Hitchcocks Forum

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

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.)

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!

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