Electronic Ignition

[limeyrob]

There could be several things going on here. Get a known OK battery, put a 6v charger on it and connect that to the ignition with everything else disconnected.  I have a suspicion that the rectifier is shorting so not only is it not charging but it may also be running the battery down very fast.

[Barnsey]

Like I say, the terminal on the rectifier was seriously corroded, so it must have added some resistance.  We will see.

[Barnsey]

SO, which is the prefered electronic ignition of the moment, Pazon or Boyer?

[limeyrob]

You should get a bike running well on the points before you move to an electronic set up.  Otherwise its very hard to know where to start if there's a problem.  On a bike like a C15 there will be little difference so you can ride for a while fine tuning the mixture and timing before making a change to electronic.
Electronic ignition introduces a number of problems so its only worth it is the engine runs better.  Tuned and high revving engines can run a lot better on electronic, but bog standard ones can run better on points. Electronic ignition requires a first rate charging system and battery and that can be a struggle on an old bike.

[Barnsey]

Okay. Taken on board. We will see what happens on Friday when I try it out with the new rectifier.  I bought one of those £5 solid state ones from Ebay, rather than shell out on an original replica.  I take it that is Okay at least? 

[limeyrob]

Clean the earths and battery connections and keep the old rectifier as it may be recoverable.  The problem with jumping to an electronic ign is that they can (and do sometimes) fail and its very hard to know whether you have an ign fault or a mixture problem.  With points know what you have, they are not perfect but its easy to check that they are working.

[rhyatt]

Points set up is perfectly adequate.
The £5 solid rectifier work well.
I can't remember if you have a regulator somewhere on your bike or if you're running an original set up

[cdsdorset]

What size battery do you have? What ampage?

[V500]

Without going daft, any size of 6V vehicle battery would be sufficient to start this bike.

[Jazzman]

In the past I've used a PP3 9 volt battery to test ignition, with great success.

[Barnsey]

I'm running a Motobatt MBT6N4.  I reckon this should be fine.  If the ammeter is anything to go by, it looks to be putting out about 2A into the coil. 

[Barnsey]

Is it true that I shouldn't run a Gel pack battery with a standard rectifier without regulator? 

 See Hugh's video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFg4LA0qYWI

[V500]

Always need some form of regulator, whatever the battery.

[Barnsey]

C15 didn't originally have one, but maybe it is a good idea

[rhyatt]

at 02;43 Hugh says exactly what is correct

the older English bikes did rely upon the physical bulk/mass of the battery to absorb ?"regulate" the charge coming from the alternator.

the stator coils were rudimentarily switched in and out by the lighting switch as more load(eg headlights) was put upon the battery system.

nowadays, we have the luxury of modern electronic regulator /recifier to manage our charging system far finer than ever before

he had originally the little square rectifier (that you are waiting for delivery) and has replaced it with a 6 volt REG/Rec to control his charging