Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

Hi

Forgive the possibly dumb questions, but here goes!

When I switch on the lights (on my FH), the ammeter shows far right deflection - all the way over to +ve.

When I run the engine on idle, no movement. When I rev it a bit, it wobbles between neutral and -ve (goes about half way over - not full deflection).

I assume the ammeter is telling me a) the lights are drawing current, and b) the generator needs a bit of speed to get going, so when it revs enough, the regulator wakes up and it is charging the battery.

Is that correct, or is something afoot….?

Sounds like it's charging fine but you have the wires the wrong way round on the amp meter,

ih my bike doesn't show a charge until i am going along , and is your ammeter wired the right way round because you are saying it goes to the + ve when you put it under load my one goes to the - neg till i am going down the road , and i have fitted all led lights and it is showing good charging, i can now run for about 3-4 days and nights without it charging

What I would expect to see on the ammeter is that with the headlight on and
the engine stopped the needle would be well over to the -ve side. With the
engine started and ticking over I wouldn't expect the needle to move much
if at all from the -ve side. Once the engine is revved the needle should
move to the middle and maybe even a little over towards the +ve side.

I think Ralph is correct when he says that the wires are the wrong way
round on the ammeter but there may also be something else adrift with the
wiring too.

Hi

If you add the wattage of the lights that are illuminated and divide that figure by the battery voltage this will give a fairly accurate indication of the current draw that should be indicated on the ammeter. So a 35W main and 6W tail comes out at about 7A draw. My original ammeter is a 8-0-8 instrument so it shouldn't go 'hard over', is you ammeter an 8-0-8? Revving the engine should kick the regulator into action and the needle should go positive but probably not by much.

Agree that you've got your connections to the ammeter reversed.

Regards Mick

Thanks chaps.

Wires swapped and ammeter now does what your ones all do!

I’ve photo’ed the ammeter with full beam on, so (Mick) as you say about 7/8 of the way over to -ve. Seems like that’s sorted.

Johnny - can I ask what LED bulbs you’ve purchased? The yellow anaemic glow from the current 35w headlight could do with a boost (although I have no plans to go anywhere beyond a bright sunny daytime ride - just want to be seen!)

Thanks

Martin

try Paul Goff he sell lots of different ones, not the cheapest but usually decent quality