gammatronix and 2cv alternator

[gilburton]

I have just fitted a 2cv alternator and I bought a gammatronix led charge indicator. It works well and is ridiculously easy to fit. Just a 14mm hole and positive/negative leads. It can be set up as a simple battery charge indicator or by removing the jumper connection that is already fitted it gives you a more detailed voltage indicator by flashing/changing colour.
I've gone for the simple green/orange indicator.
It only costs about £10 on ebay.

[alexanderfoti]

What engine are you using the 2cv alternator on?

[gilburton]

I'm using it on my MZ robin engine.
When I eventually looked at the robin alternator it was damaged. Due to the non availability of a Robin one I bought a 2cv alternator for £15 on ebay and a new 2cv regulator.
It is running backwards and works perfectly.
You can see it on the left of the bike just behind the air filter in my video!
The only hard part was making up a bracket to mount it.
I used a 2cv belt for ease of availability and bought a 30mm taperlock and SPZ section 110mm pulley (an SPA section may have done ) to mount to the engine drive shaft. It is fitted between the drive pulley and the engine. The Robin has quite a long shaft.
All in it cost about £50 total and was installed in about a day. I also bought a used 2cv belt cover to give me a basis to make a belt guard.
If buying from a breakers get all the parts required inc the adjuster bracket. The taperlock and pulley were about £15 online or your local bearing supplier.
The only thing is the 2cv alternator does not have any cooling fan so it must have some airflow(which mine does) If you use an alternator with a fan, like most cars, it won't be any good cooling wise if run backwards.
All alternators will run backwards.
The electrics are simple and, as my bike is cvt and electric start with no pull starter, it was important that I knew my battery was charging, so, I bought the gammatronix led indicator. It is usually on orange after starting and switches to green virtually straight away confirming the battery is charging and up to voltage. It's more than just an led as it has a small circuit attached and by removing a small jumper link it can show different levels of battery voltage by colour/blinking. I've left the jumper on so it's green for good,orange bad.
I can attach a simple 2cv wiring diagram if you want it.
The gammatronix is about £10 on ebay.
It certainly keeps things simple.

[gilburton]

Here is the 2cv wiring diagram.
It's very simple. If you already have an inbuilt alternator cut/isolate or remove the wiring and make safe. No need to remove the alternator. You can if you wish BUT if left on the wiring has to be made SAFE.
We are now only talking about the 2cv alternator/regulator.
From the ignition switch or fuse box take a live feed (when ign. is switched on) through a fuse to + on the regulator.
Run an earth to the - on the regulator.
Connect "exc" on the alternator to "exc" on the regulator.
Run a lead from + on the alternator to the positive side of the battery and that's it!!!
The alternator is earthed through the mountings.
If you think you have "blown" the alternator or your used one doesn't appear to work it has a built in "printed circuit" type fuse bolted in.
Some 15amp fuse wire will be ok to test it but they are available from ebay or 2cv specialists. (not your local parts place)
Note the 2cv does not have an ignition light hence my fitting of a gammatronix.

[gilburton]

There is currently a used 2cv alternator on ebay uk for £9.99 at the moment and a NEW regulator for £17.40.
www.ecas.co.uk for parts.

[alexanderfoti]

Aha very good, how are you driving the alt? I have been thinking of using alternator after having stator trouble with my yanmar

[alexanderfoti]

Aha very good, how are you driving the alt? I have been thinking of using alternator after having stator trouble with my yanmar

[gilburton]

As I said in the post I have mounted a pulley behind the cvt drive pulley. I don't think you can do that as you have chain drive and a tapered shaft??
Could you take off the pull starter and make up an adapter and attach it there then mount a pulley??
Could you throw the chain case away and run a "dry" sealed chain. All you would need then is a basic shield to keep the belt dry and a chain guard for safety.
Maybe a double engine sprocket using the outer one for alternator drive? and replace the alternator pulley with a sprocket or take the pulley off first and get it welded to the sprocket/
If you had a straight drive shaft you could probably have mounted a pulley outside the primary chain case or between the case and engine.
The other option is some sort of drive from the back wheel. It wouldn't charge at a standstill but it would work.
I'm not familiar with your type of engine but can you expose the flywheel by taking off a cover?? If so maybe a pulley could be attached?
I was getting a bit desperate with mine and I even considered some sort of friction drive using a rubber wheel in place of the alternator pulley directly on to the flywheel until I discovered by cutting away the flywheel cover it gave me a bit more room to play with.
I've no doubt someone with your type of engine might offer a suggestion. Sam Brumby has had success with using standard V belts/pulleys as primary drive instead of a chain.
Don't forget you will need access to change the belt but you could use the "link" type belts or even a car emergency belt as it only has to turn the alternator nothing else.

[alexanderfoti]

Ahhh sorry about that I completely missed the bit about driving it with the belt lol.

I was thinking of doing something similar with a chain driven alternator and a adding either another pulley, or a double row pulley onto the engine drive shaft, there is space for another one but then we get into the problem of the chain case, as mentioned.

I already run an dry chain as my chaincase isnt sealed. I was going to go down the belt route, but as I cannot get my gearbox to stop leaking oil, it ends up lubricating the drive chain anyway, would probably knacker a belt pretty quickly, (that and having to engineer some sort of belt drive into the clutch sounds like a lot of work + i dont have anyway of adjusting the tension without a tensioner wheel.

[pietenpol2002]

The Yanmar L100 pic below suggests that a flywheel drive adapter might be available from Yanmar. Just another option to consider given that you're not utilizing a pull start. Of course from Yanmar it would cost a bit.

[alexanderfoti]

I do plan to drive a supercharger from the flywheel side at one point, using the pullstart adapter as a base to weld on to a pulley, I could probably incorporate a alternator into it aswell.

[gilburton]

There you go then. As an easy interim solution get the cup part of the recoil starter to suit your engine and get a pulley welded on to it. The complete recoil starter is only around £25 on ebay so a cup can't be much. Maybe someone has a spare??
The other option is to take your flywheel to an engineer with the pic of the drive adapter in the above post and get him to make one up with say a 1" shaft or 25/30mm. Don't be too bothered about a keyway just weld on a single or double pulley. Job done then get your alternator etc. mounted.

[pietenpol2002]

If I recall correctly you plan to use an AMR500 which employs a multi-rib/poly-V pulley. Since many cars use that arrangement for driving power steering, water pump, AC etc. I've thought about liberating an appropriately sized one from the breakers to keep costs down. I've got examples of both the 300 and the 500 - just haven't decided which to go with yet. The fact that the Aisin has only 4 grooves/ribs whereas most auto applications use 6 should not be a problem. Of course, this doesn't solve your other drive problem for the alternator.
The example in the link below would appear to have sufficient offset to get outside the fins and tins. The pilot hole could be enlarged to accept the crank thread diameter and the pull start coupler could be used as a template for drilling the 4 other mounting holes. Many other inexpensive options are available on Fleabay, at least here in the states.

http://tinyurl.com/6oapy9j

[alexanderfoti]

Yes an AMR500, so shouldnt be too hard to engineer it into a belt system.

The only issue is that I didnt want to put it on the right hand side of the engine, due to the offeset I am already running. Maybe a jackshaft to the left hand side? Im not sure I have the space in the frame.

[gilburton]

Your offset doesn't look too bad with the tank etc in place. You want to see mine.
When I mentioned a dry chain I meant an "O" ring type but if your gearbox leaks that's no good either.
Anyway you appear to have got your charging sorted so I assume among your many guages you have a charging indicator so no need for the Gammatronix.

[alexanderfoti]

Your offset doesn't look too bad with the tank etc in place. You want to see mine.
When I mentioned a dry chain I meant an "O" ring type but if your gearbox leaks that's no good either.
Anyway you appear to have got your charging sorted so I assume among your many guages you have a charging indicator so no need for the Gammatronix.

Yeah but it leaks onto the primary so its not too bad

Only gear oil thats leaking none of the grease.

Yup, charging a ll sorted, and I have an ammeter and a voltmeter to tell me (And an additional voltage/amperage backlit screen now, but thats another story) I like the idea of the Gammatronix though.

[gilburton]

You'll probably need another alternator to keep that lot working

[alexanderfoti]

You'll probably need another alternator to keep that lot working

heh not now that my rewound stator is putting out 10 amps