Charging system problem

[Dean Southall]

I am very disappointed that I had to halt our Land's End to John O'Groats adventure on Saturday. Having covered nearly 750 miles since leaving home the M20 charging system packed up.

I will test the dynamo today but any advise or suggestions as to the likely cause will be helpful.

The symptoms were that after starting off on the bike in the morning after a very wet night I noticed the ammeter was showing max charge (8amps). After a mile or so the ammeter needle rose to the needle stop.

After approx another mile the ammeter fell to read 0 charge. Turning the headlights on lead to a discharge (engine at decent revs) when it would normally balance. So, not charging.

I suspect that for some reason the regulator packed up, and the dynamo was therefore running unregulated.

The dynamo has done 1500 miles since a rebuild by a reputable company and I am using a DVR regulator fitted at the same time. I have never had problems with DVRs on my other machines. A 4amp gel battery is fitted. There are several other accesories attached to the battery for the trip (sat nav, twin USB, lead to power air bed pump.)

On the positive side the engine ran faultessly for 750 miles lugging a fat man and all his camping gear. Hills were very slow and I must apologise to the caravaners backed up behind me