Kiwi_Roy

I was inspired to add headlight relays by this circuit Raz provided. As an electrical type I was struck by the idea of adding a diode as an alternate source of power if the fuse blows. Normally the diodes will never conduct but if for some reason the main fuse blows you have the possibility of having some light provided by the existing wiring. Adding the relays made a significant improvement to the light brightness, I guesstimate about 10%. As it was Headlight Relays.pdf Update April 2012 Since adding the relays 2 years I discovered that wiring in the relays to bypass the original circuit has some effect on battery charging. The original wiring expects some drop (0.5 - 0.6 Volts) between the battery and where the regulator senses Voltage and compensates for it. The end result of wiring directly, the battery gets charged to 13.8 V instead of 14.4 Volts. (this also effects the kits you buy) I just revised my wiring as below, much simpler, only uses one additional relay, retains the original headlight fuse and makes the charging as per stock because it has the same Voltage drop. Modified single relay Headlight Relay.pdf Note: I don't show the original headlight relay coil wiring, there are several variations. If you are happy with the way your bike charges with an existing relay kit I wouldn't worry about the Voltage drop issue. Roy

That was brilliant Hubert, straight on to it.

it's just a 4 or 5 pin relay... any auto parts store should have one.. bring the old one in with you. Go to www.digikey.com have them for $4.59ea http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?vendor=0&keywords=Z2247 Buzzard is right the car parts stores should carry them but I never had any luck here, If you can't tell them what make and model car it comes from forget it. I suggest you only buy 5 pin, they are a direct replacement for the 4 pin variety and you can use them in any slot. They also have a switch that will work on brake and clutch. http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?WT.z_header=search_go&lang=en&site=us&keywords=CH290-ND&x=19&y=20 You can get something similar from Radio Shack c/w a roller actuating lever which you can tear off, I put one of those on a year ago and it refuses to die in spite of being non waterproof. Roy

It sounds like the relay base for sure, switch relay 1 & 2 (assuming you have 5 pins) As Gavo says a slight bend in the pins might help or you could try a bit of foil in the contact but you need to strip the bases down as soon as you can. Make sure you grease the contacts with vaseline when you do, this stops them corroding. Roy Relay Base Repair.pdf

I too have the fail to engage starter problem, I find if I go full right lock on the steering it starts every time. I assumed it was a broken wire where they flex all the time. I will fix it over the winter.

Sounds like a prime candidate for LED replacement. Any hitches [ie, changes to resistance/impedance/whatever making things go pear-shaped] to this idea? As Raz says, replacing the lamps with LEDs is a bit tricky but well worth it. I found simply pluging in LEDs caused a short circuit because the original lamps have a contact on one side only whereas the LEDs have a wire on both sides, I solved this by scraping the original contacts and simply soldering the wires to the leds. For the fuel light resistor use one of the old lamps in parallel with the LED, chances are it will never burn out because it's an easy service. My oil light comes on dimly in the wet but that's not a worry, I have a gauge and as soon as the switch dries it goes out again. One thing you must do is make sure the lamp is the same colour as the lenz it sits behind otherwise it will appear very dim, LEDs have a very narrow light bandwidth

p.s. when you remove the second fork cap the front suspension IMMEDIATELY colapses. This action takes place best on dirt bikes with long travel suspension. Don't forget the oil shooting out the top makes one hell of a mess. Block the bike up under the sump to take weight off front wheel and you should be OK. I'm pretty sure you can drain out the old emulsion if you pull the wheel out then reach up into the bottom of the fork with an allen key and unscrew the bolt. May want to tie the bottom of fork to the bars so it doesn't drop out. I would drain all the old gunk out and replace with some new oil then perhaps seal around the adjuster screw with silicone until you get time to have it fixed properly. Actually once you have the wheel out might as well just pull the fork leg out, it's easy enough. Roy

It's very easy to remove the fork caps with the adjustment screws, just jack up the bike to take weight off the front wheel, loosen the pinch bolt in the top clamp and unscrew the cap, Use an open end wrench or 6 sided socket as a ring spanner will mark the aluminum hex nut. Someone may be able to refurbish them for you. I know little about forks but I would be very surprised if they need replacing. Perhaps over time rain leaked in around the adjusting screws. I think you can drain the oil by taking the wheel out then reaching up from below with an allen wrench unscrewing the bolt that holds the forks together. I would try that anyway, one at a time just in case they decided to drop right out. You would need to stop the leg turning while you wrench on the bolt, perhaps a length of wood bolted on there the calipers attach. I had my forks out about a week ago, please refer to my thread "Front Fork Oil" there's some good response to my questions there. Buzzard seems like a fork guru, try sending him a PM, he seems very willing to help out.

My Odometer was showing just over 74,000 when it quit on Wednesday, the speedo is still working but by the way it gives a flick now and then I suspect the needle pivot bearing is on it's way out. From the various angle drive bits that came with the bike I suspect it's always been a problem, what a piece of junk these Veglias are, perhaps we need to be looking for an electronic replacement, do away with the cable at the same time. It would be nice to retain the same analog display and round shape though.

I just got back from my trip Vancouver - Prince George 1800 km in two days. The bike was a dream to ride, just purred along. As for the forks I had no complaint but I will pull the legs out again over winter and set them as per Buzzard's detailed instructions. I will check out the Motion Pro tool also. It sounds as though the 5 wt oil is the way to go. Thanks again for all your input Roy

My bike has the carbon fiber version. The PO told me they were Mistrals and they came with the For Off Road Use Only label which he said they had to have for importing to Canada. I was at the Guzzi dealer in Chilliwack, Gord took one glance at the bike and said follow me. He took me into the workshop and produced a pair of nice labels which he had asked someone to make They say Moto Guzzi V11 Sport Isn't it strange that Mistral don't stamp their name on their product?

I have been mulling over your post, you say spring out, can you be a bit more specific please. I won't get a chance to do it again before my trip but will do over the winter for sure. Perhaps as a public service you could treat your Guzzi to an oil change and educate us all in the correct procedure. The workshop and the owners manual both say 400 mL of fork oil but I don't think they are specific about weight. Perhaps if I had used something like a lab measuring cylinder I would have been right on, of course I didn't have one handy, the best I could do was use the scale on the side of oil container, shone a flashlight thru to get the level. BTW, I don't expect to be leaping through the air so perhaps my settings are not as critical as a dirt bike I collected the oil I drained out and poured back into the container, came to about 600 mL so either some had leaked out over the years or the PO had them serviced. The oil I drained looked OK but the ATF will match my K&N air filters at least when it leaks. Cheers Roy

Just noticed that it's been 2 years since I changed my fork oil. Everyone's taste is different, but afte upgrading to 0.95 kg springs (I'm ~165lbs), I've been happiest using 7.5 wt oil and a 100mm air gap. Ok, I went and sucked some out. Jacked up on the hoist to take the weight off, Slacked off on the top pinch bolts, They tighten the caps too. Unscrewed the caps to end of thread Lowered the bike slowly, the forks compressed pushing the caps up Put a narrow tube down the gap (now heres the thing, about 3" down the tube strikes the end of the inner, I don't see how you can lower the oil lower than that or even measure for that matter Syphoned out the oil until the syphon sucked air at 3". So my oils down 75mm, the bike appreciates it, much smoother ride. I also backed off on the damper screws 2 clicks, currently 6 clicks ccw, I can easily adjust that as I go I will see how that goes Off to Prince George in the morning, about 900 km Thanks everyone. Roy

Skeeve I did RTFM, it said 400cc. that's obviously way too much. I agree level seems the best way to go, i was hoping someone would tell me, see below Buzzard, Thanks for the tips, I will set the air chamber at 100 mm as you suggest. If I find out later that it's wrong it will be easy enough to add a bit. Gstallons, Actually I think changing the oil is quite simple, once you take the wheel at you can unscrew the bolt that holds the internals and all the oil should drain. Everyone, I must admit I was a bit skeptical when Dave told me to use ATF because he had the more expensive oil right there. He runs what you would call an independent shop, not tied to any one brand. I kind of trust him because he is a journeyman mechanic and used to own a Guzzi, so he can't be bad eh? I'm off on a road trip tomorrow' I will take it easy until I find out how she feels Thanks Roy

I changed the oil in my forks Dave, the guy in the local shop recommended transmission fluid which was cheaper than the fork oil he had in stock. The manual says add 400mL (it doesn't actually say "In each leg") but I found the right fork seemed to be fairly full, just a couple of inches from top with no weight on, If I pushed the fork up it would run out. I spoke to Dave and he assured me 400 sounds about right for an inverted fork. There is very little travel with a sudden stop and the ride seems a bit rough. Also by the time I had spilt a bit and generally made a mess when I tipped the old oil back into the bottle I ended up with about 600mL total I am tempted to suck some back out, is there a level I should have it at e.g. XX mm from top? Can I do any harm by having the level a bit low? Thanks Roy

Here in NA the EBC pads seem to be used by several bikes, heres the catalog page c/w dimension, these are the ones I ordered. The trick with tightening a strange screw is tighten it till it strips then loosen it half a turn, just kidding. Roy Page 99 of EBC Catalog.pdf Page 171 of EBC Catalog.pdf

I hate to be a wet blanket but is that thing legal? It doesn't seem to have a plate illuminator, Reflector/ Sure looks nice though. I hope I'm wrong

OK Here is the latest.... Many thanks to Raz who helped with this project by offering constructive comments and proof read the drawing. Between the two of us I think we have managed to capture all the salient points. Roy Regulator Schematic Sept 1 2010.pdf

The instructions that came with my new Jell filled Yuasa calls for 12.8 - 13, 2 hours after charging, the most I have seen is 12.86 I'm happy with that I seem to have lots of cranking power.

You wouldn't gain anything, 2 diodes and 2 SCRs is as good as you can do for a single phase alternator. Actually on my next winter project I am going to use a bridge rectifier (4 diodes) and just one SCR.

When you say 14.6 are you refering to the voltage with bike running, I find as soon as I shut of the voltage drops to around 12.85

And heres a Diode Fix........... The Diodes seem to be a common problem, they melt the leads off and go open circuit. When this happens you loose half of your charging, look at the waveform I show on the right hand side or the regulator schematic and imagine every second pulse missing. Your regulator will now not be able to keep up the voltage although it will struggle along for years possibly It's possible with a bit of luck to dismantle the regulator and fix the diodes but you run the risk of doing more damage to the circuit board getting it out. Fortunately the diodes are directly connected to the outside world so you can simply connect another in parallel. Leaving the bad one in circuit is not a problem. I like to use one of the potted bridge type rectifiers because they provide a convenient way of mounting to a heat sink (the bike chassis) without having to worry about accidental shorts to ground. A 20 Amp bridge is big enough because at the most you only use 2 of the 4 diodes so it shouldn't overheat (higher current rating is better) You could use just one diode to replace the bad one but remember it's case is alive (+12 V connected to the 30 Amp fuse F3) so it needs to be isolated from ground. Regulator External Diodes.pdf

Heres the Circuit...... It's posted elsewhere but this seems like a good spot for a copy. Notes: 1. The part in light brown is just for the charging light and not required for the regulator. 2. Note 2 on the drawing shows a value of 575 Ohms, this was measured in-situ. The actual values I just checked were a resistor 820 Ohms on the component side and a trim resistor 4700 Ohms on the circuit side, I think what they do in the factory is instal the 820 Ohm resistor on the component side, install the circuit board then put it on their test rig and substitute different values of "Trim Resistor" until they get the right voltage. This makes it possible to change the setting slightly if the regulator drifts off with age, you can simply uncover the Trim Resistor and change it for another value, Increasing the resistance will increase the voltage. If you decide to do this, change the value in small steps and do a decent run because it takes a while to reach the new voltage level. Bear in mind changing the value of the trim resistor by 10% won't change the Voltage much because it has little effect on the combined resistance and also it's only one small part of a Voltage divider circuit. I sugest you solder a couple of short wires onto the circuit board so you can test different values easily or add a trim pot as I show in the photo/ The most voltage you will get is with the trim resistor off altogether. If you can't get enough Voltage check your diodes, one may be open circuit. I check my Voltage in a set pattern, by going for a ride then turning off the key before stopping so the headlight doesn't drain the battery down any. I attached a photo showing where the trim resistor connects also shows how you could make an adjustable version. In hindsight I would use a 2K fixed resistor in series with a 5K trimpot, this should give an adjustment range of about 1 Volt Regulator Schematic.pdf

That's reasonable. If you get 18V then all components work as they should, besides the regulator circuit wich obviously fails to open the rectifier at 14/15V. The internals get damp after some years, salt and other nasty things get in as well and as a result migration often starts bridging parts and even wires. Putting mine into the kitchen oven at 120°C for some hours cured the 17V problem. Probably temporarily, but for this summer it works. Hubert I can't see how the potting could fail to keep moisture out (looked really tight everywhere and no cracks), but maybe you are right. I'll aim for some active tests. BTW I tried re-soldering most components on the PCB's in case there was hard-to-spot soldering faults. My 40W Weller iron is far too weak for the diodes and external wire solders. I need to buy a cheap-ish heavier iron for them. Not sure how much power is needed. I remember my dad had a huge soldering iron that was probably capable of soldering tin cans, that one would have come handy Are you trying to solder it with the diode mounted or in a vice, if so all the heat will soak away, I did mine with the diode sitting on a piece of wood 40 Watts should be enough.

Do you mean I connect 15VDC should give nothing? And then reverse poles on the input. I guess that should work. With a variable supply I could even spot the switch point. No wait, I could put the reference wire to a voltage divider potentiometer! And use a 15VDC or higher source. This might be a plan. Maybe it's better just hooking it up properly to my bike though. This will test all of it at once. It's just that I would need to pull fairing and tank - and then mount the tank again for a test run, and then remove it again, and... The output of a battery charger will be a series of pulses peaking about 18 Volts and dropping to zero but it would only check one pair of the diode SCR bridge On second thoughts I'm just confusing the issue, If you can connect to the transformer inside the charger or find a suitable transformer do it that way. No you don't need a variable supply to check the switch point the regulator will take care of that it will just rectify whatever AC you throw at it until the battery comes up to voltage then it will start to skip half cycles and eventually stop firing the SCRs altogether. Obviously you don't want too large a transformer or the regulator will overheat. Another option would be to use say a 20 - 30 Volt transformer with a lamp in series, say a headlamp bulb then as the voltage comes up you will see it cut back by the lamp brightness. Actually if you can find a reasonable size 12 VAC adapter (Wall Warts they are known as here) they put out a lot more than what it shows on the nameplate. I use a 1 Amp DC one I found as a battery charger. If you want to test it on your bike a good spot is put it on the steering damper bolt, all the connectors are right there.