Intermittent charging with dynamo

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MalcW
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Posts: 626
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:05 pm
Location: DEVON UK

Intermittent charging with dynamo

Post by MalcW »

Hi

Just in case this helps anyone...

I have a Model 31, positive earth, using a solid state rectifier. the dynamo was rebuilt about 3000 miles ago. I've had occasional charging issues, which turned out to be poor connections with the bullet connectors into the dynamo, or where it connects to the regulator.
recently though it started playing up again, charging fine until stopping somewhere, then refusing to charge when starting off again. Or not charging at the start of a ride, then suddenly bursting into life - or not, depending on what mood it was in. All the usual checks didn't reveal anything, continuity was good everywhere etc. Then, when checking the dynamo brushes (again), I noticed a slight movement. The wire from one of the brushes goes to a small screw where it connects to a second wire, and there was movement at that screw. The screw was tight on the thread, but wasn't tightened down, so there was a lot of play between the connectors. I got the screw out, cleaned up the threads, cleaned the connectors and tightened it all back down, and normal service is resumed.

Malc
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