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[Davedup]

Hi folks, my Super Meteor has been rewired with a Boyer Powerbox to 12V with a 12V stator.
All the lights, horn and the indicators I fitted are permanently live independent of the ignition switch.
An ignition switch from our hosts was fitted by a prior owner (Indian?).
My question is, as there is a spare switched live on the switch, is there any reason why I can't swap the power feed to the lights etc over to this spare terminal. I can't think of a reason but am I missing something obvious?
The switch does go both ways as if there's an emergency start facility but the spare terminal seems to go live in either position and the bike runs and seems to charge the same in either position.

Dave

[Daiwiskers]

The Indian ignition switch I fitted had a bar fitted joining both of the input terminals
I removed the bar, connected one side to the battery the other to a capacitor
I then took one of the live out's to a fuse box
I only have the lighting running through the ammeter just as a light's on warning and if a bulb goes out the draw will change on the dial
Ammeters being one of the weak points of the system I didn't want the ignition running through it
The charging the red from the reg/rec, goes to the same input on the fuse box as the switched live from the ignition switch so will charge either the capacitor or the battery depending how the ignition key is set

If you have the same switch as me you may find you will still have permanent power to the lighting but removing the joining bar you should be fine wireing (spelling) it how you describe

Hope this helps Dai

[Davedup]

Thanks Dai, that's useful.
I too am nervous about the ammeter and I'm going to fit one of the tri colour LEDs to check charging and a indicator repeater (i'm always leaving them on!) in an old ammeter if I can find one. Hoepfully I can get my hands on a knackered ammeter and build something up. I could shell out for a new Indian one and butcher it but that doesn't sit right.

Also looks like my optimate has gone belly up (it is an old one) and fried the battery.
Looks to be kicking out well over 18V when connected and the battery is now not holding anything.

New battery as well then.....
Not sure what type, Lithium seems to be popular but not sure what charger you need to give a trickle to them.

Cheers and happy new year to all
Dave

[Daiwiskers]

Lithium battery gave me a odd misfire I have one of the charging light's from Paul Goff

The bike would start OK then about 2 miles from home (always in the same place big dip in road 1/2 mile uphill either side) it would start missing for a few second's almost coming to a stop then it would pick up and run OK again until I got it up to about 60 then it would start missing again

When missing the charge light would be showing overcharging undercharging all sorts of weird things
Put on a lAGM battery and all is good again

I think that the lithium battery doesn't damp the output of the reg/rec like a lead acid or AGM battery would

The battery I used is a 3ah one (nice and small fits in the toolbox) has given no trouble in the last 2,000 miles short hops and long motorway run's

If I had more modern electrics I would possibly try a lithium battery again but for now both asbo 30 and the Harley are staying with AGM

Hope this helps Dai

[Adrian]

If you wanted one switch to do the lot, there's always things like the Lucas PLC5 combined ignition and lighting switch. Paul Goff sells these too (new ones!), though the price is a whopping £95.

They're here:

http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffylighting.htm

Scroll down the page to find them, about 2/3 of the way down on the left.

A.

[Daiwiskers]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I have just had a idea with my ammeter I always run a long wire across the connections ( the ammeter still works but only shows half the current)
so that if the ammeter goes down the lighting will still work

My new idea put bullet connects in this wire tape them up if the ammeter goes down it will be a simple job to get to get lighting again

My head sometimes works in strange ways

Thanks for the idea Dai

[Wheaters]

About 45 years ago my old BSA C15 had a Lucas ammeter failure (puff of smoke in the headlight job) and unsurprisingly, everything electrical immediately died. Having rewired the bike myself I knew that all I had to do was to disconnect the ring connector from the "out" terminal and connect it to the "in" terminal, taking the ammeter out of circuit.

Not long after I came to the rescue of a "mature" biker group when the very tastyTriton belonging to one of them suffered the same fate at the roadside. They were all standing around scratching their heads and when I offered to help they were quite bemused. I took off the headlight and bypassed the ammeter in the same way. They were on their way again in about five minutes and dead impressed that a scrawny teenager knew exactly what to do. All down to Joe Lucas....I've never trusted him since.

[Jools G]

I wanted the use an LiFePo battery on my lightweight project, simply as a means of saving some 4lbs of weight. Having read conflicting reports on the suitability of such batteries for our ancient steeds, I contacted one of the up-market suppliers to get a definitive answer. "Can I use a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery on a Lucas-equipped old British Bike?" is the exact question I asked of them, and this is the bones of the answer they gave me;

'You won't be able to use a LiFePo battery on your XXXX, even though it's fitted with it's own 'intelligent' charge-control system, (as the top-notch [v expensive] ones are). The charging equipment on such old machines is simply not suitable. Neither can you use an old-fashioned external charger such as those used for lead-acid batteries for the same reason.'

LiFePo batteries are extremely particular about their input charging voltage, requiring 14.4 - 14.8 volts precisely. Modern vehicles have got alternators that are built to cope with this spec. Good luck with getting that out of Joe Lucas' finest!

Oddly enough, they cited an instance where someone had fitted one to a Royal Enfield .... and it caught fire.

[Davedup]

Thanks to everyone for their input, think I'll steer clear of the Lithium batteries!
Dai, have you found the light does the job?
I'll get another AGM battery I think.

Dave

[Daiwiskers]

The charge light is great easy to see in daylight not too bright after dark
I drilled into the casket (spelling) 14mm hole after a few months I jb welded it in with the trials bars fitted it isn't in direct line of sight but I wouldn't say it was too bright