Charging woe

[MarkOgden]

After some considerable testing on the VB600, I am stumped as to why the bike is not charging, and as such, any advice would be most welcome.

Some background

System is 12V, positive earth.

Charging system/Dynamo worked fine before the resto
Bridging the D and F terminals, and measuring the voltage across one and the earth I get around 9V on tickover, rising to 13/14V when engine is revved. Dynamo also "splashed" beforehand. Dynamo thus seems fine.
Battery is brand new from Draganfly 2 x 6V Lucas sealed units 4 Ahr.
Regulator is brand new from AO services. Very similar to previous. Green wire snipped, all connections seem fine.
Everything wired up as it went in. Ammeter connections seem fine.

However

Voltage across battery terminals when engine spinning is 12.9V. It does not change when revved.
With engine off, ammeter moves to left with lights on - as it should. With engine spinning and lights on, ammeter does not move from this position.

Bike thus seems to not be charging the battery. Any advice very much appreciated.

Many thanks

Mark

[Steven.Carter]

My AO regulator is negative earth. If yours is also negative earth you will have to flash the dynamo to negative earth. It's easy enough. Check this link out http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.c ... dynamo.php

[MarkOgden]

Steven

As I said - positive earth and splashed (correctly) beforehand. Regulator is positive earth to suit.

[Steven.Carter]

Just a thought.

[simon.holyfield]

Have you got another regulator to substitute?

[MarkOgden]

Simon

Sadly not. Berk that I am, I fried the original by wiring it the wrong way round. I made the mistake of looking at an original wiring diagram which indicated negative earth.

[charles.bulloch]

Try setting your meter to the 10A scale to make sure you are getting lots of amps as dynamos provide amps rather than volts.

Charlie

[simon.holyfield]

Two questions - what is the measured open circuit voltage at the battery?

And, did you get to speak to Alan Osbourne?

[MarkOgden]

Simon

Open circuit of battery is more or less 13V

AO suggested if all else fails then return regulator to him. I have tried all that I know and much that I did not - as per his website.

The only thought I had is that the regulator does not "kick in" as it were until a lower voltage is reached. It still does not appear to charge even when lights are on - when voltage across battery is around 12.3V and remains at that reading even when bike is revved. AO not responded to this query as yet.

It is a real swine....it was fine beforehand and I cannot think what has really changed since. Wiring looks fine and all connections went back as originally wired up.

Cheers

Mark

[PeterW]

Just a thought but if the battery is giving 13v but the dynamo gives 12.3v surely it is bound to not charge until the battery had dropped a bit.
If you take it for a run with the lights on I wonder if it would start charging after a while and bring the battery back to 12v