November Green Lanes

[Steve Brown]

Yesterday was a grand day out for four club members and four Morini. 3 Kanguros, and 1 Camel. It was pretty slippery and greasy out there but we all managed to stay upright and only one stop for repairs when a speedo drive decided to start making unpleasant noises. 1 Proper ford crossing and various springs/streams/large puddles were no problem, and we saved the ford till last so the bikes could get a rinse off. Oh, and also because we didn't fancy riding all day with wet feet. Light was failing just after 4pm so we called it a day then. After re-fueling the bikes we spent a little while trying to get some sort of headlight beam for Jonathan, to no avail! So he had to ride home 50 miles in the proper dark, down the Fosseway-I did lend him a pushbike light to help out though-it didn't occur to me till this morning that he could have used my van instead! What did we learn? Well, thanks to Benjy I learnt that the grey wire from the alternator that feeds the AC headlamp bulb DOES go through some circuitry of some sort, inside the rec/reg box. Not as I've been telling Paul, a direct unhindered connection! 2 of us learnt that a Morini does actually make an effective trail bike and finally that the Morini brand seems to be more well known in Leicestershire than elsewhere in the UK, as on two separate occasions we had members of the public exclaim that "you never see 4 Morini together!" I learnt that despite my multimeter checks the alternator on my bike doesn't give enough to keep a 60 watt bulb going all day as well as work the electric starter. I should have known that.. good job I didn't try the heated gloves too!
Next run I fancy will be in North Northants in December. This is Chairman Tom's part of the world-I wonder if we'll bump into him there If you fancy joining in the fun you know where to ask don't you?

[Bunjy Strap]

Top day out Steve! Thanks for organising. If only I hadn't ended up with whiplash for some reason.....
Re AC feed to headlight and the reg/rec, it isn't quite true to say that the supply goes THROUGH some sort of electrical control circuit. The 2 grey wire terminals are directly attached to each other but they are also attached to an electrical control circuit. In this case some sort of AC voltage clipper which cuts off the top of the peaks and the bottom of the troughs of the AC supply to prevent the bulb seeing more than a nominal 12V.
In hindsight with Jonathan's Kanguro it might have been worth doing a quick test before setting him off on his dark journey. Disconnect both grey wires from the reg/rec and connect them together. If all is ok with the rest of the circuit (ie rotor/stator, wiring, handlebar switch, bulb and earth) then the bulb should shine brightly. Just don't rev the engine too much or the bulb will blow. So if the bulb does shine brightly then the fault is with the reg/rec. But if it does NOT shine brightly then the fault is within the circuit.

[Steve Brown]

Thanks for clearing that up Bunjy. We did that when testing out Paul Bowens' bike and got the result of a bright light. However, his headlight even after a rec/reg swap is better but still not as bright as yours is. This suggests to me a gradual deterioration of whatever magic beans are contained in this unit. I'm glad I hung onto a couple of Kanu and camel rec/reg units to compare.
Would anyone care to suggest a way of making an external magic bean box to bypass the original gizmo? So that we can get the bits from RS etc?

[Bunjy Strap]

This from Rex's Speed shop should do it
https://rexs-speedshop.com/product/12-v ... regulator/

[Steve Brown]

That looks like the answer for a few of our members then. Along with a simple rectifier the complete original unit could be replaced, once it was completely fubarred.

[Ming]

On previous Kanguros I had the pleasure to own I used a Boyer Power Box instdead of a Ducatimeccanica regulator. Worked a treat. And no battery needed!

[Steve Brown]

On previous Kanguros I had the pleasure to own I used a Boyer Power Box instdead of a Ducatimeccanica regulator. Worked a treat. And no battery needed!

Yes, seen that done with the full 12 volt types, was yours the 6/12volt system of the pre-electric start bikes?

[Ming]

As far as I recall they were X2s, and I think I changed any 6v lamps to 12v, the stator can cope with the change ’as is’.
It was many years back...

[Bunjy Strap]

On previous Kanguros I had the pleasure to own I used a Boyer Power Box instdead of a Ducatimeccanica regulator. Worked a treat. And no battery needed!

Call me old-fashioned, but the thought of not having ANY lights available when with a dead engine doesn't appeal to me. And what exactly is being saved? Perhaps 1kg of battery?