regulater/ rectifier wires

[Dave]

Hi, finally got around to trying to fit a new regulater/ rectifier today, however the new universal one only has 1 red wire, so i assume i can either join the two brown/ white wires on the bike that connect to it, together, or just use one of the brown/white wires and insulate the other as dead, ( think they may be joined in the loom anyway ?) anyone know if either is correct ??, also i thought of moving both the regulater and ballast resister into the fairing, for future easy access, but notice they both get to hot to handle in only a matter of minutes with bike running , so i'm not to sure its a good idea, anyone done this ?, If anyone is doing work in this area i noticed my yellow wires from the alternater had burnt through their insulation on the connections, so may be worth checking, also the new ballast resisters from Norton are now a lot more robust then the originals, thanks dave

[FloridaMike]

Electrical problems, yummy!Do you have a schematic (wiring diagram) of the bike? Beg, borrow, purloin if necessary, that's step one.Regulator and ballast getting too hot to hold tells me they need to be mounted on a heat sink of some sort - bolt them to something metal which is large and flat which will dissipate the heat. Check if the case of the device is electrically "hot" first though, if it needs to be insulated, bolting it the the frame or something else which is at ground makes a big, fat short circuit. You may want a thin smear of heat sink grease underneath the parts for better heat transfer (see your local computer shop, they have it or at least will know what it is.)We've visited the yellow wires to the alternator before, they should be cleaned up and re-connected. Which is which isn't important (or they would be different colors), but clean, tight connections do matter.If someone wants to PM me the wiring diagram, I can tell what the white/brown wires go to - if there are two, there are two for a reason, they connect to something, most of the time nobody adds extra, un-needed wires to a wiring harness because they have them laying around ;-) although sometimes they are there for accessories (installed or not) or so one harness can be used on several different vehicles.Wiring's easy, you don't even need a hammer!Best Regards,FloridaMike(Who is 30 miles south of the projected path of Hurricane Debby, and it isn't even raining here.)

[gripper]

All wires of the same colours are connected within the loom, Brown and blue is the standard primary supply colour, connecting your red wire from your rectifier/regulator to one or both of these will be good and will lead to the fuse box for further distribution. There is a standard colour system for British bikes. I have a poor copy of the Commander wiring diagram but it will suffice. I can enlarge it and send you a copy if you want. PM me.Dave Evans

[Dave]

Thanks to you both for taking the time to reply, i have found a wiring diagram, which allthough hard to read appears to show, that of the 4 brown and white wires (what i thought were 2 is actually 4, onto two connectors ), one goes to the 30 amp auxiliary fuse, one goes to the starter relay, and the other two wires act as a link and bridge between the other two, I have wired the four wires onto the one red from the new regulater, but it appears my batterys are now receiving no charge, but that might well be just a bad connection because i extended the wires, so i will have to investigate that further, i was just worried that i had connected the wires wrong because of how hot the units got after running the bike for just a few minutes, the idea of relocating the units was just to make access easier in future, and the area they were originally mounted in does not appear to be in a good air flow, and i would have thought they get a lot of heat from the engine, (they were both to hot to touch after just a few minutes running ) i should have said i am talking about a commander, so they are well hid away beneath the fairing. thanks again for replying, i will let you know when i sort it, dave

[johnbirchjar]

Hi Dave,I too have recently had fun and games with the Regulaters&wiring on the Classic,and have about three wiring diagrams in the workshop,I will dig them out in the morning and get back to you,I am almost certain that the four?brown and white wires are not joined to the Red wire from the Regulator,J.B.

[johnbirchjar]

Hi Dave,as promised I have looked at the wiring diagrams that I have, so as I read it the Red wire from the Volt Reg;connects to a solo Brown /Red that go's to the Fuse box(25amp Generator fuse)which comes out as a Brown/ Blue that go,s to the Solanoid & Battery (Posative)The (two) Brown/White in the main loom go to the coils AFTER the Ignition unit.(Bearing in mind thees diagrams are for air cooled bikes and may differ a little for Commanders)tell you what,send me your address(or phone 01268 753362) and I will post to you all the wiring diagrams that I have,Regards,J.B.

[FloridaMike]

Wiring diagrams - perhaps a quality scan and put them on the site somewhere? Maybe a "Technical Reference" section with all the "standard" questions, wiring diagrams, tire (tyre?) pressures, weight/dimensions, common torque settings and so forth?(And same for my W2000, please!)Best Regards,FloridaMike

[johnbirchjar]

Brilliant idea Mike!(Way beyond my computer expertise though,) but I would happily lend my diagrams to anybody with the knowhow,regards,J.B.

[Dave]

Thanks to all of you for replying, special thanks to john for the offer of the wiring diagrams, i believe the ones i have are for the air, and watercooled commanders,but i also would not have a clue how to put them onto the site. I have been playing a bit more with the bike today, but not sure what to make of the figures i obtained, which are engine not running battery volts 12.78 engine running, volts at end of alternater wires, disconnected from regulater 13v to 38 v with revs new regulater connected, volts measured at battery terminals, revs at idle, 13.25-13.50v, engine revs high 12.3-13.5 v varying old regulater connected, at battery idle 14.5 v, engine revs high 13.3 varying, the figures remained the same if measurements were taken from the exit wire of the regulaters, i wonder why the figures seem to go down with the engine revving higher, i would have thought it would be the other way round, also the new one particularly seems to be giving lower readings then i would have thought, and i wonder if it would keep the batterys charged, the reason i changed the regulater is because some time ago i measured the battery charging volts and they were nearer 15 volts, ( old post ) and the replies suggested the regulater had gone, but i now wonder if my old batterys could have caused the high reading ?, i am now using 2 new batterys and im tempted to use the old regulater, and keep my eye on the volts and battery levels for a bit, sorry this topic is dragging out a bit, dave

[Mick Taylor]

I'm not qualified to give advice on electrical issues, however doing a bit of research for my soon to be delivered Classic I found this topic on youtube about battery testing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lewyfjIz ... elatedWhat caught my attention is the original battery in this bike has enough life to spin the engine quite well, but it won't start...watch the way he tests the battery and how the voltage seeps away.I had always assumed that anything with enough grunt to convincingly spin the motor should be ok as long as it doesn't need constant re charging.....it seems that is probably wrong; you live and learn.There is a lot out there about diagnosing and fixing charging problems, but you will need to filter it to decide what is sensible advice and what is not.Mick..........

[Mick Taylor]

On the subject of battery charging problems, this may be usefulhttp://www.electrexworld.co.uk/acatalog/pdfs/T ... RR.pdfIt's written in such a way that I think even I can follow it. Mick.