitor. Wiring is first rate with excellent grounds.
PMA
- infinite resistance for each of the three yellow wires
- .4 ohms between all combinations of the yellow wires
(my meter with leads reads 2.8ohms at the 200 ohm setting. I got 3.2ohns for resistance for each check between the three yellows)
I connected a motorcycle battery to my circuit. The bike started right up and ran fine.
I reconnected the PMA and started the bike again monitoring the voltage output to my little battery. I got 14.4 volts at high RPM but then it started decreasing down to about 8 volts or so. I shut the bike off and tried it again but the second time with my slightly drained battery it kicked in at about 14.6 to 14.7 volts at 3500RPM or so, then lowered a bit. It did not drop back to the low voltage like before.
I'm thinking that I have a failing voltage regulator. I'm going to send this to Hugh too, but would love feedback on perhaps a better voltage regulator to buy.
Thanks