Re: 120 Alternator removal/woes

  • Thread starter Thread starter lemonjelly
  • Start date Start date
Hi Andrew,

Yes charging seemed fine , but when I stopped on the road(80km) the local garage recovery man tested it,and was only at 8.2V,not sure whether you can have an intermittent charge from the alternator,I"ve fitted a donor altrnator from a member today ,but am waiting on my replacement Odyssey from Motorworks,before I can test it.

Shaun

 
Shaun, just break it and be done with it...  :D
I'll take it off your hands. In pieces.
 
Lemon,
Why on earth are you worrying about this? You have several 'in the know' Laverda people in your area plus of course Keith in Scotland and Ralph in Norfolk. It might cost you a bob or two to get sorted but at least it will be sorted without all this 'what if' bull.
You have tried the Forum without any success this time so it is time for some professional help.
You aren't Scottish so you shouldn't have too deep pockets. Splurge out and get the bike on the road before the season turns to 'shite' weather. Unless you really want to break it of course.
Just my thoughts.
Very good luck.
DoC!
 
I don t work away DoC,just a humble horticulturalist.Forums are for this n"est pas ???

Cam

Right another alternator fitted,Norman came with an industrial m/meter and we have charging at 14+,we have 60ish ohms on each of the phases, the alternator engine not running and 60 AC running,we do unfortunatly have 60ish ohms on the old alternator too,no sign of a fault.Live from R/R is good.Earth is good.

Question when the alternator is running hot would this cause a problem to set in and blow the battery .All wiring is good on this circuit,what I don t want to do is go for another 80km run and destroy another Odyssey.My only solution is to buy a cheap acid one and stay near home!

Shaun
 
Hi shaun does the regulator cut out at around 14.4 volts at I think  about 4000 rpm if the voltage keeps rising the regulator is not cutting out and will blow up batteries
dave
 
As advised ,I m adding a  led voltmeter to at least monitor it.
 
To clarify a little. The voltage across the battery peaked and steadied at a little over 14 volts (Revving engine a bit). The phase to phase ac voltage was around 30 volts on each test ( engine just above fast tickover) The phase to phase resistance was 60-62 ohms on each test for both the old and the new replacement alternator. Shaun thinks the rotor was secure so we wondered if the intermittent nature of the failure to charge was some thing failing in the windings when hot. When he broke down en route to Mallory the recovery man tested the output at the battery at 8 volts so there was a definite undercharging problem then and the lead acid batteries have been flat without boiling acid off, so the problem doesn't look to be overcharging. Shaun is reluctant to change back to the old alternator for the sake of further experiment :)

DOC there is a man called Ian Potter at Tank Care Products who will take your petrol tanks  and professionally clean and seal them. You aren't Scottish (and failed to make the Scottish rally in spite of making the most noise about attending) so you shouldn't have too deep pockets. Splurge out and get the job done properly.  :-*
 
Well well. Thanks Normski for the Ian Potter info.
I take exception to your comments about the Scottish rally. I really wanted to attend but at the very last minute my colleague decided to opt out of the trip due to medical problems so that left me stuck driving to Scotland by myself with 3 bikes in a box trailer. Not good at my age.
For your info I really enjoy ride outs and track days to fly the Laverda flag in particular. Unfortunately I work overseas and have just had a job change so my new schedule means I miss the Anglesey track day too. Shame that. A damn shame.

Anyway, why don't you just bugger off and leave your sarcastic comments to yourself.
 
Anyway, why don't you just bugger off and leave your sarcastic comments to yourself.
Click to expand...

In the interest of fair play - I think you will find that it was your sarcastic comment that Normski only borrowed  :-*

Posted by: DoC!
You aren't Scottish so you shouldn't have too deep pockets. Splurge out and get the bike on the road before the season turns to 'shite' weather. Unless you really want to break it of course.
Click to expand...

Posted by: Normski
DOC there is a man called Ian Potter at Tank Care Products who will take your petrol tanks  and professionally clean and seal them. You aren't Scottish (and failed to make the Scottish rally in spite of making the most noise about attending) so you shouldn't have too deep pockets. Splurge out and get the job done properly. 
Click to expand...

"Stones...glass houses...et al"  :P :P

 
Shaun - the fitting of a voltmeter will at least show you what's happening when riding.  I'm sure you know it needs to be on a switched ignition feed to ensure your battery doesn't go flat when parked up.

There are a couple of things that may not have been checked.
Do you ride with headlight on?  If so, and assuming wiring hasn't been modified, this switches the third coil of the alternator into action.  Piet has previously referred to problems he experienced with a shorting solder connection in the handlebar switch.  Has Norm checked voltage with headlight on?
Have you checked running voltage whilst operating brakelight(s); indicators etc?

I'm wondering if there is some problem that manifests itself when the bike is running.  As an extreme example, I once had a Triumph where the seat shorted the battery terminals when traversing a bumpy road...the battery sat on a rubber mat that was thicker than it should have been!

Good luck
 
I haven"t ridden with the lights on due to this problem,but the indicators will drain.It has the light bypass mod so no third coil there.Norman did check with lights on but not the brake and indicators,and I will check its levelling off and not going higher into the 15+volts on high revs and overcharging as Merlin has suggested.Sure its a problem Rob when running maybe something odd as you say.

Shaun
 
The wiring has been altered to by pass the LH switch i.e. all three alternator wires feed directly into the rect/reg. Shaun's aborted trip to Mallory was on fast A roads with the lights off.
Been pondering myself as to whether we've been barking up the wrong tree and maybe there is a 'secret' drain on the battery,but surely for the battery to drain under those riding conditions we'd be nearly into a fuse blowing load. There is no physical contact between battery terms and anything else with the odyssey fitted, haven't checked with the lead acid.
I think Shaun tried Chriskay's test with battery connection disconnected and voltmeter in the line to check for drain - but this would have been at standstill in the shed.
The voltage/battery state indicator which Shaun's going to buy is cheap (?12) and simple to fit, so it may be best to just fit it and do some riding locally and see what materialises.(Visions of Shaun backending a car as he slavishly watches the LED's on the monitor!)

The monitor looks a really useful bit of kit and there's more basic ones for about a tenner so I'm tempted to fit one to each of my bikes. I'll ask Shaun to post a link on here to them.

DoC  by your own rules if you include a smiley you can say what you like! please try not to be so poisonous :D
 
A real time measure of what's going on in the charging circuit sounds ideal. Then you can be sure about whether it's under or overcharging and you can also explore what triggers it. I don't see any reason to stop looking.

 
Heres the company,I"ve gone for the monitor with the alarm,based in Glasgow Keith.

Sparkbright-Products,go on Ebay UK and put in search,and tick the including description box.They don t seem to have a website it seems my monitor is item 160763116221

Shaun
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top