Phelon Wiring

[Ricks]

I have never wired a bike with a Phelon magneto, and it appears that the tail light and brake light are wired hot all the time.  Is this correct? On a bike with a Wico magneto, the tail light is switched on the same circuit as the head light.

[relic]

On my 57 the taillight is hot all the time as is the brake light...my brake light switch is pulled open when running so the contacts points are apart in the switch when I depress the brake pedal the contacts touch and complete the circuit to the taillight hope that helps

[pd]

Rick , mine is wired same as relic's . Tail light and stop light are wired directly to the tail and the stop switch . So , always hot when running . I took my wiring Que from the M manual and from what I remembered it being when I first bought the bike .

Pete .

[HGontheHD]

Does anyone know what years did they use the Phelon magnetos?
Was it specific model years or were they just mixed as the demand increased?

[rldebuse]

They used Phelon 1957 and later.

[Mike Sal]

I thought the Phelon came in in '56
Mike Sal

[Gramps]

My 56 has a Wico.

[Ricks]

Sounds like a mid year change to me! 

[WVbiker]

My '56 has a Phelon magneto.

[pd]

I see this thread is a about 4 months old , but ...

Anyway , my '57 is equipped with a Phelon magneto and below is a diagram of how I have my bike wired .
Hope you can make sense of it .

Note that I ran a ground wire to front and rear to eliminate the need for any bare frame grounding .



I used what ever wire I had at the time , so there's a lot of black . Fortunately the runs are short and easily traced .

Pete .

[kartjockey]

PD,  Your drawings are great!  And more than make up for your lack of attendance in Portland!  All kidding aside they really are great!

[pd]

Thanks , Tom .

Hopefully , I'll see you in Portland , next month .

Pete .

[Mike Sal]

When wiring that Phalon up, be sure to secure the wires far enough away from the flywheel that the magnets don't rub on them.  In the attached photos, you can see where I didn't have the ignition wire secured from moving & the magnets eventually rubbed thru.  Those of you who were in Portland 2 years ago saw how frustrated I was when the bike ran great at home, but started only getting partial sparks after arriving.  In the other photo, you can see how the issue caused the coil to overheat & the one terminal "popped" loose.  I"m going to glue it down & clip off the one spark plug wire.

[pd]

Hey Mike ,

Good to see you're still kickin' .

Looks like that coil did get a little warm .
My OEM coil came apart in the same place , but for a different reason . Mine was due to some pretty strong cleaning chemicals I used when first cleaning the bike after a 40+ year storage . The casing turned to mush and that was all she wrote .

My magneto backing plate has a clip to hold the wires tight to the back of the plate , held in place by the grounding screw just right of the wire entry hole .
My clip is similar to :



Pete .

[Mike Sal]

Yes, mine still had the original clip and I had all the rest of the wires under it....why I didn't have that ignition wire under it is anybody's guess....maybe I was just in a hurry....

I got it back together tonight & drained the old gas....tomorrow I'll put fresh gas in it & see if it'll fire up.  I can't find the plug wrench I made so didn't pull the plugs yet to check them.....we'll see....
Mike Sal