R-26

[dan7629]

I have an R-26 that I have replaced ignition parts on. The bike was running and idling ok and now just recently the red ignition light has come on and won't go off. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

[schrader7032]

What does the voltage read across the battery terminal with the bike revving to say 2500 RPM? It should be well over 6v, likely in the neighborhood of 7v, but not much higher. The problem could be the brushes are not making good contact with the slip rings on the generator. It could be that the regulator is not working. Sometimes a regulator can fail which can damage the bike. They make a (pricey!) electronic version.

This link may provide some basic guidance for troubleshooting:

http://www.snafu.org/restore/uandm_bmw_v1.pdf

Part of this is focused on the /2 and magneto ignition system which doesn't apply to your R26, since it has a battery-coil ignition system.

When I recently acquired my R25/2, I decided to purchase the updated version of Rinckes' book from Vech. It specifically covers the bikes back to the R24. I would suggest you look into getting a copy.

[Bruce Frey]

I don't know if this could be your problem, but I have read about numerous instances where the generator on singles rather mysteriously needs to be re-polarized. This seems to be problematic to only to the singles. Somewhere in my archives I have the re-polarization procedure, but I'll be you can find it with a google search.

Bruce

[dan7629]

Thanks for the info.
I'm only getting in the neighborhood of 5.85 V even when I bring the rpm up. Not charging at all.
I checked all connections and the brushes. Could find nothing amiss.