AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Yep, getting 7.8 volts at the battery when on moderate rpm, drops back to 6.7v at tickover.

That's very encouraging!
Have you tried running in 'normal' mode without the battery connected to see what happens? Should have sparks and, at moderate rpm, lights that are bright - but a bit flickery and dim at low rpm probably.

Not as yet, I've found a small glitch that may have been the problem. The ignition/ emergency switch has a slight dead spot when turned to the I position, so when it running in normal mode ( I ) if you just touch the switch to the left or right by a millimeter the engine cuts out.and it's possible that when I tried to start it in emergency then moved it back to the I position it lands on the dead spot and just cuts the engine. So I'm going to be looking at the switch. It's the original factory one, so a near on 60 years old !

All sorted, although the battery was very low and after a good long slow recharge it started but it was temperamental, the root cause was the ignition / emergency switch, it had a very slight dead spot due, I found this being due to the original rotary connection block being a tad loose, not bad for a 50+ year connector and switch, all sorted now and back to 1st time kick and starting again