Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Bsa bulletin board 16yr old needs your help with electrical issue!

It looks right.
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wiring looks good to me


bike runs , right ?

1. what is battery , charged and rested open voltage ( the baseline )
( battery need not be fully charged but it helps )
2. what is idle voltage
3. what is maxium voltage at higher rpm ( ~ 3000 rpm )

4. add highbeam at idle ... what is the voltage ?
5. add highbeam at higher rpm ... what is max voltage ?

6. with engine off , does the charged battery light the headlight for 5 minutes without dimming ?
( shade tree battery load test )

the regulated voltage , is usually only seen above idle rpms , and even higher rpms with a headlight load added .
could be anything from 14.3 to 14.6 ... if it doesnt settle in this area , with a good battery ,
there is something wrong with the regulator .
( I think it's pretty unusual to have a bad PoD out of the box )

Your diagram looks fine, though you could connect to the spare terminal on the switch if you want to retain the original fuse and reduce mid cable
Joints. For each mid cable joint you don’t make is a
Problem less likely to occur.

Apologies, the Taiwan sticker threw me.

If voltmeter jumps to 17V, there is diode malfunction inside the pod unit. => You need new pod unit.

Purely in the spirt of " grasping at straws" as I know naff all about twins ......... could the bike have a 3 phase alternator fitted? not even sure if it is relevant (or even possible), but Pod have different units for single and 3 phase.

By the parts book the original stator is Lucas 47205 single phase stator with 2 wires.

But that was 50 years ago ...................

Dunno if is relevant, but picked up on where he said he just took the wires from the old rectifier ........ a dim memory says that you twin 2 of the wires (of a 3 wire alternator) before the stock rectifier........ bad / fried connection??? Could be completely wrong! but the poor Pod could get a tad confused as to what to regulate.

From the information given
The wiring is correct .

but could use some more information about the battery itself .
1. what is its charged and rested open voltage ?
2. will it power the high-beam load for 5 minutes without excessive loss of Illumination ?

if the meter is reading correctly , it sounds like the POd is at fault .

and its time to contact the retailer and hash out a warranty claim .
they may ask more questions , about how and what you installed , when .
But that's between you and them .
( the pod isnt a dodgy piece of equipment and i don't think many are bad out of the box )

Most britbike charging systems have a hard time producing over 13 volts
at normal idle RPMs ... the charge system is mostly working as a rectifier here
and nothing is being clipped yet ... I'd say it's highly unusual to get 15 volts ?

We are Podtronics (Coventry Spares Ltd) Send me the unit and I will test it. Put it in a small flat rate box, or first class mail, and I will have it in a couple of days.

Coventry Spares, Ltd
15 Abbey Lane
Middleboro, MA 02346

I had it wired in only with the positive and negative- no zener or yellow wires- still with the rectifier hooked up for a little bit. Any chance that could’ve messed up the pod?

doubt it, but let us test it. If bad we can replace it.
John

You can't beat that for customer service.

Gordon

Thank you John, I’ll have it over. I really appreciate it!

yeah, if the polarity is correct, and the wiring is correct, and it overvolts... the regulator is at fault. this assumes good, positive connections, including the grounds. as for fuses.... the fuse protects the wire. you always want the fuse to be near the battery, because the battery has the power to melt stuff. if the regulator or alternator shorts out, the battery might try to dump all its energy into the failed unit. the wires in between become the load and roast. in this case, the alternator is already dead, and doesn't need protection. and as mentioned... these alternators don't really make enough power to hurt the wires, burn out a lightbulb maybe...

Took me a little bit, but just shipped it out! Thank you very much John, I appreciate it very much.

Not sure if I agree with that statement, it’s like saying “guns kill people”, the battery sat there doing no harm isn’t going to melt anything. Just like a trigger won’t pull itself.

Put a short in that wiring or a component that demands more current than the wire is capable of handling and then you have a problem.

If you fused separate components, for example… lights, ignition, horn, starter motor etc etc. then the fuse can only go between the live feed for that component (so after the key switch) and before the component itself, or between the component and it’s earth/feed back to battery. Anywhere in. That circuit and it will blow.

It’s just convenience that stipulates that it’s suitable to place the fuse near the battery, with a standard setup (with points ignition), the worst your going to worry about is a blown lightbulb, and if it’s more serious than that then the whole ignition will pop. If your live feed to your lighting circuit has shorted before the switch then a single fuse won’t get you home, add a dedicated fuse and it will (and hope that it’s day time)

Add some clever electronics in there too and you may want a separate fuse, a simple fuse will save you a fortune in a new ignition system.


On another note, I’ve just bought a fuse box from a Triumph sprint (90’s era) that I’m going to graft into a new wiring harness (something I do for fun, nothing wrong with the existing harness apart from I’d prefer a fuse box instead of them floating on wires), will look at incorporating that into a loom before too long.

Good luck with the Podtronics.

i shipped the pod out over a months ago and still no word. getting a little worried. i included return address and pm’d you, what’s up?

Hi Calvin, have you contacted John Via the PM?

Yes, almost a week ago and still no response

Why no responses John? I understand if you’re busy, but anything would be nice.

Odd, John is usually right on it. You could call.

John’s account says he hasn’t been active on the forum since April 25th, very odd

I believe the best course of action is to call John if you have a phone number, life could change the best made plans.
In the meantime you could use any 3 phase cheap Chinese reg rec using only 2 from 3 tabs for your alternator wires. The rest of your connection wll be the same.

Here is the phone for Coventry Spares. That’s John’s business. 1-800-451-5113 or
508-946-1144.

"John’s account says he hasn’t been active on the forum since April 25th, very odd"

Same for his facebook page.