Misc: Charging Systems Charging System Problems

[Monkeypants]

A 2 wire Alton is generally a good unit, other than the 2 wire unit with trans.( Discontinued)

The 3 wire unit is a 3 phase and it does not produce a charge under load. Most of those were replaced by Alton, however there could still be some floating around.

I'm not sure of the model designation ACG01. Hopefully G does not stand for Gear.
Where is the model number stamped on your Alton?

 

[moto8500]

Thanks for the reply.

ACG001 - Alternating Current Generator model 1.

As far as I am aware it is not id on the alternator.

The posts I have received indicate a grounding or connection issue so when I am next in the garage I will get weaving in this direction.

 

[Monkeypants]

So it must be the first model out?
If so that's a good thing. The early and late models are direct drive, single phase and very reliable. The in between models had some problems.

Glen

 

[Bill Thomas]

If it was an early one ? ,
I thought people went over to a Podtronic regulator,
Charges better at low rev's ?.

 

[Monkeypants]

Thanks Bill, I had forgotten this. The early Alton was supplied with a not so great cheap Chinese reg rec.
Paul Hamon thought it was an OK reg/rec but soon learned that it wasnt reliable.
He later switched to supplying Podtronics reg/recs with his Altons. I believe the Podtronics is also manufactured somewhere in the far East, but is done so to Bob Kizer's specifications.
The Podtronics is very reliable.

Here is what Paul Hamon told me in a 2019 discussion we had on the subject-
"After various experiences from multiple sources, we finally chose PODTRONIC to supply with our generators. They are shunt type, the most economical way (theoretically), but they are top quality.
We were very happy with test results. We supply them since end of 2012. This is now more than 6 years of very favorable feed backs with a very low number of issues.".


Glen

 

[Chris Launders]

Alternating current would be too fast to swing the ammeter needle or cause a flicker of the headlight, it sounds like a loose connection making/breaking contact somewhere, it must be between the Alton and ammeter otherwise it would not affect the ammeter.

If you think about it that is exactly the effect you would get if you switched the supply from the charging side on and off rapidly, going from full charge when switched on to full discharge when switched off, this of course could be on the earth side from the Alton to earth.

There is probably a good enough connection to charge when there is no load.

 

[998cc]

I am running a Alton a/c generator on the Shadow. While there is no load in the circuit it charges fine but once a load is applied the ammeter needle sits stubbornly at minus 6 and when I increase the revs the needle swings wildly between -6 to +6 resulting in a discharged battery after 50 minutes in slow moving traffic when the lights are on.

Any idea what is going on?

Ralph

I'm late to the party as usual... My Alton is the single-phase, direct drive version. Running with the supplied regulator, it would charge smoothly for about 6 miles. After that period, the ammeter would swing violently from peg to peg. I replaced the regulator with a Tri-spark "Mosfet" 20 amp regulator and now have smooth charging throughout the ride.

Shorts and bad/corroded connections can certainly cause erratic ammeter movement as well.

Russ

 

[moto8500]

Thank you Russ for the reply and the regulator is on the to do list but at the moment I am tracing a short which maybe the issue. However it is very useful to know of a similar symptom and how it was rectified and it could be the short is making the regulator switch on/off circuit erratically so your pointer has been very helpful.