Monitoring Voltage Through Pamco While Riding

[JE4570]

Sorry for such a long delay from my last thread. I wasn’t able to ride much lately as I have been busy and the weather has been bad and I had to do some carb work to get my bike running..... but I finally got to ride around and test my volt meter while riding.

My volt meter is hooked up to the power wire that powers the pamco and grounded where the old coil ( two coil with points setup) used to be.

While riding, My bike at low speeds and lower rpms was around 13.5 V but after riding at higher speeds and higher rpms, the volt meter would get to about 14.0 V. My voltmeter never read more than 14.1 V.

Being that this what my pamco unit is receiving, how many Volts should be a red flag where I may want to stop and check my charging system/battery? Is 14.1 too high at the pamco?

 

[peterg]

According to the installation instructions the operating range is 6 to 18 volts so you should be ok with your range.

 

[5twins]

Low 14's voltage output from your charging system should be good. It's normal for it to be lower at lower RPMs then max out at about 3K RPMs and above. The output on these seems to vary a little from bike to bike, probably based on the condition of the components being used, and which components are being used. My '78 with a VR115 regulator usually shows about 14.2 volts on my voltmeter right after electric starting, but that can go as high as the mid 14's after electric starting on a cold day. Then, after riding 5 to 10 miles, the charge rate will drop down a few tenths to around 14 or even sometimes the high 13's. I'm assuming this is because the battery's charge has been replenished. My '83 on the other hand only maxes out at about 14. This is with all stock components. I'm not sure why the output is lower but one guess is because of all the extra light bulbs it's powering. It has 2 tail light bulbs and 2 license plate illumination bulbs. The '78 has just one combo tail light and license plate bulb, and I've changed that to an L.E.D.

 

[JE4570]

Ok thanks guys it seems like I’m ok to start test riding a little further from home. I’m still developing trust for it but its done alright around the neighborhood so far.

 

[5twins]

Yes, you should be fine. Just monitor the voltmeter and make sure the voltage doesn't stop going up from the idle readings when you rev the bike. That would indicate your charging has stopped. While I still had the original mechanical regulator on my '78, it only put out in the high 13's max, but I rode it for years like that and never had any dead battery issues. I know that output level isn't ideal (low to mid 14's is) but it was obviously adequate.