2003 bike still on the original charging system. No idea what all the fuss is about. Poor maintenance if you ask me.
I had an instance with the Crosstourer. It's a lump of a motor to start at the best of times but on this occasion it hadn't been used in a while. The day was roasting, I road half a mile to get petrol realised I hadn't picked up my plastic so started it again went home for my cards and started it again and went for fuel.I think it is likely that the slow speed meant the alternator wasn't turning fast enough consistently to match the load on the system. Did you turn lights and all electrical loads off to help the system? I can't see how an increased temperature would affect the alternator output. The continuous running of the fan would be putting a load on the system it wasn't designed to cope with.
how do you maintain your charging system?2003 bike still on the original charging system. No idea what all the fuss is about. Poor maintenance if you ask me.
Yep! Switched off all lights revved the engine above 3500 constant for a while, didn’t make any difference.I think it is likely that the slow speed meant the alternator wasn't turning fast enough consistently to match the load on the system. Did you turn lights and all electrical loads off to help the system? I can't see how an increased temperature would affect the alternator output. The continuous running of the fan would be putting a load on the system it wasn't designed to cope with.
If it burned out the diodes the damage would be permanent and would not repair itself when the road was clear.The increased heat maybe affects the reg/rec which is probably already pretty hot…systemic failure
In my opinion yes. This is why when the battery deteriorates with usage the load increases on the generator causing it to overheat and burn out the insulation on the windings. Failure usually takes the reg/rec with it. This is why I recommended years ago the fitment of a £1 chinese voltmeter, not to watch the voltage while the bike is running but to watch while using the starter, As the battery deteriorates the DROP in voltage while operating the starter increases thus indicating the long term health of the battery. This is the only way to know when to replace the battery before the alterrnator and the reg/rec burn out. INMHO. The bike was never designed to cope with satnav, heated gloves and vests, and phone chargers.Yep! Switched off all lights revved the engine above 3500 constant for a while, didn’t make any difference.
I know heat increases resistance and resistance causes heat, a catch 22 situation, so I can only surmise the system was complaining somewhere, but as the temperature gauge dropped the voltage steadily climbed back to a steady 14.2 volts.
Surely if the fan was taking too much shouldn’t the reg/rec compensate and allow the genny to supply more or are you saying the genny is under rated as standard?
Either way the heat was definitely a deciding factor.
Been there done that!!If it burned out the diodes the damage would be permanent and would not repair itself when the road was clear.
As Bill said, proly just the fat it was running at less than 2k rpmInterestingly I noticed on the trip we had last week over to Belgium in the congestion around the M25 the traffic wasn’t moving much and the amount of heavy goods made filtering very slow, my fi ran hot with the fan on a lot of the time, the little 12 volt meter on the dash dropped dramatically down to below 12 volts only getting back to normal after a good run and the engine cooling down. This was repeated every time the situation occurred.
Can only put this down to excess heat causing resistance in the system and causing a downward spiral.
Didn’t know the carby rads were bigger.
I thought that John untill we got the opportunity to ride a little faster, got the engine up to 3500 rpm and still no change untill the temp gauge started to fall and then a steady 14.2 volts, this was to be repeated throughout the trip.As Bill said, proly just the fat it was running at less than 2k rpm
I'll stick to the mosfet on the carby thanks. There's no way I'm dumping heat from the sink to me bollox.Mosfet dump excess power to earth through a heat sink.The faster the engine is turning over the more power it generates up to a limit so the more heat is being dumped through the heat sink. New series type were designed for off-road bikes and cut out excess power by shorting out up to two of the three phases from the alternator thereby saving on the power used to run the alternator. I read somewhere an alternator takes about one horsepower from the engine. I remember reading somewhere an off-road bike can be more difficult to kick over if it is in power saving mode but that was when they first came out. May well be bollox.
So am I right in thinking the heat won’t be generated so the the cycle of heat/resistance is no longer a problem, also are there any long term consequences to the shorting process you mention.Mosfet dump excess power to earth through a heat sink.The faster the engine is turning over the more power it generates up to a limit so the more heat is being dumped through the heat sink. New series type were designed for off-road bikes and cut out excess power by shorting out up to two of the three phases from the alternator thereby saving on the power used to run the alternator. I read somewhere an alternator takes about one horsepower from the engine. I remember reading somewhere an off-road bike can be more difficult to kick over if it is in power saving mode but that was when they first came out. May well be bollox.
We know you prefer the suction on the carby ya kinky bstd .I'll stick to the mosfet on the carby thanks. There's no way I'm dumping heat from the sink to me bollox.