Subject: Re: A little more success with Eldo - but... (long)
Author: Tom Christian
Date: Apr 18, 2005, 8:59 AM
Post ID: 1718721159
Maybe there's an "aha" here. The two red wires
(regulator and ignition I think) I actually soldered
together and shrink wrapped into a single connection to
the positive terminal on the battery (in the last few
days, so no corrosion issues). Couldn't see why I needed
two separate connectors. Could that be the issue? If it
was a problem wouldn't I see issues with the switch and
starter?
-tom
On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 11:50:28 -0400
Bruce Giller <bgil-@mitre.org> wrote:
| Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Need a Laptop? Get a Sony Vaio Laptop Free! http://click.topica.com/caadlVAb1dfltbOluDFa/ProductTestPanel ------------------------------------------------------------------- Last year, I rode my Eldo out to West Virginia for 3 days of riding the hills with some friends. I had fully charged the battery the night before as preventive maintenance. It is about 5 hours to the town (Marlinton) from my place on the usual back country roads. I hooked up with some fellow bikers in the morning and about 4 hours into the ride, we stopped for a rest. And my bike wouldn't turn over - had to push start it. No indication from the idiot charging light that anything was amiss. Soon the idiot light started glowing dimly (or was I missing it all along?). By the time I got to Marlinton, I had turned off the headlight to stop the idiot light from glowing all the time no matter the rpms. Purchased a new garden tractor battery from a nearby parts place and put it in - no more idiot light. Checked the voltage with my meter and I was getting the correct voltages - around 14v at around 3k-4k rpm. I assumed that the old battery no longer would take a charge which is why it died on me. About 3-4 hours into the ride the next day, the idiot light started faintly glowing again!! This time we stopped in a town for lunch. The battery couldn't turn the engine over. I removed the left side cover for a look-see. There are two big red wires (plus the main battery cable) on the positive terminal. They are hooked to two wires going into the wiring harness: one goes to the ignition switch and the other to (from?) the generator. They were connected to each other with bullet ends encased in plastic covered metal bullet connector. And I could see that the metal connector had gotten black. I disconnected each bullet connector from the wires and found each one had blackened residue in them. I scraped out the residue as best as possible and then used some WD-40 as a cleaner on both the bullets and the bullet connector. Push started the bike and the idiot light went out. My theory is that there was lots of arcing going on between the bullet ends and the connector due to small surface contact causing the blackness. When I got home after the ride, I soldered/heat shrink wrapped these connections. The moral of the story is that when charging your battery you need both the voltage and the amperage. I was getting the voltage but due to the worsening connections at the bullet connectors, I wasn't getting the amperage. This also applies to dim/dark light bulbs; you might have 12v at the bulb but not enough amperage to heat it up to glow. Been looking for an induction DC amp meter for easy measuring but I don't that anyone makes one. Bruce '72 Eldo -----Original Message----- From: tom christian [mailto:tchri-@gmpexpress.net] Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 10:51 AM To: Loopfram-@topica.com Subject: A little more success with Eldo - but... (long) I determined that it wouldn't start after stalling because of dead battery (confirmed this later - reading 9v). Its a brand new battery, but I did discover half the negative post had broken - I hope that's it, but I'm not sure since I'm still having trouble with the idiot light on the alternator kit, and my dash turn indicator lights are iffy (the light fine if I jump the to the battery negative) and exhibited this symptom with the previous battery as well - which prolly means I have weak ground. Even so, the battery shows as charging when the bike is running, but the battery goes dead? Does this mean a ground short somewhere - this problem is "keeping me up at night". Thanks, -tom Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign up today for a No Annual Fee Discover? Platinum Card and get? 0% Intro APR on Purchases & Balance Transfers for 8 Months, Up to 2% Cashback Bonus? reward on your purchases & 100% fraud protection. http://click.topica.com/caadlRMb1dfltbOluDFf/DiscoverCard ------------------------------------------------------------------- |