79Standard
XS650 Addict
Just got my PMA from Hugh's installed and thought I'd post my experience, mostly for future reference if anyone needs the help. My bike is a 79 with the mostly stock wiring harness (although a bit of a rats nest at this point, hopefully to be rewired in the future) with a Pamco ignition and E-advance. I had been operating under the assumption that my starter was toast until I swapped in a new battery a few months ago, and it fired immediately. Wanting to preserve my new stronger battery, I figured it was a good time to do the PMA swap to keep in it top form.
I ordered the kit from HHB which arrived about a week later. I read over the install instructions several times that week just to get familiar with the process. Parts arrived nicely boxed and sorted.
I had planned to do most of the work today, but was out in my garage last night with some free time and just kind of dove into it. Pulled the stock regulator and rectifier from the bike, and then removed the engine cover, chain guide and other bits. The rest of the stock charging system came of easily with an impact wrench and rotor puller.
The installation of the new parts was pretty straight forward, probably made easier by the surprisingly clean area underneath the cover. Parts fit snugly where the should and everything went together pretty quickly. This is where I stopped for the night to spend some time working out a mounting solution for the new regulator.
I ended up making a small aluminum bracket and hung it under the battery box where the rectifier used to be. It gets plenty of airflow in this location, but also is not visible at all. I wasn't to keen on mounting it under the motor or on the front motor mount, and am glad I went with this option. The aluminum bar mounts to the bottom of the battery box, then a few nylon stand-offs move the regulator down far enough to clear the bolt.
Wiring it up was easy, three yellow wires from stator plug into the regulator, then leads from the regulator to the battery.
I did get a little tripped up with the neutral and headlight wiring. Following the full HHB instructions on a bike with stock wiring will result in a non-functioning headlight and neutral light. The neutral was an easy fix, just connecting the wire from the switch to the blue wire in the stator plug on the stock harness. To fix the headlight, I had to run a wire from one of the yellow stator wires to the yellow relay wire on the stock harness. Not totally stoked about that set up right now, but will hopefully remedy it in the future. I believe it's as easy as just bypassing the safety relay, but as of now all the electrics work like they should.
I am by no means an expert but this was a pretty easy swap. I started on a Saturday night and had it done early Sunday. Everything worked correctly too- getting about 12.5+V at idle, and goes up to 14.5V at around 4500RPM. Overall a nice and tidy installation, and you'd never know it was there either. I'm so glad that I finally did this.
I ordered the kit from HHB which arrived about a week later. I read over the install instructions several times that week just to get familiar with the process. Parts arrived nicely boxed and sorted.
I had planned to do most of the work today, but was out in my garage last night with some free time and just kind of dove into it. Pulled the stock regulator and rectifier from the bike, and then removed the engine cover, chain guide and other bits. The rest of the stock charging system came of easily with an impact wrench and rotor puller.
The installation of the new parts was pretty straight forward, probably made easier by the surprisingly clean area underneath the cover. Parts fit snugly where the should and everything went together pretty quickly. This is where I stopped for the night to spend some time working out a mounting solution for the new regulator.
I ended up making a small aluminum bracket and hung it under the battery box where the rectifier used to be. It gets plenty of airflow in this location, but also is not visible at all. I wasn't to keen on mounting it under the motor or on the front motor mount, and am glad I went with this option. The aluminum bar mounts to the bottom of the battery box, then a few nylon stand-offs move the regulator down far enough to clear the bolt.
Wiring it up was easy, three yellow wires from stator plug into the regulator, then leads from the regulator to the battery.
I did get a little tripped up with the neutral and headlight wiring. Following the full HHB instructions on a bike with stock wiring will result in a non-functioning headlight and neutral light. The neutral was an easy fix, just connecting the wire from the switch to the blue wire in the stator plug on the stock harness. To fix the headlight, I had to run a wire from one of the yellow stator wires to the yellow relay wire on the stock harness. Not totally stoked about that set up right now, but will hopefully remedy it in the future. I believe it's as easy as just bypassing the safety relay, but as of now all the electrics work like they should.
I am by no means an expert but this was a pretty easy swap. I started on a Saturday night and had it done early Sunday. Everything worked correctly too- getting about 12.5+V at idle, and goes up to 14.5V at around 4500RPM. Overall a nice and tidy installation, and you'd never know it was there either. I'm so glad that I finally did this.
