Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: berniebee on August 30, 2022, 11:38:29 AM
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Hi folks,
Where does a fellow get ONLINE technical help with a Duck's electrical systems? I'm looking for a forum that would have helpful Gurus, something like wildguzzi is for us.
I have a long time biker friend who's 1975 860GT shows low battery volts (12.9v) when running. I've given him general advice, but he's bogged down. He's a smart cookie, actually an electrical engineer but razor sharp focused in the telecommunication field designing parts of commercial router/bridge systems. He can handle a multimeter but has little practical experience troubleshooting bike electrics. (That's what happens when you ride reliable Japanese bikes before buying an old Ducati!).
He's been told to measure the regulator output voltage with the battery disconnected by a guy he met at a bike club. That doesn't sound right to me for any vehicle.
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Hi berniebee,
Euro Motoelectrics (https://www.euromotoelectrics.com/default.asp) has a section at the bottom of their home page labeled Technical Tips, where your friend can find everything he will need to diagnose the problem. They are also very knowledgeable and will steer him in the right direction on the phone if he runs into a problem. I've purchased a couple reg/recs from them and they have good stuff.
Cheers!
Craig
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+1 on Euromotoelectrics. John is knowledgeable and helpful. They're based in Denver. Check the website out.
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I have a 1975 Ducati 860 GT, kick start only model, early production.
There is a lot to not like about the early 860 ignition, the Ducati Electronica system has a very sudden and extreme advance curve that was know to cause early wear of the crank pin. I swapped out the system for a SAsche battery/ coil system, much better. As to the charging I swapped out the original unit from Ricks Moto Electric unit I bought off Bevel Heaven.
To test charging remove the two yellow wires from the Stator to the regulator and using a multimeter on AC voltage attach a meter lead to each of the yellow Stator wires, at 6000 rpm there should be 60 - 70 volts AC. The Stator is a single phase unit on the early bikes.
As long as the AC input to the reg is good then take the red wire off from the reg to fuse box or battery, at 3000 rpm you should have around 14.5 DC volts.
You can check the diodes in the reg/rec by using the diode setting on the multimeter check red to each yellow swapping the neg and positive leads around for each yellow to red, there should be a reading in one direction only.
Another odd thing unique to the 860 early models is the kill switch function, the factory manual talks about the replacement to the electrical module inside the headlight bucket. If I recall correctly if you swap to the Sasche unit this original module is not needed and a simple kill switch grounding a coil will kill the motor.
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I've had good luck here....
https://www.ducati.ms/
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All I can add is that my bike had a prominent sticker near the battery that explicitly stated to NOT run the engine with the battery disconnected.
Also, the battery in my bike failed while I was riding, which caused a voltage spike that blew out every light bulb that was turned on at the time and one of the ignition modules.