I need one. Preferably close by.
Tried Mr Klompy's regulator and that made no difference.
He is deep in his garage at the moment looking for an elusive, possibly spare alternator, but just in case, anyone near me have one I could borrow till Saturday week. Or sell me. Or otherwise.

Freshly charged battery. At revs (over 2k) the charge sits at 12.2

rosskko and BAE

Rossko, I have a spare unit, complete, from a spares bike I bought about a year ago. It's from a 1991 ex-police K100LT. I haven't checked it at all yet, so not 100% sure on its serviceability. Getting it to you, from Maitland might be an issue.

Let me know your thoughts.

Rickmeister.

Rosskko, have you tried pulling the voltage reg? Contacts and brushes may just need a spruce up. Also the connector at the back could be corroded. Just a thought. Is the charge warning light coming on?
Cheers

Put on a new second hand reg. Chances two are stuffed? Will check the plug at the back and clean/dEOxIt.

No charge light when the engine is running.
Just looked. No charge light with key on and engine not running.

If you're really lucky the bulb has just gone pop. Swap it with one that you know is working.

I  also have a spare you could have. I could post it express post, but no guarantees on what day it would likely arrive. But should get to you by Friday, cutting it a bit fine though.

Hey Rosskko
I can remove one from sidecar tomorrow night and mail Wednesday

rosskko wrote:Put on a new second hand reg. Chances two are stuffed? Will check the plug at the back and clean/dEOxIt.

No charge light when the engine is running.
Just looked. No charge light with key on and engine not running.

If the charge light is blown, it will likely affect the alternator. Replace the bulb and check your alternator output again. There's a reasonable chance it will be ok.

Just to clarify, this is the alternator I took off my /2 as it had stopped working.

Stupidly put it in the old RT and promptly forgot about untill I broke down on Saturday with a flat battery.

While I did not yet venture inside to check the globe, I plugged in another speedo and it has every light lit except the charge light.

Will check the globes now

Globe works.
Plug on the back with the red and blue wires cleaned.

"Globe works"  in the pod?? It didn't work before... now it works??
If its now lighting with ignition on/engine not running, does it go out when engine is running?
Are you getting decent charge?

I checked the globes and they are not blown. They both work. Hooked em up to 12v spare battery. They do not light up when on the bike with the ignition on.
Sorry for the confusion.

Strange.... I'm not familiar with the secret workings of the instrument pod but you could check for continuity back to the alternator. Pin #9 I think. Could be a short.
Is the bulb making proper contact inside?
I'm just about out and starting to guess.... but power is #6. Try testing for continuity between #6 and #9 on the pod connector. I'm guessing that would be across the bulb. That will tell you if the bulb circuit is in tact.

Anyone else??

KH a good thread and I have a feeling I read somewhere in the deep depths of this forum about a break in the wire on its way from the alternator to the instrument pod. I had my alternator out for monkey nuts and recall thinking that the wires from the plug on the alternator could have a risk. If this wire fails does it mean alternator wont charge?

More clarification.
My rt alternator was working fine when In the rt and worked perfectly while in the /2.

The current alternator was not working in the /2 and is now not working in the rt. As I expected.
Not sure the significance of the light as I did not check it as there was no need as the alternator worked in both bikes.

The Alternator didn't work in both bikes and didn't work with a change of regulator and brushes, Conclusion Alternator is sick get another and put it in. I wouls offer as I have a few but probably wouldnt get there on time. Get Uli to put it on a courier.

Do you have a good alternator you could temporarily connect to check the light?  It may be that the light is not working due to a problem in the alternator.  No need to install the other alternator, just get the wires connected to it. 

Another option might be to find an automotive electrical shop and have them rework your alternator.  Any mechanic will be able to point you at a good one.  They can test it for you while you wait and let you know what is wrong.   Odds are that the diodes are bad.  They can usually be serviced and returned overnight.  Two days worst case.

If it is the diodes, you might want to focus on what caused them to go bad if the alternator worked before you put it on the present machine.  Don't want to toast the new ones.  Diodes usually blow when the output from the alternator has an open circuit causing the output voltage to rise until the reverse current is high enough to burn out the diodes.  You should be able to read +12v on the alternator terminal that connects to the battery wire when everything is connnected.

Rosskko
I thought you said you had Klompy's alt in the RT? If the one you have installed now was not working previously when you had it in the /2 then its probably not working now. You've described 2 alternators. One worked in the RT and /2. The other did not work in the RT or /2. The fact that the good one worked means there's probably nothing wrong with the bike.... so its gotta be the alt that's faulty. Just trying to clarify in my own mind.

"Put on a new second hand reg. Chances two are stuffed?"... taking into account Murphy's Law.... probably about even odds. I think I have a new VR here. Need to check. There's a slim chance I may be in Sydney before the weekend.

Dispite all this, the charge light should come on with ignition and stay on if there's no charge from the alt. The fact that the bulb is ok but doesn't light up says there is something wrong with the exciter circuit somewhere and this can affect the alternator.

Because of time constraints, I'd focus on both finding a replacement alt or VR AND tracking down the break in the exciter circuit. You've tried a different alternator and it didn't work.

Olaf
I think someone else could probably explain this better than me but the alt needs a bit of a tickle to prime the windings so there is a small electromagnetic field present as the stator begins to turn. It gets that tickle thru the exciter circuit which contains the charge light. Without that voltage to excite the windings there's a good chance the alternator will not produce sufficient, if any, charge.
The bulb is fed with 12V nom. voltage from the bat on one side and 12V nom. voltage from the alt on the other side. When the ignition is turned on, current flows from the battery thru the bulb to the alternator, exciting the windings. As soon as the alt gets up a bit of speed and starts generating a current, it feeds a similar voltage to the bulb which cancels out the voltage from the bat and the light goes out. So if the alt fails the light comes on. If the light does not come on at all then there is a break in the exciter circuit likely resulting in no charge. It is possible for the alt to develop a charge voltage from electromagnetic residual but not reliably.
I'm sure someone could jump in here and correct or add to some of that for accuracy.

If the bike wiring is ok I would get the alternator to an electrical shop for a test.  In 10-15 minutes they can tell you exactly what is wrong and let you know how much it will cost and how long it will take.  With the time constraints you are under, I would try to get it to the shop as soon as I could.

Unless you want to bin it, it's something you'll need to do anyway.  Might as well get it done and over with now.

How long does it take to fit an alternator? I could bring one out with me...but depending on fitting time it could affect the ride start time. Risk would be that, if it wasn't the alternator that was faulty (i.e. mine didn't work either), then we would be out of time to do anything else.

If I had thought that I'd be causing this much trouble, I'd have suggested just meeting up for a beer.

Stop Press: I have a spare alternator that came with a whole host of spares with Gretel when I bought her from Stephen. It is clearly a used alternator but I don't know whether it is good to fit or awaiting overhaul (I have emailed Stephen to see if he remembers). Not sure how I can test it off the bike but, pending an answer from Stephen, it can easily get packed in my luggage, if required. Don't know where the monkey nuts have gone...I have seen them somewhere /put them somewhere safe.

KH

Olaf
I think someone else could probably explain this better than me but the alt needs a bit of a tickle to prime the windings so there is a small electromagnetic field present as the stator begins to turn. It gets that tickle thru the exciter circuit which contains the charge light. Without that voltage to excite the windings there's a good chance the alternator will not produce sufficient, if any, charge.

100% correct on the tickle and the windings. You explained it well. If the light is not on when ignition is turned on then it suggests the problem is not necessarily in the alternator but in the charge light circuit. In short term is it possible to wire in a bulb separately? Just a thought?

An after thought? How long can a K run for on a full battery that's not being charged?

Well... a Guzzi uses a similar sized battery and I got almost 100 miles out of a charged battery before I started panicking. Caveat: I bump-started the bugger to save every bit of juice possible!

I can bring a new set of monkey nuts and a VR down with me Friday night as a backup if required.  Fit on Saturday morning if necessary.

Thanks Dave, but I believe the Hunter krew have it sorted. Bench testing a unit as I type and special delivery to Pie in the Sky this afternoon.

cheers

rosskko

RicK G wrote:The Alternator didn't work in both bikes and didn't work with a change of regulator and brushes, Conclusion Alternator is sick get another and put it in. I wouls offer as I have a few but probably wouldnt get there on time. Get Uli to put it on a courier.

Yes.

Thank you so much to Tom and Gaz for the extra effort to get me a working alternator.

Stuck it in. On with the key. We have a light. On with the motor, we still have a light. Rev her up and off goes the light.

13v with headlights on at idle and 14.4ish when revving over 2k.

Thanks again all those that helped.

rosskko.

Rosskko you would have had it going 20 minutes earlier if I had been paying attention coming down into Brooklyn and not missed the exit to the Old Pacific Hwy thence having to go round to Berowra to get to the rendezvous.

Well done mate!

Cheers

Eggsellent result

Gaz80 wrote:Rosskko you would have had it going 20 minutes earlier if I had been paying attention coming down into Brooklyn and not missed the exit to the Old Pacific Hwy thence having to go round to Berowra to get to the rendezvous.

Well done mate!

Cheers

That sounds like something I would do. Enjoy your weekend with all the Krew

Shows what the forum is all about... well done. All I could offer would be an oil filter and various bits of a RT fairing.

G'day All great result and pleased to hear the alts. were no duds. The little run was worth it especially for the hot/cold chips. Thanks for the company Gaz, got home about 6.15.Cheers Tom

ainsjac wrote:Shows what the forum is all about... well done.

+1 on that 

Great effort by the Krew - thank you to all involved and willing to be involved.

18 hours and I'll be on my way to the airport....best I go and start packing!

BAE..be aware of the strict border controls we have. When an officer puts on rubber gloves and asks you to touch your toes, he/she is looking for contraband..... yes undeclared K100 spare parts. Have a safe journey, see you on Saturday{our time}.

Rosskko, it would be helpful to get some feedback on the faulty alternator. I'm curious as to why the warning light was not lit with ignition on/engine not running. I suspect one or more of the diodes on the rectifyer are gone.
Cheers

Kaptain Holister wrote:I suspect one or more of the diodes on the rectifyer rectifryer are gone.

Just needed to correct that for you.

Don't you have automotive electrical shops down there?   Doesn't anyone do starter and alternator repair?

Point-Seven-five wrote:Don't you have automotive electrical shops down there?   Doesn't anyone do starter and alternator repair?

Easier to get a sucker or 2 from the Hunter Krew to provide a spare.

Any excuse for a get-together.  

Bill

I'll bet the starter shops don't have beer either.

Auto electricians.... they charge like a wounded bull just to take a look at it.


Yep... the Krew are always Keen to take on a mission. I wonder which one actually carried the device to the drop zone?? An extra beer and a pat on the back for him on Saturday night.

Dai wrote:

Kaptain Holister wrote:I suspect one or more of the diodes on the rectifyer rectifryer are gone.

Just needed to correct that for you.

Hi Rosskko, when you get over the weekend have a read of this link to a post on another forum with a link to a simple diagram of the inside connections of the alternator. There's a good chance it will be something obvious once you open it up.

Cheers