Peter has made a few changes to his 1971 Norton Commando.

Electronic Ignition

A really popular Norton Commando upgrade is to move from the old points-based ignition system over to Electronic Ignition.

One of the most common units of the time is Boyer Bransden, who have been around since 1969.

They are still going today, and their website can be found here.

Moving from points to Boyer electronic ignition is a pretty simple upgrade.

From a wiring perspective, the most important thing to note is that you will be moving from a pair of coils that are wired in parallel to series.

Originally, the points make and break the positive (earth) side of each coil in turn.

The Boyer electronic ignition system uses a concept called “wasted spark” – with the two coils wired in series, they are energized together on every rotation of the camshaft.

You’ll note in the wiring diagrams below that the Ballast Resistor and Condensers have been removed as part of the conversion to Electronic Ignition.

The color coding of the wiring is simple:

• The Red – this is the positive feed to the Boyer, and is usually picked up from the red wire that goes to the Coil positive terminal.
• The Black – this is the negative supply FROM the Boyer TO the coils.
• The White – this is the negative feed to the Boyer. This joins in to the White/Blue wire that used to feed the Ballast Resistor that you are removing. As standard, this goes up to the big connector block under the tank, where it’s joined to the White/Yellow that is the kill switch on your left side handlebar switch cluster.
• Black/Yellow and Black/White – these go from the Boyer black box (they call it the Transistor Box) down to the Stator Plate that sits behind the points cover.

Regulator/Rectifier

Another of the most common upgrades or modifications for a classic british bike is to add a combined regulator/rectifier unit.

Our Commandos use a blue can capacitor, zener diode (which can be found mounted on the back of the z-plate) and rectifier unit.

A combined regulator/rectifier replaces all of these components with one package.

Peter has gone for the new to market Tri-Spark MOSFET unit.

It is certainly easy to spot in it’s blue anodised heat sink!

There are four wires to connect:

• Two Yellows – these are the AC input and pick up on the Green/Yellow and Green/White (connection can be any way round, as this is the AC side of the circuit)
• The Red – this is the Positive output and will join to the red wire if you are using existing wiring (it goes straight to the ground/earth of the frame)
• The Black – this is the Negative output (known as the hot wire) – it will pick up on the Brown/Blue wire (which goes via a fuse straight to the battery negative terminal)

The spec on paper is very good, being able to handle up to 20 amps.

And the benefit of MOSFET is much more precise control of the charge voltage.

Here are the wiring instructions for the Tri-Spark VR-0030 MOSFET regulator/rectifier.

The other piece of great news is that our friends over at Andover Norton are carrying this unit in their inventory!

Their part number is 13.1801 and you can find it here:

Here is a picture of Peter’s lovely bike:

Wiring Diagram

Here is the wiring diagram with the Tri-Spark MOSFET regulator/rectifier added together with the three phase alternator:

Custom Norton Commando Wiring Diagram – Peter Scheidegger PNG 3066×1841

But wait…

An alternative way to wire in the regulator/rectifier is with it’s own dedicated fuse.

This is a popular option for people that have had charging issues in the past, as it provides additional piece of mind.

If your regulator/rectifier fails, it could blow it’s own fuse, leaving you with enough power in your battery to get you safely back home again.

Alternative Custom Norton Commando Wiring Diagram – Peter Scheidegger PNG 3066×1841