[taildraggin]

Of course, Lucas started in acetylene lamps.  Never got the hang of wiring, did he?

[Chasfield]

Probably the brightest thing that Uncle Joe ever made - should 'a' quit while he was ahead of the game.

BTW, for installation on my Bullet I'd need to stuff that lamp with a pointless bundle of brass 1/4 inch pipe, all held together by odd sized tee pieces.

 

A thought on simplified electrics. Years back didn't Jaguar announce a digitally controlled electrical system for cars that did away with most of the wiring harness? The idea was that you ran a single 12 volt bus wire, paired with a digital signal wire around the car. All electrical accessories were smart and permanently connected between 12 volts and ground. The digital line sent coded signals to tell devices to turn themselves on or off when commanded by the relevant dashboard control. The system saved a hundred pounds weight of copper wire. I don't know how far Jaguar went with it. Neat concept though.

[geoffbaker]

A thought on simplified electrics. Years back didn't Jaguar announce a digitally controlled electrical system for cars that did away with most of the wiring harness? The idea was that you ran a single 12 volt bus wire, paired with a digital signal wire around the car. All electrical accessories were smart and permanently connected between 12 volts and ground. The digital line sent coded signals to tell devices to turn themselves on or off when commanded by the relevant dashboard control. The system saved a hundred pounds weight of copper wire. I don't know how far Jaguar went with it. Neat concept though.

BMW was working on this concept of digital electrics. I don't think anyone has gone into production, though; perhaps because figuring out what is wrong when something goes wrong may be extremely difficult... or perhaps because it would mean rolling out a whole new set of tech equipment and massive training on a worldwide level for any company thinking of doing it...

[The Garbone]

I think some of the newer fly by wire aircraft use a common bus..

I do believe this is a method currently in use by high end model train enthusiasts.

[geoffbaker]

ace.cafe...

I woke up last night and was thinking about one thing or another about my bullet, and I remembered your electric problem.

I have a theory....

Your plastic cap is not creating an electrical problem. It is creating a mechanical problem which is creating an electrical problem.

If, like my distributor cap, it is both fairly old and poorly made, there is a fair amount of flex in it.

I'm thinking that there is enough flex in it that it occasionally makes contact with the assembly inside and beneath, rotating under it.

Test it by replacing it, getting it running, and then pushing it with your thumb. If it has enough flex to touch the assembly beneath, you should be able to get your engine to "stumble" without difficulty.

You say you have the Boyer ignition. Not sure what that is or what it consists of, but I would suspect that something is being jiggled just enough to occasionally cause a short, losing your spark on a reolution every so often.

I'm thinking is that - if you system  has  condenser/points -
a) the condensor is angled out enough to occasionally and irregularly touch the cap, and when this happens it moves it enough to alter the points gap (could be loose too)... or

b) - my favorite.. that it touches the condensor or some other part of the rotating assembly and that the very small insulating washer that the condensor bolts onto is cracked or damaged, and when jiggled, it creates a momentary short. This ha'oenny washer only needs to be slightly out of whack and the engine will begin shorting routinely... I discovered this when I replaced the condensor/points assembly WITH
OUT the washer, and it would work, sort of, but I could see sparking as the distributor circled around and shorted out routinely.

If your system doesn't have a condensor or points, I'm still thinking that whatever you have is getting "bumped" occasionally by the flexing of the plastic cap, and causing a brief short.

My 2 cent theory. And worth every penny of it.

[ace.cafe]

It's possible.
I'll check it out this week to see if I can get any clue about it.
It's predicted to rain alot this week, so i may be socked-in for a few days until the weather clears up.

[LotusSevenMan]

I must admit, with my diesel I'm tempted to get rid of ALL of it.. I don't need no steenkin' electrics!!!

But then I'd get tickets, I suppose...

Could I just drive around with a kerosene lantern and use hand signals, I wonder...

Great Idea Geoff. This for a front light?

http://www.villagehatshop.com/miners_helmet_light.html

[geoffbaker]

I must admit, with my diesel I'm tempted to get rid of ALL of it.. I don't need no steenkin' electrics!!!

But then I'd get tickets, I suppose...

Could I just drive around with a kerosene lantern and use hand signals, I wonder...

Great Idea Geoff. This for a front light?



http://www.villagehatshop.com/miners_helmet_light.html

What do you think I am? A member of the Village People??

YYYYMMMMMCCCCCAAAAAA gonna stay at the YYYYMMMMCCCAAAAA

[Jeri Danger]

Yes, you will be able to reuse your four wire alternator.
On AC lighting bikes four of the six coils(two wires) are used to supply the headlamp.
One should be able to convert by connecting these wires in parallel to
the two(purple,I think)rectifier supply lines.
Of course you will need to connect these two wires so that they are
in phase(phase additive).That should be simple enuff to do with a multimeter.

Jeri

I had a look at the 4 wire alternator set up. As you suggest, re-merging the AC lighting windings, by parallel connection, with those used for DC looks straightforward, apart from getting the phasing right. "Man", I thought, "I could sure use a dual beam oscilloscope right about now." But then I was thinking that two analogue multi-meters could be connected, one to each pair of output wires. Turning the engine over on the kick start would produce needle kicks that would indicate the direction of current flow, and the connections for correct phasing would quickly become obvious.

At the moment I am collecting bits and pieces for the re-wire - which I think will happen before too long.

Hi Chas
Getting the phasing right should not be a thing.
Do this(its like this on my bike)
Find the yellow and Orange(amber)pair from the alternator.
Jump the yellow to one of the purple rectifier inputs(make sure it only goes there)
Measure between the Orange wire and the other purple with your voltmeter.
Note the reading and connection.
Now disconnect the yellow from whatever purple wire and connect it to
the other purple
Measure with your voltmeter from the Orange to the other purple wire.
Note the reading and the connection.
Now simply pick the setup that gave the lowest reading(in volts) between the Orange
and purple wires.
You are done sugar.
The alternater now should be in phase.
Oh! do all of the above with the bike running of course.
I am
Jeri Danger!!!

[Chasfield]

Just running that through my brain a couple of times. Think I see it.

You are testing the two options for eventual parallel connection. If you set them up to be 180 degrees out of phase then a big AC voltage differential will be present between the free output wires of the two sets of windings - varying between 0 and twice Vmax, as it were. If you have them the right way then there will be much less difference as the AC outputs will be following each other. There will only be a measurable differential because one set of outputs is being being driven by 2 pairs of windings and the other by only one.

Thanks - that's a good tip.

Chas
 

[Jeri Danger]

Hi
That's it sugar!
In electrical terms its called buck or boost.
Just make sure that when you do the test that the two
AC output wires go only to the purple, not anywhere else(like ground)
You will become very confused if you do that(giggle)
Jeri

[Chasfield]

I have scratched the itch!

The old harness is lying in a heap after careful extraction.

So far, I have moved the ignition switch down to the left hand toolbox (a suitable blanked off hole was there already - I just had to make it a bit bigger) and I am about to install some black flexible spiral conduit for the under tank wiring runs.

I will seal this when all the wires are in because I noticed that the old harness casing has quite a lot of water trapped inside it.

Chas

[The Garbone]

Picture??

This sounds great BTW..  I am very interested in this.

 

[Blltrdr]

I have scratched the itch!

The old harness is lying in a heap after careful extraction.

So far, I have moved the ignition switch down to the left hand toolbox (a suitable blanked off hole was there already - I just had to make it a bit bigger) and I am about to install some black flexible spiral conduit for the under tank wiring runs.

I will seal this when all the wires are in because I noticed that the old harness casing has quite a lot of water trapped inside it.

Chas

 Chas, when I rewired my Bullet I ran my harness through my top tube. I drilled a hole into the bottom of the tube about half way from the rear of the gusset to the neck of the frame then ran it out the back. I also ran my alternator wires down the rear down tube and drilled out a hole near the bottom of the tube out the back side and another at the top of the tube; that one is the tuff one. Sized the holes  according to the grommets needed for the harness. Very clean look when finished!   Blltrdr

[Chasfield]

I will put up some pictures as I go along, and I will put up a circuit diagram, once it is proven.

Nothing much to show yet but the LH toolbox is coming along nicely. I have installed a blade type fuse holder (goodbye to the fall-apart standard one) and a battery isolation switch, which is sort of half concealed so is an aid to security.

I have scavenged the ignition switch multi-connector and 4 way wiring from the old harness. The relevant wires reach easily to the coil directly, so that has saved a bit of soldering iron work - and they are still well up to the job because they are only going to switch the ignition feed. Previously they switched all DC accessories too. I will retain the security feature that uses the ground pair to short out the points when the ignition is off. Makes the bike a little harder to hot wire, though a rogue doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to do that with any classic Bullet because all the key bits are so readily accessible.


Blltrdr
Just caught your post as I was about to put up my update. That sounds like a very neat solution. I think will stick to plan A though as I am trying to minimize metal bashing.

Chas