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Just thought I'd pop back with the results of the whole exercise. Got some help to bring the quad home, so I could remove the bodywork. Before I did that though I thought I would check the integrity of the grounds, and thought I had found a smoking gun. The farmer, who used to borrow it, not me, must have done a little rewiring, perhaps after having some small issue, and had added a little copper strip to which he had attached the big ground, and a couple of other negatives, rather than taking them straight to the battery post. The strip itself was then bolted to the battery post. The really big one, to this strip, seemed a tad corroded, and not fully tight.
Ah ha, I thought, so I took them all off the copper, remade the ends, by stripping them, and then crimped some proper eyelets to them. I then polished up the strip, and reconnected everything, thinking this would sort the issue, but it made no difference at all. Exact same symptoms as described previously.
I knew then that I had to get to the regulator, and set about removing the bodywork. Kept at it, following the manual, and my nose, to keep taking more and more bits off until the front fender was free to come away. Not that it came away easy, oh no, lots of bending and cajoling, to get it past sticky out bits, wiring, and other awkward bits, etc, but eventually I had it off and on the floor.
The old regulator disconnected and came off easily, just two bolts, and all the connectors were shiny. If these had been iffy, I would have cleaned them up, and tested again, but there was nothing to be gained here, as they were perfect, so I mounted the new one, connected it up, connected the battery, sort of balanced, roughly where it should fit in the bodywork, and I ran a short test. I couldn't do a full test, with lights on and revving, because they were in the front fender, which was removed. Right away I could see it was operating better, and gave me a good 14V at idle, where I previously had just over 13V. See below for very short video of the test.
Later, after reattaching the bodywork, equally hard work, I did the proper test, and it was perfect, all within spec, as per the manual. Just shy of 14V still, with lights on full beam, and when revving. No dropping of the voltage, as I revved up, like it did before I changed it, and a good charge was sure to be being added, even with the lights on full beam.
The £21 replacement regulator/rectifier, including delivery, actually looked better than the original. Which to be fair they had claimed in their blurb, which earlier, in a previous post, I mocked, but maybe they spoke the truth? Not that you can see anything much, but the wiring to the plug seemed better, and the leads were definitely of a bigger gauge, and the plug somehow seemed sturdier.
Anyway, I could not be happier, and my sincere thanks to all who helped guide me there.
Cheers
Sutty
Ah ha, I thought, so I took them all off the copper, remade the ends, by stripping them, and then crimped some proper eyelets to them. I then polished up the strip, and reconnected everything, thinking this would sort the issue, but it made no difference at all. Exact same symptoms as described previously.
I knew then that I had to get to the regulator, and set about removing the bodywork. Kept at it, following the manual, and my nose, to keep taking more and more bits off until the front fender was free to come away. Not that it came away easy, oh no, lots of bending and cajoling, to get it past sticky out bits, wiring, and other awkward bits, etc, but eventually I had it off and on the floor.
The old regulator disconnected and came off easily, just two bolts, and all the connectors were shiny. If these had been iffy, I would have cleaned them up, and tested again, but there was nothing to be gained here, as they were perfect, so I mounted the new one, connected it up, connected the battery, sort of balanced, roughly where it should fit in the bodywork, and I ran a short test. I couldn't do a full test, with lights on and revving, because they were in the front fender, which was removed. Right away I could see it was operating better, and gave me a good 14V at idle, where I previously had just over 13V. See below for very short video of the test.
Later, after reattaching the bodywork, equally hard work, I did the proper test, and it was perfect, all within spec, as per the manual. Just shy of 14V still, with lights on full beam, and when revving. No dropping of the voltage, as I revved up, like it did before I changed it, and a good charge was sure to be being added, even with the lights on full beam.
The £21 replacement regulator/rectifier, including delivery, actually looked better than the original. Which to be fair they had claimed in their blurb, which earlier, in a previous post, I mocked, but maybe they spoke the truth? Not that you can see anything much, but the wiring to the plug seemed better, and the leads were definitely of a bigger gauge, and the plug somehow seemed sturdier.
Anyway, I could not be happier, and my sincere thanks to all who helped guide me there.
Cheers
Sutty
