Kiwi_Roy

Phill, the ones I have pulled apart were set at 13.8, this allows for ~ 0.6 Volts drop in the headlight relay to give 14.4 at the battery. I think 13.8 is a bit low. It's very easy to increase the setpoint by tweaking the Voltage on the reference wire so it sees 13.8, a diode in series will let it see 13.8 when the battery reaches 14.4. You could make it variable with a potentiometer in series. BTW I only just discovered that some Guzzis the headlight fuse is switched thru the ignition switch so we not only have the headlight relay drop but also the ignition switch drop to contend with. With your headlight relays direct to the battery there is now minimal current in the old circuit so minimal Voltage drop, much better IMHO Can you look at your bike and see if the old headlight relay is fed from the ignition switch just unplug the relay and see if the 30 terminal is alive with the key Off 30 is the one furtherest away from the 3 small ones. Thanks If I have to deal with a Ducati Energia again I will power it from the ECU relay it only draws about 12 mA

Reading the other 5 page thread on Odyssey maintenance I can't imagine why anyone would consider them, I'm too lazy for that. I do have a good understanding how the Ducati Energia works since I reverse engineered one. 900 times a second at 4,000 revs the regulator looks at the battery Voltage and asks itself do I see less than or more than 13.8 Volts on the red/black wire going to the headlight. If it's less it turns the SCRs On for the next half cycle and the regulator sends a pulse of current whatever the alternator will put out into the battery, I suspect this pulse is over 20 Amps as you say (once decided it cannot turn off until the next half cycle. Then the regulator looks at battery Voltage again, the net result is a whole series of current pulses followed by a missing pulse. As you pointed out a bad relay can screw up the charging by sending a low Voltage to the regulator causing it to turn on every pulse. Typically what the regulator sees is about 0.6 Volts less than the battery terminals, with a bad relay dropping more Voltage it will overcharge the battery Normal charge 13.8 + 0.6 = 14.4 example with 2 Volt drop 13.8 + 2 = 15.8 Not only will this overcharge the battery but it could also cook the regulator as it never gets a rest. Update I've been looking at some of Carl Alison's drawings, they show the regulator on some bikes sensing the Voltage downstream of the Ignition switch and headlight relay, that's a recipe for disaster if ever there was one. The regulator reference should be as close coupled to the battery as possible, either through a dedicated relay or perhaps the ECU relay, this will ensure consistent Voltage and a longer regulator life. I think the Odyssey may be ok if you condition it with an Odyssey conditioner now and then, I will stick with my Yuassa. The alternator has 14 coils so it puts out 7 cycles per revolution (2 pulses per cycle) 4000 RPM x 14 = 56.000 / 60 = 933 pulses per second With this information and a frequency counter you can check the tacho. This weird wiring arrangement (measuring the Voltage on the headlight circuit) is why the headlight must be operating for the battery to charge, Adding headlight relays fed direct from the battery cause it to under charge as the regulator now sees the battery Voltage directly without the benefit of adding 0.6. I have an idea on how to improve on the system. BTW most other regulators I have seen actually short out the alternator when the Voltage reaches setpoint, I think this is probably kinder on batteries

No idea what caused it but I doubt it was anything you did, perhaps the rotor was cracked and already rubbing overheating and lost some of it's magnetism (trying to explain the low Voltage). We had one guy on here with a broken crankshaft but I think you would know about that. Sent from my shoe phone!

First of all make sure you have a circuit to the lamps, you can do this with a hot wire or remove the flasher and jumper from the input terminal to output terminal (if it's a 3 wire don't jumper to chassis) The lights should come on steady L & R as you work the switch. Now check out the flasher, I think the electronic ones have a third grounded terminal, after that I'm out of my depth.

Why not make a spacer out of 1/8" aluminum, it will extend the life of the clutch until you get new parts? Sent from my shoe phone!

For any horn to work well you need a relay fed from the battery, check out the Fiaams, they are cheap and loud. The California II came with them from the factory. Sent from my shoe phone!

Scud is telling you how to remove the knob, turn it backwards Sent from my shoe phone!

Are the horns OEM round ones? Sent from my shoe phone!

Footgoose, If you have an 02 please check the wiring. Unplug relays 1 & 2 With the key Off look for 12 Volts at the 30 pin (at the top on my sketch) of the sockets If 12 Volts is on both relays it's an early one. If you have to turn the key On to get 12 Volts on Relay 1 it's the later version. Please let me know Roy

Yes Relay 2/30 is fed from Relay 1/87 which is alive because the coil is off. If you look at the later diagram it's not the case because that Relay 2 is powered thru the ignition switch. IMHO the earlier version is the best. Sent from my shoe phone!

BTW if your horns are the snail shell type make sure they are self draining or they fill with water to give the symptoms you describe. Sent from my shoe phone!

I' m a big fan of Fiaam freeway blasters, I can buy a pair for about $30 c/w a relay. It's essential to provide a feed direct from the battery. Check the generator light by unplugging the male/female connector and grounding the male from the loom, the female (red/black wire) should have 12 Volts on it,this also powers the tach, check the grounds on the gauges. Sent from my shoe phone!

Sorry, what are we looking at? Sent from my shoe phone!

I still need an e-mail address, I want to flood you with sketches. Unless you send me an e-mail case is closed, I'm getting tough. For those with later VIIs here is a slightly different version, Gio, this is not for you. Without a late model to look at I am unable to verify the R2 coil connections I just took it from Carl's drawing, perhaps someone with an 04 could check for me. The top of R2 should come on and off with the key. Which side of R2 coil is alive Left or right? What year is your bike?

You just said "solid 12 Volts to top of relay 2 but something is pulling it down" I missed that, it shouldn't happen at all, there's the problem You have a high resistance, make sure it's not Relay 1 87A the small middle one, wrap a small wire around the pin so you can measure it when plugged in. just use relays in position 1 and 2 until you get the headlight to run, try pushing the relay sockets down, with a sliver of metal about the size of the small pins that will tell if the contacts are gripping the pins ok. We know Relay 1 is getting a good feed because the bike will start we don't know if the normally closed 87a is working If you don't have a spare 5 pin relay put a temporary jumper from 30 to 87A for testing that should power up relay 2/30 Relay 3 is a nice to have but stuff a wire in 30 and 87 and you can use that as a spare in fact if the sidestand switch is shorted it's not being used anyway, If you need to go riding you could power the headlight circuit from another source like fuse 6 or 7 (switched circuits) Ok heres the wiring at long last, you seem to have too much resistance between the top of relay 1 and top of relay 2 Broken wire, bad relay, bad relay contacts You could short between the top of relay 1 and top of relay 2 with a wire around the pins that should make the headlight go the only thing that wont work is turning off the light while cranking.

I suspect somehow you are loosing the signal for the headlight from Relay 2 it's a Red Black wire. Note if you look at the schematic it shows it branching out to several different locations, it's actually soldered in the loom, very good quality joint. Perhaps there is a loose connection in the relay base. I believe the regulator Male/Femail connector is about the first place it goes to. It could be something like an intermittent connection. I think if you monitor the female connection of Male/Female at regulator (an easy place to reach with your meter or even better with a test light and wiggle wires you might find it. Next wrap a wire around the 87 pin of relay 2 and put it back in Relay 2 socket you will be able to check it's getting that far, if not move back to Relay 2/30, then back to 87A of Relay 1. I know you must be turning the key on I have no idea why the e-mail is playing up it's frustrating but it was last week as well, I'll try from home in about 4 hours, as I say try my Yahoo account. \ Moto Guzzi, making Electricians out of riders for over 90 years

Yes, you must have 12 Volts on the Female of the pair the male BTW is the charge light, if you short that to chassis it will turn on. The idiot lights are also powered from the headlight relay so they won't work unless the light is on, brilliant thinking by Luigi eh! Of course you know there's a 4 pin connector in the headlight, just below the bucket on mine. Is the headlight going? if not check the connector inside the socket of relay 2 is not pushed out the back., poke something tiny down there. I have sketches of all that stuff but can't get photobucket and our firewall to play nice. I won't bore you with the details but sometimes it can take 3 days to get a picture posted between photobuckets Jpeg requirement and my Mac's bitchiness, if I have your address I can e-mail you the sketches by return mail. I'm going to change my handle to SpamBot LOL

In my last post I asked if the start relay had 4 pins, what was I thinking, it must be a 5 pin, the small one in the middle of the 3 at bottom (87a) provides a signal to the headlight relay. Yes the headlight must go when you turn the key on, if it doesn't the bike wont charge There is a male/female connector the regulator plugs into, the female (red/black wire) is actually tapped into the feed to the headlight it feeds 12Volts to the regulator to turn it ON. The 30 amp fuse should be replaced. shine up the socket connectors with fine emery and bend them so they put more tension on the fuse blades. I will post a sketch of the fuse relay area, the wiring changed a little around 2002 so instead of the start relay providing 12 Volts to the top (30) of relay 2 Photobucket is not co-operating at the moment it just feeds relay 2 relay coil, I see you have a 2000, it should be the same as my sketch.

My initial thought the headlight relay is not picking up. thus the bike is not charging because it's tied into the headlight circuit. Is the start relay a 4 pin?. it must be because the normally closed contact either picks up the start relay on newer bike or on the older ones feeds power to the headlight relay.

It'll take me a few days to re-do the sketch. My Mac trashed the hard drive a few months back and I had no backup Roy Sent from my shoe phone!

I have been meaning to post a troubleshooting sketch for the later VIIs for quite a while Here's the earlier ones like mine, a 2001, you've seen this before. And here's the later one, I'm not sure when Luigi made the switch, 2003 or 2004 I think, It's just a rough sketch at the moment, as I get time I will make it more like the earlier sketch, in the meantime you may find it useful. Both sketches only show the important stuff around making it go. I don't like this version as much as it since it passes the start solenoid current through the ignition switch and a bunch of additional wiring. Compare it to the earlier version where the juice comes straight from the battery thru Fuse 5 which should be a 20 Amp IMHO

No electric petcock? If you took it off, serves you right LOL I figured out why my Speedhut gauges weren't working, I tapped into the Ignition switch feed so the gauges don't reset when starting, the spade connector had pulled apart. I took some nice pictures, thinking about selling her My financial adviser is starting to object as I have 3 other Guzzis Later on I found I forgot to put the chip back in the camera before taking the shots, you'll have to trust me they were nice pictures.

What year is your bike? I will look at the relevant schematic. Actually I wasn't able to find a Scura among Carl's drawings, any possibility of sending me a scan of the one in your manual?

There's a starting interlock that calls for either the stand up or the bike in Neutral. Since your neutral light was off you need the stand Up, I'm guessing the wire going to the neutral switch (sticking out of gearbox behind starter) is loose. Where abouts in Godzone are you? Just that your profile says Toronto

I would just plug the tire you have, but I'm cheap. Sent from my shoe phone!