Manky's XS650 Yamaha

[Manky Monkey]

No real progress on this for a week or two.
The new battery box, kindly made for me by Mr Hornet -speak to him for all your boxy needs -is still at the powder-coaters. Their busy time of year & without a charging system I'm not going anywhere, so no huge rush.
Tom came round yesterday afternoon to return my welder he'd had on long term loan, (Clive very kindly donated his old one to him, so now he's got one of his own. Ain't forum Monkeys lovely people). I know absolutely nothing about wiring, but Tom's building an XS too & has taken the time to research the electrics online, where I just look at the diagrams & give up. So he double checked the alternator output & battery input.
Confirmed what I thought. Battery, 12+ volts, 11 volts with the ignition on, (the lights are wired into the switch so tail & sidelight on all the time). Engine running -no output from the alternator, (it actually reads 0.6). same reading at the connection to the regulator/rectifier.
So it appears the alternator's kaput.
There are ways of removing it & testing it. There might be a second hand one somewhere on Ebay, but my bike's 37 years old so another's probably going to be just as worn. Tom's got an American permanent magnet system on his XS & to be honest, I think I might as well do the same. At least everything will be new, (& warrantied).
While we were running the bike to check the output we lost all power. Pulled the main fuse & it looked fine. They're the old fashioned glass fuses. Swapped it for a spare & everything worked. A problem I used to get with my Triumphs years ago. The metal end caps detach from the fuse wire & break the connection, but still look intact. I've already got a replacement modern blade fuse box so that'll go in while we fit the PMA, (Tom's unwisely volunteered to help wire it in).
Had a lot of vibration around the front end/engine while revving the engine. Might just be the carbs not quite right after I lifted the needles to compensate for the exhaust baffles. Will investigate it more once it's charging properly.
Still need to sort out the rattly clutch too.
Tempted to fit the new charging set-up then put it into a local bike shop to sort everything.
This is the part I always hate. Enjoy the creative, building side of it, but absolutely hate the months of fettling, fine tuning & fixing. No fun at all. I just want to fire it up & ride the damn thing now.
 

[Manky Monkey]

Just followed the link posted in Bike Tech to the system Tom's got. Out of stock.

[Manky Monkey]

Ordered a "Hugh's Handbuilt" PMA kit from Low Brow Customs in the States. A couple of hundred quid, but will hopefully get it sorted.

[Tony oily bike]

Progress on the charging front! Hoorah!

Had a look at the Low Brow site, and they’re showing a Hugh's Handbuilt Yamaha XS650 Complete PMA High Output Charging Kit.

Are you going for the high output version since Tom's version, if memory serves me right, the 65W version, is out of stock?

Hope you’re ready for your HMRC “donation” when it arrives in good old Blighty !

[Manky Monkey]

Yup, the high output one.
The customs charges seem completely random -I've bought stuff from the States & been charged a fortune, then the next time, nothing at all. It's like they just pick a percentage of incoming goods to charge.

[tom_prs]

Depending on how you get on with yours Andy, I may look to upgrade mine. Slightly concerned by the low output of the Electrex system - but it should be sufficient for LED headlight and LED tail/brakelight? I'll find out soon enough!

[Archie]

Might be worth going direct to Hugh if you're going for a HHB one

Doesn't Heiden have any? Getting it from the Netherlands should save on customs?

[Manky Monkey]

Mine's already ordered.

[Tony oily bike]

Yup, the high output one.
The customs charges seem completely random -I've bought stuff from the States & been charged a fortune, then the next time, nothing at all. It's like they just pick a percentage of incoming goods to charge.

That could maybe be because VAT is payable on goods from the states that are valued at more than £15, which means smaller value items aren’t charged....
https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

I’m pretty sure the following happened a few years ago - There was a ‘debate’ in respect to paying duty on the delivery charge (p&p) too, but it was argued that while some of the delivery charge was in respect to the goods coming out of the country of origin, some of the charge was for transportation etc in the UK, and as the proportions couldn’t be defined, VAT on the delivery was removed.

[Tony oily bike]

Depending on how you get on with yours Andy, I may look to upgrade mine. Slightly concerned by the low output of the Electrex system - but it should be sufficient for LED headlight and LED tail/brakelight? I'll find out soon enough!

This may make interseting reading 

http://www.hughshandbuilt.com/2017/01/25/mosfet-regulators-why/

[Manky Monkey]

A few parts back from the powder coaters today.
The new battery box, kindly made by Mr Hornet, plus the mounting straps for it.
Also the triangular electrics box access panel. This fits under the seat.
The original plan was to flip the seat up to gain access to the box at the roadside, using Dzus fasteners so I don't need a tool to get into the box, with additional access by removing the 2 side panels with an allen key. The seat front mount/hinge doesn't lift high enough for proper access though. So I've bought a different style of mount that should work better & will mount a new blade fusebox to the underside of the access panel, on extended wires, so I can lift it off to check the fuses.

[hornet6]

Looks even better now its powder coated.

[Manky Monkey]

  I'll get it fitted over the weekend & send you some photos.

[Manky Monkey]

Didn't have the bolts to fit the battery box & can't by any till tomorrow, so I had a look at the saddle.
The original idea was to hinge the seat up to get access to the electrics box, via a removable panel held with Dzus fasteners, so I wouldn't need a spanner to check the fuses. The front seat mount I had wouldn't allow the seat to lift high enough though. I was never very happy with the look of the front mounting tab on the frame anyway, so have bought a ridiculously expensive billet stainless mount to replace it.
So today I attacked my nice shiny frame with a hacksaw & cut the old mount off.

[Manky Monkey]

The new mount had to fit on a flat surface, rather than on a frame tube as the old one did, so is an inch further back, which will actually be more comfortable. Unfortunately that means the springs no longer line up with their posts, but I had to sort the front mount out before I could see just how far out the springs would be. I'm tempted to try just tweaking the studs on the underside of the saddle, but suspect that'll end in disaster. The posts the springs fit over don't need to be as tall as they are, so shortening them may help when locating the springs.
I'll sit & look at this for a while before taking any action, once I've got the front mount securely bolted in place, (just propped there with an old bolt for now).