giddy! 71 within my grasp

got my new O-rings in from McMaster-carr, put those in, fired it up. but only on one side. switched plug wires and symptom didn't follow. dead on left side. Pulled the plug, wet, of course. Put in a different plug, it tried to fire a couple times, then, nothing. I'm soaking a new fouled plug in seafoam overnight.
I have the mix screw out 1 turn per manual, valves set at .003 in, .006 out.
But it ran long enuf to check voltage. at 1200 rpms, 13.5 v, at 2500rpms, 14.8. I need to adjust my regulator before I fry my good battery.
 
Hey, Angus. Try an initial back-off of 1/8 turn on that regulator screw #10. Should get you closer, and will give you a feel for the adjustment/voltage concept.

That idle mix screw setting isn't exactly set in stone. Kinda depends on conditions of the engine and carbs. For example, 5/8 to 3/4 turn works for me, and a full turn is too rich for mine...
 
I did a dead cylinder today, and the right carb likes 3/4 turns out, while the left carb is at 1 turn. Runs awesome. Even with stock brass. A couple hundred miles, I will pull the plugs and make sure it isn't running lean, but it just feels right.
 
adjusted the regulator. I had my wife hold it steady at 3grand while I monkeyed with it. She had a hard time staying at 3g's, because when it would rev up, she'd back off, retarding the ignition, then when trying to rev it back up, it would jump when it advanced. Kinda funny. Got it set with the cover on 13.1v @ idle, 14.2v@ 3g.
I popped the main fuse three times trying to put the cover on.:laugh:
 
put the vr115 on a few weeks ago, and at idle, shows 14.2 vols, but revved to 3k, drops to 13.5 volts. Is that normal?
Battery is fully charged agm mottobat, rectifier tests good.
With a full battery, and at ilde, headlight off, Shouldn't the charging system do nothing until needed?
Rotor tests at 5ohms.
 
Eeeehhhh, something wrong there.

The charging system should be sending nearly full voltage/current to the rotor at idle, since it's not spinning fast enuff for it to put out much...
 
what now?!?
hope im not cooking my $120 battery.
I did the voltage checks like you prescribed, only .5 volt drop between battery to headlight bucket conn, to vr. Rotor tests good. stator tests good.
I even made a heavy duty ground wire from bolt on frame to the left of battery box to neg on battery. I know it happens rarely, but do you think I got a bum vr115?
 
im wondering if I wired it in wrong. that would suck. I didn't use a connector, soldered them straight in.......
 
fredintoon said:
Hi angus,
OK, you lost me here, what "it" and which "them" did you perhaps hard-wire in wrong?
Click to expand...
The "it" is a working 1971 voltage regulator, that I replaced with a vr-115 for reliability. The "them" Is the wires. I thought for sure I wired it in rite, there seems to be only two ways to wire the thing.
Im gonna go check right now.......
thanks, two many,
So let me get this straight...
The charging system should be throwing 14.5v ayt ilde, because the rotor isn't turning fast enuf, but at 3k rpm's, the v should drop to 13-+v ? That goes against everything ive read here.
Ive read when running at idle, the battery is being drained, when running above 3k rpm's the battery is charging?
I kinda gave this bike to my dad but he has to keep it here, still in my name. I need this bike to be reliable when we are out. And no, a geezer glide is out. The biggest bike he had was a 305 scrambler. We rode around last weekend, only a few miles, and it was like he was in his twenties again. :bike:
 
Ok, let's review.

angus67 said:
...With a full battery, and at ilde, headlight off, Shouldn't the charging system do nothing until needed?
Click to expand...

The charging system (regulator) should be sending nearly full voltage/current to the rotor at idle, since it's not spinning fast enuff for it to put out much, and even the ignition system has a significant demand.

The rotor is also referred to as an "exciter", or "energizer", since it "excites" or "energizes" the field coils (stator), which produces the 3-phase A/C output.

angus67 said:
...So let me get this straight...
The charging system should be throwing 14.5v ayt ilde, because the rotor isn't turning fast enuf, but at 3k rpm's, the v should drop to 13-+v ? That goes against everything ive read here.
Ive read when running at idle, the battery is being drained, when running above 3k rpm's the battery is charging?
Click to expand...

The charging system is trying to put out a constant voltage (14.5v, if that's where you've got it set), based on what it sees on the ign line.

At idle, the charging system can't put out much, and the regulator will send a lotta juice to the rotor to produce as much of the stator's 3-phase A/C as necessary to get that 14.5v.

When the rpm's come up, the stator can put out more power. If the ign voltage comes up to that 14.5v, then the regulator will reduce current to the rotor, so that the stator's output (thru the rectifier pack) won't exceed that 14.5v...
 
ok. thanks for setting me straight, just need verification.
fully charged agm battery 12. 73 volts.
I just checked, and have it wired correct. with switch on, I have 10.3 volts at green wire (shouldn't I have 12?), and at the ground wire, wich disappears into the wringing loom, shows .01 volts.
I think either something is up in the headlight bucket regarding the green wire, or the ground I connected to isn't good enuf, and I need to straight ground it to the frame nearby, possibly "y" ing off the battery ground.
Since the reg is fed off the common brown wire, would other components effect the readings? i.e. blinker?
 
brown wire feeding reg 11.25v switch on. I think this is why this reg is overcharging. Its getting a low reading off the battery, shoving more volts thru the rotor. correct?
I will run a hot lead from battery pos to orange\yellow, and see what it does.
Am I on to something here?
 
Lemme see here. Battery at 12.73v, and by the time it gets to the regulator it's down to 11.25v?
So, does that 12.73v at the battery drop to anything when the switch is on? That's the REAL comparison to that 11.25v.
 
hmmmm... as im testing, of course batt voltage is dropping slowly, but the equation remains the same)the other led zep song).
So, the finals. with battery at 12v, the brown wire out of the ign switch loses 3/4 volts, the regulator is the first component wired into that brown wire,(besides front brake switch wich is momentary, should not be a issue) and voltage stays same.
I found a 2 volt drop in my soldered connection on the yellow/ orange, to brown. stripped that back, retied it, and gained back 1/2 volt. So now down to 11 and 3/4.
I fired it up, and after warm up, I have 13.1 volts at idle, and 13.9 volts around 3500 rpms.
Its much better, But I think it was due to the solder joint. Im not roHs cert solderer, but have been taught as such. How do I make a good solder joint that wont lose so much power?
 

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