The alternator rotor fails while on the move, no error lights display. And the rider continues riding until the battery goes flat. For GS riders, by Murphy’s Law, this occurs in some remote place where life is threatened never mind the bank balance.
Use the Battery/Alternator light that is already on the bikes control panel, flash the lamp at, say,
5-second intervals. This would not add to the instrument panel, minimize the added weight and
keep the information visible to the rider.
Use the battery current to tell when the battery is discharging (use the battery earth lead as the sensor
and a comparator to turn on a 555 time used to flash the lamp).
Well after a lot of time under the bridge, the simpler solution of a battery voltage indicator has appeal. It makes installation easy, does not change the charging system. It is also of use to check for over voltage before your battery cooks. This is not a frequent fault on bmws or guzzies, but hondas and other jap bikes with permeant magnet rotors suffer from this type of failure.
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