AJS & Matchless Owners Club

I've been searching high and low for a Lucas E3N dynamo for my 56 16MS basket case, finally one appears on ebay, it's an E3N-L-1, has a 17T sprocket attached but curiously also has 2 x what looks like fixing screws in the collar of the sprocket.
Anyway, I bought it....It's marked as 20038B and is an E3N-L but I haven't dared to remove the sprocket as yet.... I can't seem to find any online references to E3N-L-1 anywhere...
Apart from that, it seems a dead ringer for the right item... Any ideas out there?

Regards Mark - Perth Australia

I can only assume that the fixing holes you refer to are threaded to take an extractor when you need to remove sprocket. As regards the type of dynamo, if it fits then it should be ok. You may need to flash the dynamo and then test it for out-put before fixing though.

It should be fine. No dimensional variances from the E3N. It's just a derivative of the E3N giving 45 watts (on a good day). I have an E3N-L-0 on my '54 G3LS. I'm told that the 'L' refers to direction of rotation, i.e Left hand, but it will run perfectly well with right hand rotation if it is repolarised ('Flashed') which takes only 15 mins with the dynamo in situ on the bike, as mentioned by '1608' above.
Check it's working O.K. before fitting it!

See James' test instructions here.......
https://matchlessclueless.com/electrica ... as-dynamo/

Not quite so. With "flashing" you can change the polarity while the dynamo has still the same direction of rotation. To change from direction of rotation the internal field wire connections have to be interchanged (or the brush wires) followed by "flashing" for proper polarity.

Mark, a 20038B has "our" anti-clockwise direction of rotation. You have to judge this when looking from the drive (sprocket) side, also when living in the Southern Hemisphere.
Albert