Alton to a 1961 31csr

[Biscuit]

Not particularly au fait with Altons, but I believe the earlier ones were single phase, necessitating an arrangement of internal gearing, the later ones I read somewhere are three phase and dispense with the gearing, less chance of problems and less Bhp absorbed.

[lawrence]

Spent yesterday riding round town with the headlight on and forgot to put the charger on the battery overnight. Came home tonight on candlepower

I am either going to have to get an Alton or a lower wattage headlight bulb

[Biscuit]

Carrots?

[ekkeneckepen]

Hello Biscuit

Thats wrong. The gearing is nessecary to make the 1/2 offset to get the similar design as the old Lucas E3L. Not the gearing is a problem, that looks very strong and of good design. My Alton rotor has scrached the stator and that deleveloped a lot of heat which burned off the coils. Three phase generators produce a smoother wave form after rectifiing.

Regards Jens

[Charles]

I have an Alton on a 1960 31CSR - wish the engine ran as well as the elctrics work though. Just be aware that earlier Altons were easier to fit into the dynamo space; you just moved the diecast quadrant plate over, used the standard 2BS stud to pull it tight etc BUT had to cut a notch in the retaining metal strap as that was where the wires come out. The Alton I have fitted is a physically different casing to the earlier ones. Same dimensions but made from a solid billet milled out. At the timing side end, there is an allen headed screw just where you need to put the 2BA stud in and the other screw holes don't match up exactly. I had a circular plate made with offset hole and lip to mimic the shape of the quadrant plate and attached that to the Alton with screws where I wanted them. the end cap of the ALton is 25mm thich at the timing side so no problem with depth. I also drilled out the crank case and timing cover to 1/4" and put a 1/4" stud into the circular plate, then had that welded on as well.

There seem to be no physical mounting problem evident yet and full filament type lights give charging breakeven at about 45mph in 4th, with Boyer box and twin ouotput coil for the ignition.

I have some photos of the plate if anyone wants to see them though not dimensions as a local machine shop took this on as a project for me, then realised that they should have made two plates and welded them as it would have been a lot easier than offset milling which is what they did.

rgeards
Charles

PS now if I can fix the intermittent misfire on the bike it will be a good un.

[Biscuit]

Well, I am wrong again!. The information was that the three phase device was the earlier version, which apparently was unsatisfactory. With respect to the gearing I cannot find the reference, but I probably got that wrong as well. The gears must be very small, and bearing in mind they have to absorb 1/5 of a horsepower, I feel very wary about these.

Generally I am an impulse buyer, and when I first became aware of the Alton, I thought I must have one of these, but the cost meant considered impulse buying!

Now, Charles, 48 MPH before the Alton can balance the drain on the battery? My G11, standard electrics, can balance all the lights at 25 MPH. The three phase alternator on the Honda four, based on the potential across the battery starts charging just off tickover, which is what I would expect of an alternator. Add to that, doing it yourself, you can completely refurbish the despised dynamo for just over £100 ( armature, field coil, bearings, brushes and oil seal)

Will I get an Alton - No! Should Lawrence?

[TommoT]

Well, comparing different motorcycles is not easy, but the Alton fitted to my G80 will balance a 55w halogen lamp, 15 watt rear bulb at 20-25mph depending on 3rd or 4th gear selected.

I too was put off by the Alton's price, but with just the necessary cash in hand I bought it anyway. At that point in time I had also refurbished the Lucas dynamo for approx. the amount mentioned by Biscuit. So I left the Alton on the shelf for a while. Rode about 2-3000km and the dynamo started to show signs of weakness again. Now this time I didn't have to spend money again or fiddle about with brushes, field coils, etc.. I just fitted the Alton, which in the case of the G80 was purely a spanner job, completed in the same time as swapping an original dynamo.

Now I have been a strong defender of Lucas equipment, claiming that as long it's maintained and kept in good order, it will do the job just fine. And so it has, but unfortunately not for long. My point is that the Lucas dynamo needs too much attention for my taste and yearly mileage.

Of all the times I have been let down, Lucas electrics and the lack of charging has been the culprit in 90% of the cases. I bought and fitted the Alton to introduce reliability, and for the last 5000km this is just what I have gained. Bright lights at all times, enough charge to keep a 12V/10amp battery charged at all times, also when only driving solely in town. Only time will tell if it stays that way, but so far I am very satisfied. Is it worth the money? All I can say is, that for me it is, because now I can fully enjoy staying out after dark (if the missus let me!) without fearing being left in the dark (which she also does!).

So should Lawrence by an Alton?

[Don Madden]

By all means, Lawrence should buy an Alton--for me. The dyno doesn't like the high RPM produced by the more sporting motors & rapidly self-distructs.

I have destroyed many on my desert sled & G12CSR.

Cheers, Don.

[Charles]

Perhaps I should have stated that 45MPH for break even is with 65W main beam, 15 W tail, 8W between pilot and speedo and a fair bit more for the ignition coils and Boyer. This is only my estimate of where the ammeter needle rests when the bike is not running; not been meaured using an accurate ammeter at all. I admit I was surprised when I first realised this was quite a high speed. Once you go above this, the charge rapidly increases and on a standard geared/tyred 31CSR, you are not doing a lot of revs at 45mph
regards
Charles

[lawrence]

I have received tech drawings from Alton and as Charles says an extra drill hole would need to be made directly between and practically touching two other holes. I would not think this to be good engineering practice.

I think I may try a 35w headlight bulb first. It is only lengthy town riding that produces a problem.