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Whats all this wire mod the septics are on about on the "other" site? It seems that reg/rectifier problems abound on bikes. Honda, those paragons of engineering exellence, have problems.

So do i need to just keep the bike on an Optimate and replace the Battery every two years (like Laverdas), or do I need to play with the electricks, bearing in mind I`m an old fashioned nut and bolt engineer and consider anything electrickle the spawn of bealzebub

Would that be this one? https://www.ridersite.com/viewtopic.php?p=11449
Sure someone will be along shortly with their experiences.

thanks for the link. yes thats the one. As an after thought, my bike is one of the last with the bronze forks. as the lights are always on, did the factory upgrade the wiring on these later falcos? i.e does the reg/rectifier wiring only effect the silver framed falco`s?

scorpio24v wrote:thanks for the link. yes thats the one. As an after thought, my bike is one of the last with the bronze forks. as the lights are always on, did the factory upgrade the wiring on these later falcos? i.e does the reg/rectifier wiring only effect the silver framed falco`s?

TBH there are few changes between any of the Falcos.
My Falco's got the Gold Marzocchi forks too (rather than the earlier Showa) but at least I do have the ability to turn my lights off!. I think there are very few Falcos that didn't come with the light switch. I don't believe there were any other electrical changes at that time .... but that's only because I've not heard that there were.

The "wiring mod" is designed to overcome voltage drop though one of the connectors which is considered to be poorly specified.
The theory is that the connector drops enough voltage to stop the battery charging optimally. From the voltages quoted by people before and after the mod, it seems that they could be right that the voltage before the mod can be too low but I think that after the mod it sounds as though the voltage could be a bit too high.

I know that some have approached this differently and given their connector terminals a damned good clean - apparently with good effect.

I do wonder whether some people think their battery is not charging well because they are having starting problems caused by a starter relay with high contact resistance. The result of the wiring mod may make it easier to start but it may not be the real problem in all circumstances.

I've often wondered about doing this mod but (for the time being) have decided not to bother.
Certainly I don't get the starting issues I once did since sorting out my starter relay (and I don't often bother to connect my optimate any more - whereas, at one time I always connected it).

thanks for that D-Rider.

2001 Falco, 22K plus miles, original battery, standard wiring, no alarm, just give it trickle charge when it's been stood for a week or two, otherwise still OK, no problems!
Perhaps I'm just lucky.

I did my version of the wire mod, just to see the difference it made. I have never had starting or battery issues unless the bike was left for a long time without charge.
Anyhow I by passed the loom pl plug altogether with new wire and received a small increase in charge voltage, around .5V interestingly my falco improves its charge better at idle than at riding speeds, go figure.

I think the bottom line is the standard aprilia rectifier is a little weak but if you use the bike often it is not a problem unless you drain the battery with alarms and cig litters etc.... smile