This is a bit of an aside to charging system interference, but may be of interest, since Podtronics regs are being discussed.
On the Norton Forum there have been a number of discussions about potential problems caused by Podtronics and other shunting regulators. Some Oscilloscope testing was done by two experts. Both felt that the Podtronics regulated in a very brutal way that caused a lot of excess heating of the stator and possible early failure of the stator. There is an internet article on this topic. The poor old Pod gets some very bad Press.
I have several of these Pods fitted so it was a concern.
I decided to do a very simple test to see if excess stator heating was occurring.
First off, I discharged the Commando battery to the point that it just had enough voltage to run the Boyer ignition for starting, but not enough to crank the estart.
I kick started the cold bike and ran a 15 mile round trip. Underway I ran the 60 watt headlight and a 40 watt heated vest. The charging system was kept busy keeping up to all that. System voltage on the voltage monitor got up to 13.1-13.3 but never reached the 14 volt cutout level for the regulator to shunt.
So the charging system was operating normally as designed, no shunting effect, all of its power output going to the charging, lighting and ignition loads.
On return I measured the temp of the stator. It was 120 degrees f. The Podtronics itself was only a few degrees above ambient as it had not done any shunting, just rectification.
The next day I ran the same loop at exactly the same rpm.
The battery had been fully charged overnight. The headlight was off and the heated vest was not used. This time the voltage went above shunt level very quickly and stayed there for the duration of the ride. The brutal Podtronics shunting would be doing its best to melt the Stator.
At home the stator temp measured exactly the same as the previous day, 120 f. The Podtronics at 90 f was a bit warmer than the previous day, but not overly hot.
My conclusion- there is no excess heating of the stator caused by the Podtronics reg.
I've stopped worrying about it and I'm back to worrying about oil leaks
Glen
On the Norton Forum there have been a number of discussions about potential problems caused by Podtronics and other shunting regulators. Some Oscilloscope testing was done by two experts. Both felt that the Podtronics regulated in a very brutal way that caused a lot of excess heating of the stator and possible early failure of the stator. There is an internet article on this topic. The poor old Pod gets some very bad Press.
I have several of these Pods fitted so it was a concern.
I decided to do a very simple test to see if excess stator heating was occurring.
First off, I discharged the Commando battery to the point that it just had enough voltage to run the Boyer ignition for starting, but not enough to crank the estart.
I kick started the cold bike and ran a 15 mile round trip. Underway I ran the 60 watt headlight and a 40 watt heated vest. The charging system was kept busy keeping up to all that. System voltage on the voltage monitor got up to 13.1-13.3 but never reached the 14 volt cutout level for the regulator to shunt.
So the charging system was operating normally as designed, no shunting effect, all of its power output going to the charging, lighting and ignition loads.
On return I measured the temp of the stator. It was 120 degrees f. The Podtronics itself was only a few degrees above ambient as it had not done any shunting, just rectification.
The next day I ran the same loop at exactly the same rpm.
The battery had been fully charged overnight. The headlight was off and the heated vest was not used. This time the voltage went above shunt level very quickly and stayed there for the duration of the ride. The brutal Podtronics shunting would be doing its best to melt the Stator.
At home the stator temp measured exactly the same as the previous day, 120 f. The Podtronics at 90 f was a bit warmer than the previous day, but not overly hot.
My conclusion- there is no excess heating of the stator caused by the Podtronics reg.
I've stopped worrying about it and I'm back to worrying about oil leaks
Glen
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