Thinking about doing the reg/rec wired direct to battery mod, any problems i should look for, hints, tips, ETC. NC24.
I mostly only do short journeys to work at this time of year and its getting hard to start in the mornings. think this might help keep the battery charged up a bit better. any help would be welcome.

Just make sure you use nice heavy cable. I used 30 amp, which should be more than adequate. Decent connectors at the battery end would be handy, and make sure you put a fuse in the positive cable. I've just done this for my RVF, and peak output went up from 13.8 to 14.5V. Pity there's an issue elsewhere that it didn't fix... lol

spooky wrote:Thinking about doing the reg/rec wired direct to battery mod, any problems i should look for, hints, tips, ETC. NC24.
I mostly only do short journeys to work at this time of year and its getting hard to start in the mornings. think this might help keep the battery charged up a bit better. any help would be welcome.

id advice a full check of the charging system before modding it, you may be trying to mask a problem.

Actually, that's a very good point. It may be just as simple as your battery is showing signs of old age...

Doing this properly means a couple of FBL8 connectors from VehicleWiringProducts to go in the original block, a nice thick bit of cable, a 30A inline fuse holder and all crimp+solder joints, then a bit of heathrink to tidy up the ends.

Do it properly or let it be :) Unfortunately the bill does add up a bit, although it's cheaper than the regulator+battery you'll have to replace when something corrodes and overheats.

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... inwall.php - cable ref 33 (thicker won't fit in the connectors) x 1m
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... blades.php - FBL8 x 2
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... srings.php - RD6 x 2
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... lders1.php - FH242

I bought a new reg/rec connector kit, a three pin connector kit very similar to the original for the alternator connector as mine had crappy wires, some red and black wire, spare spades, a 30A blade fuse holder and some chunky M6 battery terminal connectors (a bit OTT, admittedly), and the whole lot was about £20. I think the cost is worth the payback of making your charging circuit more robust, and less likely to undercharge the battery causing it to be discharged and possibly reduce it's useful life.

If the charging system is working correctly then this mod shouldn't be necessary.

Difficulty starting in the colder weather? Is the choke operating correctly? What's the air/fuel ratio like? As standard, the NC24 runs too lean for the UK.

ok, got 27 amp charging wire, max 325 watts. should be ok, its 4.2 mm
also got all the insulated connectors and battery terminal connectors, and a waterproof inline spade fuse holder from my local autoparts. Charging system seems ok as after a run it starts ok, but may need a new battery as this one doesn't seem to hold the charge overnight. i know its not necessary to do this mod if the charging system is working properly, but it might help the battery get a better charge, hopefully it will help the lights too. they are crap, might look at doing the light wiring through a relay, read on here it can help. hopefully get all this done this weekend, too bloody cold outside to be working at it in the evenings. lol.

If the battery loses charge overnight, either it's old/knackered, or you have a leak somewhere in the wiring. Measure across the battery leads with the battery out of the bike, and the multimeter set to milliamps. Should be zero, or as near zero as makes no difference. If it's more than 50mA, then you've got a short to earth somewhere (or maybe an alarm/immobiliser etc).

As for the headlights, some people have told of replacing the feed to the headlights with new wire, and improved lighting resulting as the wire used in the loom is as light as can be got away with, so when everything starts getting old and a little corroded here and there you start losing power due to extra resistance in the circuit.

Cheers Speedy, i'll check that out. most likely the battery though. its about 3 year old, and as the bike sits outside it gets year round weather, lol. but i do ride it year round too, lol.