XScharge PMA /pamco Issues?

[Denisesewa]

1980 bone stock, low mileage ( never disassembled engine) , stock early parts used for advance rod conversion. has always run great.

I installed the XScharge PMA and pamco ign on the tracker project , everything went easily enough, bike started second kick, put the timing light on it and had to retard the Pamco all the way to hit ( barely) 15 degrees (,advance system working well @ rpm's according to the timing light) pulled the plugs, put a dial indicator in to find TDC just to be sure I got the marks right which I did.
Not a big deal since it runs good but doesn't seem right to have the Pamco maxed out ??. my 750 bigbore tracker with pamco is dang near in the middle of adjustment.

Next, put the multi-meter on the battery , 13.4 volts, started the bike and get 14.6 at idle with zero load other than the pamco, just off idle maybe 1800 rpm I hit 15.2 volts and it stays there @ higher RPM's so the regulator is working however at 15.2 I am worried about overcharging and eating batteries.
At this point I only wired for the PMA and Pamco on battery, no other electronics or wiring on the bike.
In my searching I found one reference to 15 volts from the PMA as being good, however everything else says 14.4 Volts is MAX for battery charging.
Any insight ??
Thanks in advance

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

... put the multi-meter on the battery...

Try the same tests, but with the multimeter measuring across the (+) and (-) of the regulator.

If voltages are lower, and maxing about 14.2v, then suspect wiring.

If voltages still show high, suspect the regulator...

 

[gggGary]

Maybe wire in a 50-60 watt headlight and recheck?

 

[Denisesewa]

Well the way its wired the pos and neg from the reg is connected directly to the battery with the original reg wires , batt grounded to both engine and chassis ,reg is bolted directly to chassis, so checking the regulator pos and neg is the same thing as checking @ batt, unless you mean to check it disconnected from the battery?
the wiring could not be simpler , I drew up a diagram of the complete system.
I'll try pulling some amps with a headlight but using a headlight to regulate voltage seems sketch to me.

 

[Denisesewa]

So after further testing I am totally confused , with the regulator disconnected from the battery I get 2.5 volts @ pos and neg of the reg? this would indicate to me the bike would not run with a sparx capacitor instead of the battery, Right?
hooked the reg back to the battery with a headlight brings the charge voltage down to 14 volts even.
I checked continuity at all connectors, everything is good . I'm lost.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Why are the regulator's red and black wires tied together?

 

[Denisesewa]

That is how it arrived , red and black combine @ the connector , the instructions dont mention this at all but show it in the wiring diagram they do say red is pos. and green is neg. most regulators I've seen with PMA's are 5 wire although I have seen a couple pics of 6 wire like this

 

[XSLeo]

On the system that reg was originally designed for the black wire was the voltage sensing wire. It probably hooked up somewhere down line of the ignition switch.
When sold as a universal replacement to simplify the install they just hooked the two wires together rather than redesign the reg.
On PMA systems the stator puts out the max output at all times. The reg just bleeds off some of this output through a resistance, this turns the excess output into heat.
Adding a somewhat heavy load, like the headlight, draws enough of the excess the reg doesn't have to work as hard so does a better job of regulating.
Leo

 

[gggGary]

So it's possible that running the sense wire to the battery separately might improve (reduce) the charging voltage.... especially if the current carrying wire is a bit undersized. Undersize wire will have significant resistance making the voltage regulator think it's seeing a lower battery voltage. All this is conjecture, it's possible the regulator just has a crappy (high) set voltage. There has been a movement towards using higher quality mosfet based regulators. But I know little about PMAs outside of having a couple sitting in boxes. Couple days ago 140 miles on period piece with the stock solid state regulator and alternator, I was regularly seeing 14.4 to 14.6 volts at the battery terminals, as measured by a cheap chinese led voltmeter LOL.