Subject: Re: Tach problem
Author: Bruce Giller
Date: Oct 5, 2001, 8:36 AM
Post ID: 1708489076
John,
There was a small thread on the Guzzi list about a voltage spike
causing tachs to go dead. Seems to happen on a regular basis on the
newer machines, V11s, Bassa, etc. I think that if your charging light
pulsed, it just means that the generator wasn't putting any out more
than 12v. Have you checked the charging rate with this new battery?
Maybe the voltage regulator spiked the bike after your charging light
went out.
My Eldo's tach died the other day on the road. I'm going to test it by
disconnecting the tach from the bike. Then run a wire straight from the
distributor (at the connection between the coil and the distrib.) to the
tach and another to ground and see what happens. If I get no results,
then I'll know that the tach is shot. That will be my second tach in a year.
I tried to get Palo Alto Speedometer to fix my old tach but they said
that they didn't have the parts. I hear that North Hollywood
Speedometer will fix them. I got my recent tach from Harpers.
But I have discovered that the if your points have a really really
small gap, you'll get wildly fluctuating readings from the tach. I was
surprized that the bike even ran with the gap that was on my bike.
Bruce
'72 Eldo
| Yesterday the 7-year old tractor battery I've been using in my '71 Ambo went south, I figure that I got my money's worth. After replacing it, the bike started right up, although the charging light pulsed brightly about 3 times when I revved the engine then went out and acted normally. The tach is now dead in the water, doesn't move, and I'm trying to figure out how and if this could be related to the battery change. In the past the needle would occasionally gyrate wildly for a second while riding, but only very rarely. Last night I poked around the wiring (which had been replaced with a new harness several years ago) and checked the fuse, cleaned up its contact surfaces, and the lead to the coil, both seemed fine. The tach light comes on so I know it's grounded. Does anyone know what can go wrong with these units? Being an electronic tach I fear that something may be burned out. Anybody got any clues? John Prusnek |