TFS Trail (2)

[ian640]

All looks very tidy.

[tony]

Electric fun

Well I thought I was doing really well, everything seemed to work okay

Indicators
Pilot
Main and dip
Ignition

Ignition off - pilot led had a small flcker of light!!

I disconnected the earth off the battery - still there!!

Disconnected the neutral and the earth battery connections - still there!

Of course at this point I thought God had intervened and given my Greeves unlimited power

I disregarded this as miracles don't happen for me, however it suddenly dawned on me that I had left the battery charger on, simple switch it off and all will be well

Eh no Once I actually removed the battery charger from the socket all was well and there was no light from the pilot

I presume that there was minimal amount of amps coming through the charger even when switched off. Possibly a small amount through the earth? Being a small Led bulb it does not need much and I tested with a normal bulb and it was not an issue. Waste of a few hours.

Anyway a little bit more to do on the indicator/horn switch and it will be good for an evening run.

[Brian Thompson]

It's Green for a reason....!!

Of course at this point I thought God had intervened and given my Greeves unlimited power

Hi mate,

....and just when I was getting all excited because I thought you'd found a way to use Kryptonite as a power source......

Keep at it Tony, you'll sort it!

Brian.

[tony]

Let there be light

Thanks Brian sorted. Thanks to Dave for labelling the switch - wiring by numbers:
I have been out on it this morning and everything works great. Nice bright light for day light visibility and indicators that are a lot more visible than my arm flapping in the wind
I need to pick up a bulb holder for the speedometer and think about somewhere to put the flasher indicator bulb, if I need it.
Wiring is a bit messy under the head lamp as I have quite a few wires that probably could have been joined rather than running individually, the mud will cover them.





On a serious note it is a shame that so many off road bikes languish in garages because they are not road legal and they are not scrambled or trailed anymore. The cost to get a bike road legal is not that much, £55.00 and an Mot, a little more if you want to ride at night. Then at least you have a bike to ride to the pub on a Sunday

[John Wakefield]

Road registering trials (and scrambles) bikes,

Good point there Tony. It always amazes me just how many trials bikes come up for sale on eBay with 'no paperwork'. Back in the day when they were new virtually all trials bikes & a good percentage of early scramblers were road registered. All open to centre & above status trials involved road mileage back then, so the bikes had to be taxed. Also many club men used the same bike for scrambles in the summer & trials in the winter, just changing footrests, tyres, exhaust system and maybe barrel & carb.
So what happened to the paperwork & registration plates as these bikes passed to subsequent owners?

[tony]

Glorious riding weather

To nice today not to take a bike out for a ride. Since Sara has taken the nephews to the theatre (Oh no she hasn't - oh yes she has) I have the day to myself. What list of jobs to be done?

Out with the now completed TFS Trail(2), all the lights /horn /indicators all working, even the headlight bulb - now they have sent the correct positive earth as asked for.

The lanes are great to ride at this time of year as they are covered down the centre with earth and leaves so it is like an off road track, plenty of those as well.






Coming back from my jaunt around the Devon countryside I did realise I need a mirror, so I guess I will have to put that on Santa's list

[floydbassman]

A superb looking bike. What size final drive and rear sprockets are you using? On my TFS I use a 12 final drive for trials with 56 rear sprocket. When I go greenlaning or long distance trials I use an 18 final drive and have a short piece of chain to extend it to fit. Goes well on the road but I have to remember those old brakes....

[tony]

56 rear, not sure about the final drive sprocket. My brakes work really well, obviously not as good as a disc brake

[tony]

Hot starting

Great ride around the usual muddy tracks of Devon yesterday. Only issue is that it does not like starting
when it is hot - unless I bump it then it is okay.
I don't have this issue with the bikes with electronic ignition so maybe this one needs an electronicoscopy
It runs well with the Amal carb and is great fun, however it gets frustrating kicking to no avail.

[floydbassman]

I see that it has the original ignition coil inside the engine. My bike suffered the same as yours.The coil and condenser, when old, break down when hot. On my bike I have fitted an external coil and condenser under the tank. I removed the original ignition coil and carefully removed the outer thin ht winding, down to the thicker lt winding.Then refitted it. Then run a wire from the points to the new coil and condenser. It starts and runs no problem now hot or cold. I got the parts from Villiers Services.

[Brian Thompson]

Viliiers External Coil/Condensor Mod.

I see that it has the original ignition coil inside the engine. My bike suffered the same as yours.The coil and condenser, when old, break down when hot. On my bike I have fitted an external coil and condenser under the tank. I removed the original ignition coil and carefully removed the outer thin ht winding, down to the thicker lt winding.Then refitted it. Then run a wire from the points to the new coil and condenser. It starts and runs no problem now hot or cold. I got the parts from Villiers Services.

Hi guys, and Happy New Year FB Man.

I've got the same mod on my TCS Tony, and it's always been a reliable starter. Colin helpfully provided a copy of the wiring diagram (I first saw ths very one in an old back issue of 'LL' and it looks like the exact same one) on this thread (see Post #3); http://greeves-riders.org.uk/forums/...wiring+diagram Definitely worth looking at I reckon Tony.

The coil on mine is from a Yamaha FS1E (not as fast as the Suzukl AP50....!) Funnily enough, we had similar condenser issues on an old '6 legger' long wheelbase Transit 'band wagon' back in the day...but it wasn't funny when it made us late for the gig....

Brian.

[tony]

Thanks chaps, probably a good thing to do, however I will still be left with 6 volt electrics and as everything is 12 volt I need to charge the battery. I do trickle charge the battery every time I put the bike back in the garage so it does get charged. Whilst I am not impressed with the small amount of amperage from the Electrex world system, it is 12 volt. The other TFS Trail I have runs really well with electronic ignition so that is the route I shall take - not me personally

[floydbassman]

I saw on the net (but forgot to save it, doh), an old copy of an article where some mods to the standard Villiers ignition and lighting set to improve ignition and lighting on the 32a and 9e range. The other mod I forgot to mention previously was to use the lighting coil opposite the ignition coil (lighting coil in 9 o clock position) in parallel with the ignition coil to give it a boost at low revs. I have since read the article I found in which the earth end of the ignition coil was disconected from earth and used to wire in series with the lighting coil to boost voltage even further. This mod was used by some works riders apparently. The other mod mentioned was to do the same earth lifting mod to one of the other 2 lighting coils, located at 6 o clock and 12 o clock position, and wiring in series to each other to give a 12 volt output. I dont know what amperage is available but with modern led bulbs, this should provide a suitable charging output using a small modern rectifier and regulator . Im going to try these mods next time I have to strip my engine.

[tony]

Sounds very interesting, I suppose the only drawbacks are that the coils might not be as good as they were originally and the flywheel might of lost some of it's magnetism over time - like me
That said I sure that with your knowledge you will be able to sort that. Due to my limited ability I think electronic is the route.
I did read this article which explains some of what you have been discussing.
http://www.villiers.info/VSIH/VSIH3_sample_ch9.pdf

[John Pattinson]

Lighting coil mod

I have seen the article about boosting charging output, it but it converted the ignition to coil ign. (battery fed) Which maybe you do not want you want Tony, still 6v I think. I might be able to dig up the article...Watch this space....John P