2003 Royal Enfield 500 Deluxe

Make the headlamp DC
I'm finking that's the way to go.

Situation is complicated by bike not having standard wiring - fitted with a Boyer Power box, which replaces the rectifier and regulator. Apparently, it can be used to run the bike without a battery though in this case the bike still has one. Don't know what other changes have been made. All four wires coming out from the alternator are linked to the Power box so it might be that PO has converted the bike to all DC? But there is still the AC regulator so probably not.

So at the moment, slightly regretting that I launched in and started pulling the wiring apart before investigating whether the headlamp circuit is still AC. My excuse being that I knew nothing about that when I started.

I guess the only way to know will be to cobble things back together, run the engine and use a multimeter to see whether there is AC. I don't really know how to do this but my multimeter has both V– and V~ scales so I'm speculating the tilde means AC?

But, converting to all DC is something that's been done before so just need to do some research. Good job there's no hurry.
 
It’s building Raymond…….:cautious:
A6A1DE05-8BA0-43CB-8075-0395508CFE1F.jpeg
 
Bob, thank you for your concern but I've had an interesting day just thinking about the best way ahead. Some very helpful people on the Unofficial Royal Enfield Community forum have already made suggestions, such as, make the Lights On/Off switch AC only - use it just for the headlamp. Wire the other lights, which are all DC, to come on with the Ignition switch. Now, that sounds just about easy enough for me to understand.

But the main thing is there's no rush. In fact, right now I'm looking forward to watching Qualifying for the F1 showdown. Hamilton and Verstappen tied on 369.5 points going into the last race of the season.
 
Due my own impetuosity in pulling the wiring apart, found myself in doubt about whether the lights are AC, as the bike came out of the factory, or been converted to DC. So today went in the garage, did a bit more chasing wires and drew this quick and dirty sketch:

PICT2769.JPG

Which seems to show clearly that the AC output from the alternator goes nowhere near the Boyer Power box. Just goes to AC Rectifier, Lights On/Off switch and the headlamp.

The Boyer box is only used as a Rec-Reg for the DC side of things.

For me to use the new switches I bought, seem to be two options. Convert the electrics to DC-only. OR use the Lights On/Off switch for the headlamp only. The sidelights, tail light, etcetera would come on with the ignition. Unless I utilise another switch for that function.

Converting to DC-only might be a can of worms. The easier option will be the second.

Will have a think.
 
'Bout as easy to forget a headlight switch as it is the petcock on an XS. Daylight hours and you might have one of those 'oh yeah' moments.

Hoping that next year will be able to venture out on a Gentleman's motorcycle, for a nice and sedate perambulation of the local roads.

Got to remember to turn the petrol on. Go through the kick-starting ritual. Remember to turn the sidelights and tail light on. Once I get out of the street, remember to turn the headlamp on. Keep in mind all the time that the gearchange is on the right. And it's up for first, down for second, third, fourth. And up to change back down again. At least there's a neutral finder . . . Oh, and the back brake is on the left. Must avoid those braking-with-the-gear-lever moments.

So it will need to be sedate because the old brain don't run fast enough to cope with all that otherwise.
 
Keep in mind all the time that the gearchange is on the right. And it's up for first, down for second, third, fourth. And up to change back down again. At least there's a neutral finder . . . Oh, and the back brake is on the left. Must avoid those braking-with-the-gear-lever moments.

I have a really hard time with right side shifters, I do exactly what you said and stomp on the shifter when I want to brake. That’s why I had a ‘76 Triumph Bonneville, it had the shifter on the left! :laugh2:
 
My TR6 was a lovely bike to ride. Lower than your '76. The 650s had a smoother power output than the 750s. Handling was good enough you didn't need to think about it. And the gear change was on the right as God always intended. But with four gears and that easy going engine, you hardly needed to change gear on a country road. Keep your brain engaged. But let your mind fly free, transcend the daily concerns. The road, the journey, the bike, the rider - all are one. You have plenty of time to think. Does the section up ahead perhaps require moving to a lower gear? What is the barometer telling us, you ask the sailing master, would it be judicious to take an extra reef in the topsails? Smooth, effortless progress. What's that - stomp on the shifter when I want to brake? Well, really . . . I don't think so!
 
Hoping that next year will be able to venture out on a Gentleman's motorcycle,
I have a 2011 Bullet Electra 500 since March of 2020. That was right before the lockdown happened. It had 6535 miles on the clock, and I am the third owner. Due to Covid restraints I minimized all my activities. It has 6914 miles now. It is a pleasure to ride, and a real joy to spend time with every day. This is a picture of the night it came home with me. I removed the saddlebags right after I took the picture for safe keeping.
20200307_045552.jpg
 
Keep in mind Raymond that there's different types of regulators... you'll need to research and find out if the alternator is a PMA setup or the more traditional automotive type that uses the battery to power the rotor. Once you've done that, you can start to narrow it down to what you need.

My head is spinning a bit - trying to research wot I got. Google is not very good at answering a question. Such as, Does an Enfield Bullet run a single phase alternator? The results will be loads of ads for alternators, single phase, three-phase, whatever. Plus results for the town of Enfield. Plus ads or various calibers of ammunition. Plus the current phase of the moon, okay, I made that bit up.

So far, I think the alternator is PMA with permanent magnets in the rotor? And it might be 3-phase? Got 4 output wires if that tells us anything.

Floundering when it comes to alternators . . .
 
My head is spinning a bit - trying to research wot I got. Google is not very good at answering a question. Such as, Does an Enfield Bullet run a single phase alternator? The results will be loads of ads for alternators, single phase, three-phase, whatever. Plus results for the town of Enfield. Plus ads or various calibers of ammunition. Plus the current phase of the moon, okay, I made that bit up.

So far, I think the alternator is PMA with permanent magnets in the rotor? And it might be 3-phase? Got 4 output wires if that tells us anything.

Floundering when it comes to alternators . . .
Not that I know, but I do believe it's likely a Delta or Wye wound three phase stator. https://auto.howstuffworks.com/alternator3.htm
 
Yes Raymond, from what I've read your RE uses a PMA alternator.... both the wye (4 wire) and the delta (3 wire) variety. On the wye type the center is usually (not always) tapped and run to ground.
In the case of our XS' the center tap is used to trip the starter safety and headlight relays.
I suspect that your RE is using 2 legs to the reg/rec for dc conversion (battery charging, ignition etc.) and the third leg plus center tap to run the headlight.
Don't ask me why they'd do it that way though...:umm: :shrug:


Understanding+the+Alternator.jpg
 
Thank you, Jim. Finding it difficult to discover definitely what type of alternator the Bullet has. Pete Snidal put a diagram in his Manual for the Enfield Bullet and I present here a sketch of that:

PICT2771.JPG


Sorry about the poor quality photograph. There are six coils - which I think are all the same despite my drawing. The amber and yellow outputs feed the AC headlamp circuit from one pair of coils and the two purple outputs feed the rectifier from the other four coils.

I don't know if that's a Delta or Wye alternator but suspect it might be neither. The factory came up with this to sell bikes in the USA where the headlamp needs to be on all the time - people were suffering from drained batteries so they decided to dedicate part of the output to headlamp only. With it being AC from the alt, apparently the light is rather dim at tick-over!

So my intention is to fit a new stator with a higher output - told to go for Lucas - and feed all the output through the rectifier, Boyer Power box in this case, to convert the bike to DC-only. But I still need to work out what type of stator is needed, how many outputs, and how to splice them if necessary to the Power box.
 
So my intention is to fit a new stator with a higher output - told to go for Lucas - and feed all the output through the rectifier, Boyer Power box in this case, to convert the bike to DC-only. But I still need to work out what type of stator is needed, how many outputs, and how to splice them if necessary to the Power box.
In that case Raymond, look for a HO 3 wire stator. That would be for a "normal" PMA alternator. Very simple to wire.... the 3 outputs go to a reg/rec, and DC out of the reg/rec to everything else. Doesn't get much simpler than that.
 
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