Newfoundland & Labrador Trip, or, Another 2022 Trip Ended Prematurely

[Dirk_S]

I think I keep jinxing myself by posting excitement prior to the actual trip. First the MABDR trip a couple months ago, now this Newfoundland & Lab trip cut short due to bike issues.

Our first day started out fine enough. Replacing the clogged fuel filter in the tank meant that my V7 could once again handle (conservative) freeway speed, and we drove from New Hampshire to Cobscook Bay State Park to camp the first night. Nice campsite that overlooked the bay, with a small trail that went down to the water.







On the second day, starting out from Maine toward Pugwash, Nova Scotia, I experienced charging issues with the Guzzi—my V7 wouldn’t start any time I shut off the engine; had to jump-start 3 times. In St. John, New Brunswick, it shut off at a stop sign. It was a Saturday, and none of the bike shops in or around St. John were open for the rest of the weekend; didn’t help that Monday was New Brunswick Day, making for an extended holiday weekend. Called AAA and had the bike towed up to a bike shop, figuring it would be best to hang out there while we figure out our next steps.





I pulled out the multimeter, checked the voltage and just watched the number slowly drop. Calling around the stores nearby, there was only one battery available in the area, but it had to be filled and charged. The ferry to Newfoundland was leaving Sunday afternoon, and we were still 300+ miles away; an overnight charge meant we were going to almost surely miss the boat, and it wasn’t setting out again until later this week. My friend wouldn’t be able to fit those extra days into his time off. Accepting the fact that NF & Lab was now most likely out of the picture, the options remained to either tow the bike back or try to diagnose and possibly fix the charging gremlin. Decided to see what we can do with the bike and try to make something of our time in the area at least for a few days.

All the motels and AirBnBs in St. John were booked due to the holiday, so I hooked the newly purchased battery charger up to the newly purchased battery (thanks, Canadian Tire), and plugged them into the outside outlet behind Eldridge’s motorcycle shop before we backtracked 25 miles west to a nice but pricier-than-preferred hotel on the bay—good thing we had one functioning sidecar.



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The next morning we came back to Eldridge’s.










I installed the new battery and pulled out the multimeter. Tested the battery with the bike off, read +12.4V. Good.

Tested the battery with the bike turned on and rev’ing at 4k RPM, read over 13v, and slowly climbed. Good? I think?

Tested the AC voltage on the 3 stator coils to the reg/rec; each spiked briefly at 20v or just over. Good?

Tested the resistance on those wires, read 0.

My understanding is that those are all good readings, although I wonder if I should immediately read over 14v on the battery when rev’ing? I chalked the issue up to possibly a battery (bought earlier this year) that prematurely went bad.

From there, my friend and I discussed what to do from there. He went to school for bagpiping in Cape Breton, but has never visited Halifax. Also never took a bike on a ferry before. Decided to make our way down to Halifax from St. John. The trip from there was pretty uneventful.









However, while staying the night in Yarmouth on our last day in NS, I checked the voltage of the battery after shutting off the bike, and it only read 12v… so maybe I still have a charging gremlin.

The good:
* Solved the power issue that I had on my Pennsylvania trip;

* Learned new diagnostic tips;

* Enjoyed riding the sidecar for a couple thousand miles, getting to know the rig and setup even better;

* Alex got to experience Halifax for the first time and get his fill of Tim Horton’s and poutine;

* Saw my second moose (swap donkey) ever; Alex, who’s yet to see a moose, missed it trying to pass an RV;

* Didn’t die.

The “Alex & Dirk Sidecar Pals Take On Newfoundland & Lab” movie will have to wait until next year; guess that means I may have to stick around New England for another year. But that’s OK.

Anyway. Onto that charging gremlin.

[blackcat]

Bummer about the trip, I always keep one of those small chargers on the bike for long trips. The one I have is made by Schumacher, can start a bike/car and also charges up phones, etc. Good luck finding the problem.

[Tkelly]

Sounds like a bad rectifier like we had on our 13 v7.

[Scout63]

Home again safely, some good time off with friends, and great pictures. I think it was a win. Thanks for sharing the details.  It’s great to experience rides vicariously and share a piece of it.

[leafman60]

Stuff happens. (Or something like that.) I encourage you (or anyone else) to make your trip to Newfoundland.  I've been there on a bike and by air several times and plan to go back later this year.  The scenery is stunning and the people are so friendly.  It's a big place so you have a variety of locales to visit. 

A few sample shots from my past travels -















.

[leafman60]

There, try that.

[steven c]

I agree,my wife and I in the early 90's drove my S10 PU, and a couple of  ferry's to get there. Just a fantastic place, and wonderful camp grounds. I hope to go back.

[n3303j]

Hi Dirk,
When a sidecar rig has charging problems a quick fix is to throw a deep cycle Group 27 battery in the sidecar trunk and run a pair of heavy wires back to the original battery leads. This will give you a nice long run without headlight (like days). Then (like a Tesla) you have to find a campsite with a plug every few days (and carry a charger).

Did this with the Ural early on while dealing with the Crap Russian Alternator. Runs real quiet with no alternator to spin. Charged about once a week out of guilt. Finally upgraded to Denso alternator.

PS: If you are charging properly you should be seeing 13.7 to 14.2 volts showing up at the battery terminals at 3,000 RPM (assuming you have a good meter).

[Huzo]

A lot of problems that arise on a trip, are because the bike does not get enough routine use.
I fully service the Norge then make sure I put a thousand or so km on it before I send it over.

[Dirk_S]

Regarding the charging issue, I followed up on this in a thread that I’ve since deleted, as I didn’t want to repeat the topic that seemed thorough enough from Vagrant’s and Kiwi Roy’s stator experience. To recap, after having arrived back home and spending a wee more time reading how to properly test the stator, i retested and found that phase 2 was only putting out 9.5v at 3000 RPM. Replacement stator ordered from AF1. In the meantime, I have a second battery in the sidecar trunk, as well as 2 jumper packs that double as accessory charging battery banks, and a battery tender/charger so I can keep riding until it arrives.

Stators can go. Maybe I didn’t ride it enough in the past couple winters (that’ll change this year), or perhaps I throw too many accessories on (pushes me to add back the LED headlight).

Anyway, Newfoundland and Labrador is planned again for next year.

PS - I’m surprised bikes don’t come with capacitors to store the excess charge so that the battery is only used for starting a bike. Pretty goofy that vehicles require a battery to continue running.

[n3303j]

Don't need a battery to keep the engine running, only to start the bike (if your charging system is working).
Battery just smooths out the current flow and fills in the valleys.

[Bulldog9]

A lot of problems that arise on a trip, are because the bike does not get enough routine use.
I fully service the Norge then make sure I put a thousand or so km on it before I send it over.

I do the same. Just finished up the Convert, the 1200 Sport is
Next, to include a TB balance. The Convert is fun, but I am craving
some speed and more aggressive riding