Hey there guys. After much deliberating and late nights with colour charts, I have finally picked the colour for my 1985 Yamaha FZ400. The first picture is how i got it, £70 off ebay. LOL. And the second is how it is now. Almost ready for MOT. I'm still havin trouble with the alternator. Its not charging the bike. Don't know how to go about it. Any ideas? Thanks for looking. Phil. Safe biking.

Brace yourself for the inevitable "Flying Banana" comments .... looks like a nice job.

Alternator - sure it's not a dead rectum-frier? Are you getting the requisite number (RTFM for the right numbers) of electrical volt pixies from the alternator outputs? Not too well up on FZ's, but presumably there's a continuity check you can do on the alternator outputs to show if a coil has broken down/shorted out.

If it does turn out to be the alt, then West Country Windings have a good reputation - worth a shout.

You're welcome.

Hey there. I had a look in manual and it said when the bike is running and revved to 5000rpm there should be between 14 and 15 volts across the battery terminals. When turned off it should be 12volts. Mine is reading only 11.5 volts. Not sure exactly what the rectifier does but I do have a spare.

And also my bike doesn't go fast enough to fly. LOL. Weighs a tun and struggles to get 100. LOL

Only 11.5 volts at any engine speed? Slightly flat battery, but that's to be expected.

Rectum-frier 101:

Alternator puts out AC volts (constantly switching between + and - on any single output)

Battery only eats DC volts (always + one way)

Rectum-frier is a series of diodes (electric pixie one way streets) that force the AC to become DC and thus charge the battery. It also regulates the 60-90 volts (or more) output of the alternator down to 14.5 volts (or thereabouts) so the battery doesn't explode and blow yer arse off!

If you've got a spare rectum-frier then it's a simple swap out to check - of course both units could be fecked, but then you can resort to checking the manual for the tests - usually a sequence of resistance checks against the pins.

You're welcome.

Only 11.5 volts at any engine speed? Slightly flat battery, but that's to be expected.

Rectum-frier 101:

Alternator puts out AC volts (constantly switching between + and - on any single output)

Battery only eats DC volts (always + one way)

Rectum-frier is a series of diodes (electric pixie one way streets) that force the AC to become DC and thus charge the battery. It also regulates the 60-90 volts (or more) output of the alternator down to 14.5 volts (or thereabouts) so the battery doesn't explode and blow yer arse off!

If you've got a spare rectum-frier then it's a simple swap out to check - of course both units could be fecked, but then you can resort to checking the manual for the tests - usually a sequence of resistance checks against the pins.

You're welcome.

Yeah 11.5 volts when running.

Cheers for the help much appreciated.

Phil

Looks like you did a good job with it mate,

Much love to the bike projecteers of the world!!