Manky's XS650 Yamaha

[stinkey]

Love that baffle trick and yes a spring would be cool,a talking point ? And the bike sounds cool to me as well ..but you've got to get rid of that number plate..not cool at all..

[morrag]

Mr M you are in obviously good hands with Mr Dslam regarding carburation, but one thing is worth remembering, Do not attempt setting up carburation unless the motor is at normal operating temperature, which is only really achieved by running it under load, in your case on the road. Ensure that your oft removed exhaust system is not leaking at the joints!which will induce weakness. Start and run at a fast tickover until warm, then via a combination of throttle abutment and pilot air screw adjustment, obtain the best running that you can, you shouldn't require jet changes at this stage. If poss. it needs running on the road now to set needle position and slide cut-away size. main jet you can forget about for now. The generator should achieve between 14v and 14.5v across a fully charged battery, around 12.5v,if this is not the case, check the voltage at the brushes, it should be battery voltage, or very little less, at rest, ign. on. The sooty plugs could be too high a float level from over enthusiastic carb. "tickling"!I hope this may be of assistance, but appreciate that its one thing to read, quite another to put into practice, still, no info. is ever waste ...Morrag

[Manky Monkey]

Don't tempt me with novelty exhaust ideas!
So where do I go from here with the charging problem then? Replace the regulator/rectifier? invest in a PMA set-up like Tom's? I'll spend the money if it sorts the problem cos this is my "Forever Bike" -I'm not building another one, but just want to get the damn thing sorted now. Spring's nearly here & I've still got nothing on the road.
It's an MOT numberplate & will be going on the way home from the MOT. 

[stinkey]

I am sure you wouldn't need such a big MOT number plate mate ? you will notice some extra speed on the way back I'm sure..

[Manky Monkey]

Bike fired up again. No spitting from the carbs now though, as you say Andy, carburetion higher up the revs might be buggered now. Ticks over quite nicely & has a very British sound to it.
I put the meter across the alternator brush terminals, just on the screwheads, & it's only reading 0.64 -so alternator dead?

[Manky Monkey]

Hmm. Tried it again with the ignition off & it's still reading 0.64 - now I'm totally confused!

[morrag]

With the ignition on, you should see 12+v, ie. battery voltage, at the brush terminals, whether the motor is running or not, as this is the rotor excitation voltage, and without it the Generator will not......generate!, so, check the wiring and ign. switch, as effectively, this is the difference between a PMA alternator and a separately excited alternator such as yours. Now whilst the PMA is the alternator of choice for most vehicles today, there is nothing wrong with your version, provided this battery voltage is available to start the generation of A.C. so check that again, and ensure the wiring/switch relationship is sound, ok. As for the stator windings, well they can fail in either alternator type, and that can be easily checked by resistance checks by, with respect Andy, someone who perhaps knows a little more about "Elektrickery" than your good self .. Morrag

[Dslam]

Bike fired up again. No spitting from the carbs now though, as you say Andy, carburetion higher up the revs might be buggered now. Ticks over quite nicely & has a very British sound to it.
I put the meter across the alternator brush terminals, just on the screwheads, & it's only reading 0.64 -so alternator dead?

There will be enough power in the battery to get you to and from a local MOT. Get that done and dusted then deal with the charging. At least you can do a few local runs and determine what else needs fettling and gets it on the road.

[BikerGran]

I know this smacks of grandmothers and eggs but..................  you HAVE checked the tightness of all the connectins including the earth of course?  Yes of course you have.....

 

[mrhutch]

I'd find a way of rigging a spring to that baffle so that it comes out as you rev and automatically goes back in . No other reason than I'd find it amusing.

+1

it sounds lovely, looks lovely (apart from the number plate!)

crack on and ride it Andy - wish I was closer, you need to learn to love the multimeter

[Manky Monkey]

I bloomin' hate the meter -it tells me stuff I don't understand.
Morrag -I didn't understand a word of that!
I've checked everything I can see -no obvious breaks or chaffed wiring, no loose connections. I've hit it with a stick. Really don't know what to do next. Never had this much trouble with an XS before. Their simplicity & ruggedness was part of the attraction.

[BikerGran]

Mike keeps telling me it's easy to use a multimeter - and I keep telling him it's not!

It's one of those things, it might be easy if you know how............

This is what someone sent me when I said I didn't understand electrics......

Motorcycle electrics

Electricity isn't caused by cold fusion, that’s rubbish, and forget all that nonsense about magnetic fields and the flow of electrons along a conductor, that’s a myth put about by bike electricians to support their lavish lifestyle at your expense. The reality is ... smoke!  When you think about it, it all becomes startlingly obvious – smoke makes all electrical things function, if smoke escapes, the component stops working. For example, the last time you had to grovel under the car to replace the starter motor, didn’t it start smoking before it ceased working? - of course!

The wiring loom on your vehicle carries smoke from one device to another, pumped around the system by the alternator, and when a wire springs a leak it lets all the smoke out and everything stops. Starter motors require lots of smoke to work properly, so they have very thick wires going to them. The battery stores up lots of smoke dissolved in battery acid, which is why they were once called accumulators, until it became apparent that we unwashed home mechanics would twig to the secret. Naturally, if you try to dissolve too much smoke in your battery it will escape through those little holes in the top, which is why those batteries with sealed tops explode when they get too much smoke in them.

With regard to Joseph Lucas and his wrongfully sullied reputation, why is he so maligned? Why are Lucas components more likely to leak smoke than, say, Bosch? Because Lucas is British, and all British made things leak. British motorcycles leak oil, British sports cars leak rain, British brakes leak fluid, and British governments leak military secrets. So naturally, British electrical components leak smoke!

Hope it helps.............

[minimutly]

There must be a tutorial which could help you woth your phobia Andy, with simple analogies for voltage (height of watefall), current (amount of water flowing down the river), and resistance (a bit more difficult but restrictions in the flow comes close).
The relationship is a simple triangle of V/I times R which can't change nomatter what.
Then you have DC (direct current), which is a battery type output, compared to AC (alternating current) which swings from plus to minus and is derived from alternators with at least some residual magnetism.
Go on google it....

[Manky Monkey]

Hit it with a stick -that's my limit. I don't need to understand it, I just need it to work.

[stinkey]

I'm with you there Andy..