I think I toasted my Capacitor

[mrkil]

Pulling the Mile's XS PWK carbs that where pouring out the overflow and installing a freshly re ut pair of BS34's i shorted the Cap that I am running instead of a battery.

I think that it s rewed it up because the bike is extremely hard to start now and the cap is not fully charging anymore. The most it will store is about 9v.

Does this sound possible or should I be looking at something else. Unfortunately I can't go back to the PWK's because they where sold.

 

[xjwmx]

Unless the engine was running when you were pulling the carbs... the cap wasn't energized. That said, I think it's hard to damage a cap except by severely overvoltaging it. At that point it will bulge or explode. Connecting it reversed can damage it but it would depend on the circuit.

 

[mrkil]

Well it definitely arched when the carbs crossed the terminals. And the bike was a one or 2 kick start prior to this. Now when I check volts at the cap with the ignition off and 2 or 3 kicks it only shows 8-9volts.

I'll have to dig out the battery and hook it up to see if if fires up like before with 12v

 

[xjwmx]

I guess it's possible, but I've discharged plenty of caps bigger than that by just shorting the terminals with a screwdriver. They recommend using a resistor to do it, but it's one of those things nobody does. They're designed to self heal minor problems. I guess I would check all the charging components with a meter.