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Re: Another charging issue

I'm not sure what you mean by remove the eye from the D terminal? Here's a spare one I did ages ago using an electronic regulator that I'm not fond of. I snipped the 4 wires and took away the mechanical regulator, just leaving the 4 solder terminals. Nowadays I usually also saw through the fiber base board just behind the terminals and remove that also. It not only creates more room, but adds a bit more cooling into the confined space. Ron
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email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Re: Another charging issue

A nice early-war 'Lead-Acid' base, Ron.

I've never seen any signs of overheating on my modern unit. Doesn't the Tufnol board have a locating function for the cover ?

This is one of the old Sean Hawker 'Dyno-Tec' units.

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For ease of servicing / any future replacement, I simply cleaned off the terminals and fitted mini-Lucar connectors to the wires.

Re: Another charging issue

Rik the cooling issue is mainly to do with my Indian special which is coil ignition and therefore the charging system is working harder. The AO units as the one in my pictures have let me down more than once on my special.....Hence this one sits on a shelf.

The inherent problem with the AO unit, is that when your battery level drops below 5 point something volts, the bloody things won't kick in. So you have to bring the level up with either a slave battery or charger. (Which is why I always carry a spare cyclon battery and a pair of leads when I ride my special). I'm sure that Al Osborne has had enough complaints about it by now, but still seems reluctant to address the issue.

The DVR2's don't have this problem. Also the DVR2 doesn't have cooling fins like the AO unit so maybe my efforts at adding more room for cooling are unwarranted. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Re: Another charging issue

Ron
In mentioning the "eye" I was quoting the website. What it refers to is the extension from the D terminal that runs under the Tufnol base & connects to the metal frame of the regulator unit with a screw. It won't do anything with the new regulator in but I was thinking removing it would mean one more repair should any soul ever be brave enough to restore the unit to original.

I've dry mounted the new unit on the Tufnol base, drilling a new mounting hole. While the DVR2 fits well enough, I'm wondering whether to route the wires to give them a bit of length & give, or whether to use the shortest route possible between the regulator & the terminals on the base.

Re: Another charging issue

Well you can see how mine and Rik's is. Leaving the wire longer than necessary is pointless. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Re: Another charging issue

[Also the DVR2 doesn't have cooling fins like the AO unit so maybe my efforts at adding more room for cooling are unwarranted..]

Yes, the DVR2 requires neither a heat sink or an airflow to keep it cool...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Re: Another charging issue

Ron, the Ariel site shows a unit quite similar to the one you've shown here & don't like much. The wires are neatly looped over the top & the writer mentions fatigue failure, presumably from vibration. But with the DVR2 they can be quite short.

One other thing, do people who've fitted the DVR2s in the MCR1 cases secure the 5mm nut on the unit's mounting spigot with anything once it's been tightened up? It looks like it might work loose. One way to find out, I suppose.

Re: Another charging issue

As far as I know Lucas still manufacture the RB108 unit which I have fitted on my '43 WM albeit with the alli crimped on cover removed and the old type brass cover with wire clip fitted. Typical DEAF wiring order. Or find an old one and get it fetled by someone who repairs dynamos, the two often go together.

email (option): roy.speake@yahoo.com

Re: Another charging issue

Lucas went to the wall years ago! I think Wassell's took over the 'Lucas' trade name, but a lot of their parts in green Lucas boxes are foreign made. The brass top will only be from a post war MCR2 regulator. The correct war-time MCR1 only had steel lids.

The typical wiring order should read FADE. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Re: Another charging issue

Lucas still exists as a company but has licensed much of its production to multiple suppliers via multiple licensees so it's hard to discover exactly where parts are actually manufactured without going into it in detail...
Motorcycle bulbs for example are licenced to a UK manufacturing company in Birmingham but as well as many companies in the UK there are facilities worldwide supplying multiple related products...

The licensee for classic motorcycle electrical parts appears to be Wassells but they aren't a manufacturer so a further search would be needed to find the origin of the different parts...For economic manufacture the usual suspects are probably involved in many products....India, Taiwan, China and probably others...

One comment I would make is that the Lucas badged rear lights are a much better product than the Indian replicas commonly seen (and also marketed by Wassell..) From my experience parts manufactured in Taiwan are usually pretty good and it wouldn't surprise me if production of at least some Lucas badged parts is carried out there....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Re: Another charging issue

The DVR2's got everything nice & bright again, but in doing the work I found some poor connections that had initially tested OK for continuity. I'm now not sure if my testing of the Indian replica of an MCR1 regulator was correct. So while it's off the bike, are there any tests I can do? Using a multimeter the internal circuitry checks out, as I understand it.

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