Forum

[Adrian]

John L,



a full restoration as opposed to an electrical upgrade would certainly have stuck with positive earth AND 6V electrics to boot. Assuming you haven't already come across it, you might be very interested to see the nearly completed and incredibly meticulous restoration of a 1959 (RE) Indian Chief by a German enthusiast. His fastidious approach to the electrics has seen him build his own replica Lucas 6V rectifier and his own wiring harness cloth braiding machine, replica Lucas wiring terminals, etc! The story is on the US Enfield forum, so it's in English, up to 19 pages with pictures so far...



https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/ind ... 851.0.html



Another reason for negative earth is that some modern accessories will only be fully functional when wired that way, there is an electronic ignition kit (Pazon?) which will run happily +ve or -ve earth, but which also has an optional rev-limiter function which will only work with -ve earth. I have assumed Zelda's bike is using points ignition as there's no TCI box or trigger plate shown in the wiring diagram.



A.

[John L]

Adrian - I'll leave "meticulous restorations" to the pedants and rivet-counters....

(I don't think I need to tell any of this to any of the auto-electrical gurus of this site, but maybe it will help the O.P.):-

There is no such thing as a 6V rectifier, any more than there is a 6V or 12V ammeter, of course.
Neither is there a 12v alternator stator/rotor. Voltage of the system is set by the regulator and choice of battery, with
bulbs and ignition components to match. Rectifier converts ac to dc, 'c' being CURRENT, not voltage.

By "Lucas reg 1" I assumed, (probably wrongly) that Zelda meant the "A Reg 1" generic type combined regulator/rectifier favoured by just about everyone for 6v/12v conversions and which I will use for just such on my own Redditch Bullet.

However, until Zelda comes up with some answers...........?

[Adrian]

Oops, yes... Lucas rectifiers (and their meticulously crafted German replicas) do their thing regardless of 6 or 12V, this one was FOR a 6V system, sloppy writing!



There was another post recently where a new A Reg 1 unit had failed on a Meteor Minor, our hosts don't sell them, though they do list the Boyer Power Box as well as a more generic looking single phase Lucas-branded unit, similar to the A Reg 1. Made in the same factory, do you think?



A.

[Mark M]

I'm pretty sure these A Reg 1 rectifiers are a generic, probably Chinese made item, There are lots of them for sale and they are all very similar if not identical. Wassells for instance (the big pattern part supplier) sell them as does Paul Goff, A O Osborne etc. My apologies if this is incorrect!

REgards, Mark

[stinkwheel]

The battery running flat after 4 minutes/4 miles is telling us there is a hell of a lot more wrong than it simply not charging. I know my 350 bullet will do well over 200 miles running on total loss from a charged battery. So there is something putting a hugely excessive load on the battery. If it's doing it within 4 miles, I'd be thinking something bordering on a complete short-circuit. Might even want to have a look for hot/melted wires.



Took me a bit to get my head round the wiring diagram. I'm not sure how it turns off but equally, I couldn't see anything to cause an actual problem with it discharging.

[Mark M]

The wiring diagram is either incomplete or I can't understand it. For instance, there seems to be no 'live' feed to the lights or in fact a light switch at all. Likewise the coil seems not to be powered, unless there is supposed to be a connection from the reg/rec? I realise this is a home drawn diagram but it would help to know the logic of it, for instance I can see where a wire crosses another but doesn't connect with it, where they cross at right angles are they connected? The modern convention (in my world anyway!) is where wires cross an overlaid circle indicates a connection, no circle the wires are independent. My instinct is telling me that so many connections and components so close to the alternator and before the ignition switch is potentially (ha ha) a problem. I'd like to see better isolation of the alternator and battery?

REgards, Mark

[stinkwheel]

Took me a bit to get to the light switch. It's a 3-position switch on the black wire coming off the red just before the ammeter. The wiper is shown between two positions. I think most people would have put a box round it.



Yes, I would also like to see the ignition switch isolating more componants. There is too much wiring not protected by the fuse to my eye.

[John L]

Adrian - yes, of course ! The regulator mentioned in the o.p. may well be a Lucas (#200004F)- thanks for pointing it out. (I'd not seen that particular listing by our Hosts before)

Regarding the wiring diagram and its interpretation, I can't help but feel that it could have been concocted by the DPO of my Triumph Tiger.

EVERY wire on this bike had been chopped through (usually midway or at some entirely stoopid place) and usually re-connected by "bared and twisted" joints, sometimes covered with tape, or maybe not. Even deep into the taped and covered harness, a foot of red cable joined 18" of brown/blue, a thick black joined a piece of "mains earth" yellow/green, and so on - you get the picture.......AND the most annoying thing was that everything actually worked (at least, it did when I bought the bike !)

Anyway, it looks now like we all have the similar concerns and are asking the same questions.

[Adrian]

Come on, Zelda, there's a queue of people wanting to re-wire your bike! Possibly even with soldered connections... ;o)



A.

[Mark M]

Checking previous posts "Zelda" appears to be a bit of a serial one-post-wonder. Last post seems to be 2013 and several other posts were one response only. I fear we may never know. Spoooooooky!

REgards, Mark