Flat Battery Again
- Thread starter brian gains
- Start date
I have had one on my ex L/ning for about 20 years.
Ian, going by your description the alternator that Colin Jenner was showing around was probably a Kubota pancake alternator, the same type that John Mcdougall used for his alternators, I think John overcame the size problem by grafting it offset onto a dummy drive in the usual dynamo position, I think most people that had them were very happy with them.
I have found that if you wire in the "idiot" light on these systems that they draw about 45 milliamps and if left to their own devices will eventually drain the battery. I had this issue with my system and determined to find the cause took an inline ammeter and started chasing things. Eventually found a wire drawing about 90 milliamps. The first disconnect was the feed to the TomTom which has a built in 12V - 5.7V transformer that stays on, dropped the draw in half. Next I dropped the "idiot" light and all went to zero. Ever since then I put a master switch on the ground side of the battery which made the problem go away.
I don't have any experience of the Kubota alternator but assuming that you do not have a wiring fault or a dud battery you could have a current leakage through the rectifier. Some regulator\regulators are external and some are built into the alternator. Some simple Voltage checks with a multimeter might find the drain.
Mine goes down after a few weeks, Mcdouglator, Just have to remember to take a lead off the battery,
You guessed it, I mostly forget !.
It has an outside regulator.
You guessed it, I mostly forget !.
It has an outside regulator.
Your Kubota looks to be one of the small permanent magnet types, I have one I'm modifying to fit a 70s Harley Sportster, they do a conversion in place of the dynamo, they originally look like this and only have the two wires, AC out.
When I turn the sparks on (HD double curves) if the idiot light doesn't come on, either I haven't turned on the master switch just now, or I haven't turned it off - three weeks ago!
Looks like the one The late John Dathen, West London, Had on His outfit, We all thought how good it was,
But there were no numbers or make on it !.