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[Thunderchild]

Dear all. I recently noticed that the ammeter on my 2000 iron 500 bullet wss not swinging to the right. This morning I checked the AC voltage from the alternator using the red and black wire (my alternator has a red, black, yellow and amber wire) with the engine on a fast idle and got 8 - 9 volts. Revving the engine increased this to around 20 volts. I read that this voltage should be closer to 50 volts. Is my alternator toast? I am a little concerned as I changed my headlight to DC last year and bundled the battery and headlight alternator wire pairs into my Boyer. Everythingvwas workingbabsolutely fine until noiw though. Any advise appreciated. Andy

[papasmurf]

What voltage are you getting at the battery when above tick-over. (It should be in the 14V-15V area.)
Direct from the alternator is a not a good check because that could be 48 volts before it goes through the voltage regulator.
(Personally I don't have much faith in ammeters fitted to vehicles/motorcycles, especially with multimeters being so cheap when you do need to check something.)

[Shane]

Hi Thunderchild, thats pretty odd, but thats exactly what happened to me! I converted to DC, stripped out all the old ac wiring from the loom and installed a Boyer powerbox. I had a good strong voltage from the alternator. After a few months the voltage dropped and I had to replace the alternator. I installed one of Mr H's two wire upgraded items. No problems since When I installed the powerbox originally I used an oscilloscope to ensure that i used the pairs of windings out of sync. I do know that this the subject of debate, others say to connect the pairs for the best voltage, but this really goes against the practice i was taught many years ago.

to claffify: if both windings are in sync you get a higher amplitude of voltage (high peak) but if they are out of sync you get a lower amplitude (bit closer to DC)

I am sure this will start a war!

[JTL]

I have done this conversion too; full DC. Until now I havn't noticed any loss in power production with the stock 4-wire alternator. I'm using an A reg One from Paul Goff and not the Boyer powerbox. All bulbs are LED except the headlight, so consumption is not that much. What should I look out for symptoms wise when the riding season starts? And what kind of multimeter tests to perform? Do you guys have any DCv current specs to compare with? Jacob