Forum

[Les H]

Quite right Dennis...made a mistake with that...the Neutral side is connected to earth at the substation or power station I think but definitely are connected together somewhere...It just means the two (neutral and Earth) are separate just further along the cabling to the house but they come together eventually in the grid somewhere....Les

[Dennis C]

Quite so Les, this is the reason we always set up mains powered electronic equipment for repair through an isolating transformer, this reduces the risk of electric shocks.

Norm if you are still looking at this I think possibly we are misunderstanding each other due to a common language which has different meanings in GB and Oz. Reading back through the thread does seem to indicate this.

I don't think that anyone one here has any doubt about you expertise with Enfields.

[Adrian]

If I have this correct, a comparison between then UK domestic AC power supply and the 1999-on Bullet's AC lighting power supply would have the Bullet's yellow wire AC feed to the lights corresponding to the domestic brown live wire, and the Bullet's amber AC return wire corresponding to the domestic blue neutral wire.



We are used to seeing three-pin plugs in the UK, but with more heavily insulted appliances becoming more popular (eg my mobile phone charger), the brass earth pin is frequently replaced by a plastic dummy pin. No earth needed, so none fitted.



A.

[PeteF]

As Adrian says, many domestic appliances run without earth these days and up until fairly recently lighting circuits did not have an earth. The earth wire is there purely as a safety and used to be literally earthed locally with a copper rod at every building. These days an earth comes in with the supply and in my case this is earthed at the pole mounted transformer (we are supplied overhead) The funcion of the earth is to direct current to earth should insulation break down and current get into (say) the case of an appliance. This dead short to earth would blow the fuse, or these days, would trip the earth leakage breaker or residual current breaker. You could disconnect the earth from your whole domestic supply and not notice a thing until a fault occurred.
My 2004 Bullet has AC headlight but DC flasher so AC and DC run together though the same filament if you flash with main beam on (unless the flasher disconnects the AC but I don't think so)
Bikes don't have earth, they have poss. and neg. Alternators don't have earth; the poss. and neg. completes the circuit

[Dennis C]

Sorry guys it looks like this thread has gone off in the wrong direction, partly my fault I'm afraid, look at my post at the bottom of page 2, I tried to use AC mains as an example of how no earth is needed and works through two wires as it appears the AC headlight does, maybe it's best to read the full thread before posting, but I admit I am as guilty as anyone for doing this.

[Les H]

Hi Pete...the only reason why the mains flows down to an earth ground is that the supply to the user is also earthed at the generating end and in practice, along the supply route after the generation e.g. substations or local transformers....If this was not so, current would not flow into the ground. Due to it's vast volume below our feet earth or ground is considered to be a very low resistance, so as long as contact with the earth via the actual rods or plates is sufficient in contact area the current can flow through the ground and complete the circuit back to the generator (power station) which obviously must have an excellent earth connection too to handle the power.......Some people think the earth is acting like a big hole or sink that gobbles up electricity, this is not so, it is simply acting as a huge conductor back to the source......Les

[Les H]

This is what happens on Forums Dennis, the side issues that arise from trying to help often create the need for these technicalities to be explained in themselves....The questioner can easily come back with an update should the problem remain un-resolved where further help can be attempted to provide a fix....Les

[PeteF]

I appreciate that Les, just trying to keep it simple. I'm as guilty as the next man of referring to things like "short to earth" when I know it's not as simple as that. The old local earth rods would connect though the ground to transformers, sub stations and power stations so the whole planet was a common earth (or ground) Local earth rods had problems in dry conditions which is one of the reasons they were discontinued.
Same on a bike, we refer to "earth" wires when it is really neg. (or poss. or some older machines)
Dennis, I know what you mean but it's all knowledge (well, sometimes LOL)

[Dennis C]

Les, Pete, I came into this thread after reading the early stages and thinking that possibly Norm and Adrian where slightly at cross purposes due to different meanings of the common language?, I also thought possibly incorrectly that maybe Norm was referring to the return alternator wire as earth, where we would probably use a different term, unfortunately the thread then turned round and bit my bum, it's sometimes difficult to get the same meaning across using the written word rather than face to face discussion.

[David]

Hi guys I have fitted the new AC reg, I haven't checked if the problem persists. If I haven't already said. I am fitting an electric start stator and rotor to a kick start engine. I thought and other people have suggested the stator may be contacting the primary case housing.

One thing I noticed is the rotor is contacting the stator. What effect would this have on the bike? Could it be causing my problem with the headlight? Would it short?

If at high revs the clearance from outer primary case was not large enough could it possibly short to the primary case?

If somehow my stator is shorting, would fitting an 4 wire high power encapsulated stator from our hosts, solve my problem?