Electrical problems, still

[Demoman]

I am still having electrical problems with my 64 FLH any help with this is greatly appreciated. It still is 6 volt, new battery, new wiring (all connections soldered), new ignition switch, new coils, new generator, new regulator, ect. I have rechecked and rewired the bike and I still get a heavy battery drain when I turn on the ignition switch ( with or without the headlight on). I have figured out that it is fine until I hook up the wire from the terminal box to the positive post on the rear coil. I have tried 4 different coils all will drain the battery when hooked up. I am stumped I don't know were to look next.

Thanks, Steve

[haggis]

Demoman,.
steve, the battery is grounding some where, you have tried different coils...so it sounds like the ground side to the coil is the culprit. Are your points ok?..are they welded closed?
Disconnect thepoints ground wire at the coil and at the points..connect an ohm meter or continuity tester to one end of it and a good ground on the frame you should have no continuity or some huge Meg ohm resistance...if you get anything else that wire is grounding some where...replace it...good luck Haggis

[Demoman]

Haggis, let me see if I understand. I should disconnect the wires on the negatvie side of the coils. Connect the end of the wire to the positive end of a meter and the other side of the meter to a good ground? Do I leave the wire connected to the points post?

Steve

[blackhillspan65]

do you have a cover on your coil? if so take it off then try again. the cover could be simply grounding you out

[Demoman]

No cover on the coils, I did notice that when I hook up a negative wire to the coils, if the points on that wire are closed that the battery will start to drain, if the points are open no problem.

Steve

[haggis]

Demoman,
Steve....I dont know how to tell you this but....it's supposed to do that. When the points gap is closed current flows through the coilto ground. when it opens the back E.M.F cause the coils to basically reverse the polarity inducing the spark voltage in the secondary winding giving you the spark.
It sounds like its fine...have you tried kicking the thing over yet?
Just dont let it stand too long ignition on and not running or you may melt a coil if the gap is closed.

No Current should flow to the coils untill you turn the ignition switch on....Hope this helps, Haggis

[Demoman]

Haggis, I took the circuit breaker apart and it seems that the base is grounding out. If I hook the neg wire to the points post and the base touches the breaker shaft I get a spark arc and a small shock. I guess the paper gasket or bakelite washers on the points wire studs are bad and the juice is getting onto the points base and grounding out.

Steve

[Danl]

Demoman,

Don't know if you replaced the insulator blocks on your points yet, and/or if this solved the problem...? Just wanted to tell you I had a similar problem w/my '54 (12 volt, tho). The felt/paper "insulators" where the points post comes thru the base looked fine... even pulled the distributor out, took it to the shop and had them check continuity (just in case I missed something). All seemed fine. Still, I kept losing my continuity/spark when I put it all back together.
Those little insulators really have a tough job to do, keeping that post away from the dist. body, and just a little wear or crack on that close tolerance allows the post to slide over and make contact w/the dist. body when you torque the post screw, grounding out. I remade some insulators out of heavy plastic, and used two layers of heat shrink tubing to cover the section of the post (where it comes thru the base). Solid spark, no drain, no grounding!!


Clarify: I mean when you torque down the NUT, not the "screw" on the coil-to-points post. Sorry, man... not enough coffee, yet!

Dan'l

[shaker]

i have had problems with mine as well , i am running the little 12v , going on the second one this year can,t use headlights even at 65 70 mph battery still gos bad, every thing new, i put one lead of a a voltmeter on the bat neg wire the other lead on the - bat post it reads 1.5 volts with key off i went around the switch removeing one wire at a time to see if the volts would drop, no, i was told this 1.5 flow is normal to load the wires , i guess he knows what hes talking about anyway , the bat shows12.78, v when not running 13.58 when running at slow idle with lights on but still bat goes dead if i ride with lights on. gen light don,t come on but amp gauge shows discharge . the same shop said that is normal with gen,s just charg the battery at night ,i,m no tech , but i dont think thats wright any thoughts.

[sleeper]

Shaker, I admit, electrical is not strongest area. But I can & do electrical work. But you have a shop that says your gen. "only charges at night" ? Then the gen. must have something built-in that senses when night-time is upon it. Scary!!! I have never heard anything like that one before. I would run from that shop!!!
A gen. is like a soldier on guard 24/7 & anytime there is a higher demand for juice the gen is called to duty by the reg. to replenish this increased demand. The reg. is the boss telling when & how much.
I'm sure Kell, Haggis & others can explain this better. But a night-time only gen. ? I don't think so..

[haggis]

Billy, That was a good explanation of the charging system!
Shaker, you've got a little problem lurking in your electricals somewhere!
What kind of multimeter are you using? Does it have a DC amps scale on it?If it does we can figure out if you have a current draw on the battery when its not supposed to. Haggis.
Ps First thing to check is if you are using a low output generator for the small 12volt battery...if you have the wrong one it will cook the battery. PDQ

[shaker]

Billy, sorry about that goof up on my 1st post, sometimes i dont make myself to much clear, what i ment was he said just put the battery charger on it every night when i got home from riding ,guess i m not sup to be gone over night , so what i got from this guy was it,s like a big tonka toy when you was a kid when you get done playing plug it up. still i have a 1967 jd garden tractor that runs a gen dont have these problems with it, something wrong i just ain,t found it yet . these batterys are costing 41.00 by the time i get them to me , 2 this year already the last 6v i had was high $ to but it lasted 3 years and i didn,t take any care of it at all. i wen,t to this 12 because i thought it would be easer to fine light bulbs , and the bike would start better , it does 1 kick insted of 1 or 2 , also the 6v gen armature was shot and i had this 12v with new armature in it.

[sleeper]

Haggis, thanks, I try. ;D

Shaker, I understand now. Haggis knows what to check. I'd follow his suggestions. I'll quietly read how this gets fixed.. And it will...
I learn something new everyday!!! ;D

[shaker]

thanks for the reply's the voltmeter has a 10 amp scale it says nonfused 10 amp. i did not use that side yet just the volt , it is drawing 1.5 v,with key off.

[haggis]

Shaker, I'm thinking that the 12volt genny you are running is for the Large 12v battery. Where did you get it, does it have any markings on it?
If you use the high output genny ( 7.5A ?) with the 5A small battery it will over charge it, causing all sorts of problems, like shorting out plates, causing it to loose charge quickly and it will not last long.
Is this the same genny you were using with the other small 12 v batteries.? Haggis