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Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:52 pm
by bbelk
Its 10:45, the guys have been at it for a little over 12 hours and are almost done. I am sitting by the fire on the back deck drinking wine. This is the way to build houses! Never done this before - but it looks so F-ing good I can't belive it.

Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:11 am
by dwerbil
bbelk wrote:Its 10:45, the guys have been at it for a little over 12 hours and are almost done. I am sitting by the fire on the back deck drinking wine. This is the way to build houses! Never done this before - but it looks so F-ing good I can't belive it.
WOW, they're fast!
From now on, I predict yours and Colleen's mode of footwear around the house will be wool socks. Careful that you don't skid around corners into each other. I can imagine little Olive tearing around that new wood floor, feet's a-scampering in a blur .

Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:03 am
by RDG
yep....sounds like the rotor's starting to go out...slowly he turns....step by step... inch by inch...And when you're 100 miles from home, the red light goes 'bing" and you can make it home just.

Later, the next day....got to thinkin' about it more....I had this problem once....

It turned out the alt. brushes were worn, just a little past halfway, but worn enough that the springs weren't giving the necessary tension against the rotor...So, I soldered new brushes in, and Bob's yer uncle! No problemo no more! Take a look at your brushes before swapping out the rotor...

Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:25 am
by bbelk
RDG wrote: Take a look at your brushes before swapping out the rotor...
What is the life expentancy of brushes. The bike has 30K miles on it.

Thanks
Brad

Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:04 am
by dwerbil
I've got 100k on the /7 with the original brushes still in there.

Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:55 pm
by Jean
If they're half gone, that "could" be your problem...
Got nice carpet for the dog-house?

Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:40 pm
by bbelk
The house if FINALY finished. I know this because my credit card melted.

So - I got started on the R65. The battery held its charge for the last couple months well. The gen light was on until about 2,000 RPM. Voltage at the battery started up at around 2,000 with 13 something volts at 3,000 and 14.4 at 4,000.

The slip rings were black and there was a lot of tiny sparks where the bushes met it. I sanded and cleaned them and things seem to be a little better, although I still have a gen light that I didn't used to have at an idle. There is brush there, but it would appear that the tension springs are on the stops making me think they may not be pushing down hard enough anymore.

Do I have to remove the stator to change the brushes? They don't appear to come off from the front.

Nice to be back!

Brad

.

Its fixed

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:11 pm
by bbelk
It was the brushes!


Image

Ken would have been proud of me too. I turned a 30 minute job into an hour job by manufacturing a brush retainer for putting things back together. It worked great!

Image

Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:47 pm
by Garnet
I like the way you compare the relative brush lenghs. :D

Re: 1979 Charging System

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 5:26 pm
by Major Softie
Garnet wrote:I like the way you compare the relative brush lenghs. :D
Was there a photo about relative brush lengths?