Charging

[Jonnyjagrussel]

Got a problem with my enfield,it keeps flattening batteries. It had a 14 ah battery but if you rode around with the lights on it would flatten the battery. Now starting it from cold you had to crank it for a while before it kicked in so I though it might need a battery with more juice in it. It had a 20 ah battery which I used to start my 1800 cc harley engined chop,but still the problem persists. It is putting around 13.5 volts back into the battery when revving but when the lights are on the ammeter is always in the minus and if you ride the bike with the lights on for an hour the battery will be flat. I'm not the best with electrics and I've only had the bike 6 months and the electrics have been messed with before I had it. I've a sneaky feeing the lights are taking direct from the battery only and the charging cannot keep up. Any ideas, both batteries are sound by the way.

[gilburton]

Something definately not right. Have you let the battery stand overnight then checked the voltage again?? If you are checking straight after a run or charging it might well show a high voltage.
Check the wattage of your bulbs especially the headlight. Someone may have put in a higher wattage than standard?
Is this a standard Enfield or a diesel conversion?? If it's diesel there's a good chance the total wattage of your bulbs are too much for the diesel alternator and you need to lower the bulbs by fitting led's or low wattage bulbs.
There is plenty of info on the forum https://www.dieselbikeforum.com/view ... =28&t=2030 and https://www.dieselbikeforum.com/view ... f=28&t=734

[Jonnyjagrussel]

Yes it's a diesel , after pulling the headlight apart the wiring look cobbled and the bulb is a monster. Will look into getting a smaller bulb and sorting the wiring out. Thanks for the reply.

[gilburton]

Yeah you need to get a 35/35w h/lamp bulb and change the tail light for an led bulb. Also the indicators if you use them a lot??
Don't forget to check the speedo light for wattage as well! Just add all your (permanently on)bulb watts together to see how it compares with your alternator output

[zoro]

I had the very same problem, but dealt with it head on. The headlight most use a upgrade, of around 55 dip 60watts full beam, i think the standard as stated above is around the 40 to 45 watts, each flasher bulb is 10 watts each, or 23 watts, then you add your tail light & Brake light when on, around 20 to 25 watts, a few more watts for other bulbs this is coming to around 100 or more watts, which is far to much for the diesel. In the hitchcocks cat, you will see increased output alternators,up to 120 watts for the petrol models, to cope with this.

You only have a choice from a 3 amp to a 15 amp, alternators, for the diesel engine, the 15 amp for the electric start models. To solve this problems, you would be safer to change everthing to LED, i even pulled the bulbs from the speedo, & the pilot lights, to bring the output down.

The standard rectifier/reg, is a problem, i spoke with henry price on this, If this burns out, it will cause damage, to your alternator, so if you change the rec/reg to a Boyer Powerbox, as seen in the hitchcocks cat, your replacing the parts for items which are far better, that work & will last.

I don,t have a bulb in my headlight, but have a 9 watt, light sitting under it, in between, the fork tubes, i have another sitting on the bar, across the trails handlebars, the only problem that you will have to search for, is the led, a wide, or narrow, light beam. A lot of them are more on the flood light, spread of light, but you might be surprised at their light at night, more on a crisp white. I think far better than the poor light from, a 40/45 watt light, plus when the revs drop the leds stay bright & don,t fade like the standard bulb, depending if your taking the draw from the battery or alternator.

Even with my two 9 watts front lights on & the rest of the lights on, its around 21 watts, a lot less that the 100 odd, needed before, plus the system is not being stressed, trying to cope with the output all the time. There will always be trade offs, with these diesel enfields, when you correct these few problems, they will be fine, i use mine every day.

Remember to use a little Redex, in each tank fill, & some injector cleaner a few times a year, the little motor will run sweet, keep a check on the tappets, this will make the engine run a lot more sweeter, with less enging noise, also open up your air box, this really makes a difference, at the way the enging revs out & pulls in each gear. a little fine tuning, for good running.
Hope this has helped.

Almost forgot to add, i pulled the starter motor from the engine, there is a way to start these engines in cold weather, churning the starter motor over & over to get it going, draining the battery, then using the lights , the small output alternator, has a very hard time trying the keep a charge in the battery.

Only real men, kick start their bikes, a old timer told me one day, this is also a little trade off, from riding these bikes.

[XLerate]

Might be confusing Amps with Watts there? Volts X Amps = Watts, so 12 Volts X 15 Amp alternator = 180 Watt output on alternator.

[zoro]

Might be confusing Amps with Watts there? Volts X Amps = Watts, so 12 Volts X 15 Amp alternator = 180 Watt output on alternator.

There seems to be, a lot of different alternators, on the market for these engines, from the yanmar, to the clone models all stating different outputs, the higest i,ve seen is stated to be 15 amp, Yanmar this was around £150 plus vat, i had to replace mine, due to the plastic on the coils melting, mine was a cheaper model, but the seller pulled it from a electric start clone model, there doesn,t seem to be as much info out there on the cheaper clone, alternators.

I spent 2 days trying to research this, with a lot unsure of the details, that i asked. The area seemed a little grey to alot of the sellers. In truth i don,t think my clone alternator, is any where near the 15 amps. When i bought the bike of henry, he had a lower watt headlight in & at higher revs, it just had enough power to light it, power taken from the alternator. Seems to be working fine now. All leds now. The problem with fitting yanmar parts to the clone engines is the part numbers, its a bit of hit & miss here.

So if the 15 amp = 180 watts, this might be a cure for running a standard headlight, but all the hire shops i spoke with, all wanted the enging model & number, for ordering spares, this would be simple if it was a real Yanmar & a lot less grief