Battery not charging

Information relating to the Matchless G80 or AJS Model 18 500cc Heavyweight.
Davidmac
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:51 pm
Location: Norfolk, England

Battery not charging

Post by Davidmac »

I have recently just obtained my G80 500 and all has been working fine until I left the lights on a drained the battery. This also blue the bulb as it was on a warm day. Charging OK on way home. Took battery out to recharge using trickle charger. As I put the battery back I inadvertently connected live to the wrong wire which made it spark. Thought nothing of it and reconnected, put in new bulb. Started engine & went for a ride but ammeter showing negative all the time unless light turned off & then no charge showing.
Could I have blown the Electronic Dynamo Regulator?
User avatar
Harry44
Member
Posts: 279
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:26 pm
Location: SOMERSET UK

Re: Battery not charging

Post by Harry44 »

Yup I'd put money on it, and I'm not a gambler.
si is does non opportunus vos postulo a maior pango
Groily
Member
Posts: 2151
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2002 1:00 am
Location: NORMANDIE FRANCE

Re: Battery not charging

Post by Groily »

You could have, but some solid state regulators can withstand a reversal of polarity.
Could it be that the polarity of the dynamo has simply been reversed by the error and that flashing the field terminal at the dynamo from whichever is your chosen battery live side will restore things? Worth a try anyway. But it does depend on exactly what happened and what bits you have got. Fingers crossed that wires may be uncrossed!
Davidmac
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:51 pm
Location: Norfolk, England

Re: Battery not charging

Post by Davidmac »

Excuse my ignorance but what is the field terminal?
G15 Roy
Member
Posts: 3546
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 1995 12:00 am
Location: ESSEX UK

Re: Battery not charging

Post by G15 Roy »

Davidmac wrote:Excuse my ignorance but what is the field terminal?
If it's a DVR regulator and no fuse fitted it would have blown with out fail.
Roy
Davidmac
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:51 pm
Location: Norfolk, England

Re: Battery not charging

Post by Davidmac »

The only writing on the regulator is "Electronic Dynamo Regulator 6v DC + Positive Earth.

David.
User avatar
Janet
Member
Posts: 4147
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 1996 12:00 am
Location: EAST YORKSHIRE UK

Re: Battery not charging

Post by Janet »

David, your status as a full club member isn't being shown on your forum profile but it is on the main website member list. This occurs because the main club website is on a different server from the forum so we need to log in to both if we want to access it all. I'm not clever enough to understand the reason behind this so I just accept it is so. If you send an e-mail to webmaster@jampot.com giving him your details, he'll be able to sort it for you. Then you'll be able to access other parts of the website, as well as sending other members private messages.

Regarding your charging problem, it's something else I don't understand but this webpage may help. https://matchlessclueless.com/electrica ... as-dynamo/ James, whose website it is, was a club member for a few years and was helpful on the forum.
Image
User avatar
Rob Harknett
Member
Posts: 11236
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 1990 12:00 am
Location: ESSEX UK

Re: Battery not charging

Post by Rob Harknett »

Solid state regulators do not like having polarity altered. Unless they have overcome that problem. I am sure I also blew one when I changed a dynamo that was the wrong polarity. This was never a problem with the old cut outs. You saw a discharge instead of a charge, so just flashed the cut out to change polarity. No harm done. Last solid state regulator I had blow also burnt out a recon dynamo ( I think ) anyway the new battery was flat next time I used the bike. I charged and re fitted it, but I got no charge. I took a dynamo wire out to test the dynamo, it was live. The regulator had blown open circuit. Ruined my recon dynamo.
Groily
Member
Posts: 2151
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2002 1:00 am
Location: NORMANDIE FRANCE

Re: Battery not charging

Post by Groily »

The one that has an F next to it at the dynamo David. The other being D. If the dynamo has a metal cover you'd need to open the end (one screw to undo) to see which is which; if it's a bakelite cover, it should be marked on the outside.
Old-fashioned regulators can work either earth if the dynamo is polarised accordingly but all solid state units require the polarity to be correct for the 'lectronic bits inside because diodes etc don't like it up 'em the wrong way. Some will handle reversal without blowing up (DVR2s are meant to in fact, although Roy's obviously had a bad experience there). Some just won't.
Davidmac
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:51 pm
Location: Norfolk, England

Re: Battery not charging

Post by Davidmac »

Thanks for all your help, problem solved & for your info it was the dynamo that needed re-polarizing.

Thank you all :D
Locked