running pathfinders without battery

[soulsurfer]

thanks Firekdp,for taking the time and trouble.....for that......
i,m sure it will be very usefull to many people.......................

Totally agree Sean. Many thanks to firekdp, most helpful

The relays are to save having to upgrade the wiring on the switch and to give the switch contacts a longer life. On the modified switch shown all power to the switch goes in on the black, trying to put too much current through it could cause a volt drop, lessening the voltage at the lamps.

Hmmm Could fitting relays cure the problem with the AC system? What relays are they?

[firekdp]

Normally any automotive type would do but not sure if they would switch in correctly with AC. But it would only help in your case if your wiring was too small for the current you are asking of it.

[byron]

thanks Firekdp,for taking the time and trouble.....for that......
i,m sure it will be very usefull to many people.......................

Totally agree Sean. Many thanks to firekdp, most helpful

yep, just want to add to that.
as always top electronics advice, clearly explained, from firekdp

[sean brady scooters]

as i say..............well done.........firedkp
but heres a thing.........and please dont shoot the messenger...............cos thats me.....
a friend of mine,who is a bike mechanic/electric genius............has suggested that the best sollution would be to fit an alternator................maybe belt driven off flywheel
if this was physically/mechanically possible would this be good..?
what would be the advantages/dis,advantages...................?
i admit.......this is all a bit beyond my scope/knowledge............and so hope you can help
to clarify..........in the most simple /basic terms possible......to the layman,like myself.............................

[joespeed]

shaun,
some years ago i fitted a lucas 16acr to a gp 200,i renoved the toolbox mounted the alternator in its place and used a motorcycle battery in the origional battery tray,i then used the boss of the gp flywheel and a nylon (soft and plyable)electric motor fan the ultra responsive and quick accelerating gp was a fantastic solo ride,sadly not enough guts for two up plodding about,
i had two pathfinder spots and 12v every thing including aboyer-bransden cdi unt,the beauty of this was fantastic 'power station arc'at the plug and super bright all the time lights and if it f@@ked up vertually anywhere in the uk had a lucas alternator replacement three bolts and a jack plug,
the indian electronic (no battery models) still have a duck shooter horn but the lights are quite reliable not like in the 70's when you revved it hard down hill and the f@@king lights blew!a lot of scooters suffered from dim lights or no lights or blown lights.zenor diodes were abig help but not always a cure,
i converted a lot of customers and nearly all of my own scooters to 12v by altering the stator plate wiring this enabled you to use big bosch coils like on the vw to enable a better more efficient spark.
on my racing scooter i used 12v total loss (no charge) system with a ballast resistor,so when flat out down the back streets of cadwell ,snetterton,darley moor and croft you could switch the ballast resister off putting 12v on a 9v coil giving an improved spark ,bearing in mind at high revs the ignition circuit could pull close to 10 amps if the battery was getting low you would be pulling more amps and endup coughing and spluttering and limping back to the pits,all good fun!
regards
joe

[firekdp]

Yes it will work, it's just the practicalities of fitting and driving it. Ralph95 posted about a new stator a while back that looks a better choice (if it does what they say it can).
http://www.ekmpowershop2.com/ekmps/shop ... 2093-p.asp

[soulsurfer]

Yes it will work, it's just the practicalities of fitting and driving it. Ralph95 posted about a new stator a while back that looks a better choice (if it does what they say it can).
http://www.ekmpowershop2.com/ekmps/shop ... 2093-p.asp

That's the company that were working with Granturismo, MB etc.. He's a bit long winded

[byron]

not strictly in reply to the OP, but still on topic.

in the quest to get some stable 12v DC to power my tacho, I got some rectified DC using a Minarelli unit. but it was kicking out up to 30v ! so added a 5w zenor diode which gave a more stable 5v DC [tested on a 35 mile run, but not under load, with a meter strapped to legshields ]. This doesn't seem enough to power the tacho, so added another 5w zenor diode in series to the first, and now it's hovering around 11v, which is good...
but is this going to work longer term ?? I have only ridden a few miles today, so hard to tell if it will continue rising, as it did without any zenor diode fitted, but didn't with the single 5w...
I really need to sort this out, been faffing about trying various things for nearly a year now, and keep damaging tachos as they're getting a signal from the CDI but no power to do anything with it...

[firekdp]

Byron why aren't you tapping off from the regulated AC and then rectifying that to save bothering with the zeners. Can your tacho be isolated from earth, ie be fed by positive & negative wires with no electrical contact to the frame?

[byron]

Byron why aren't you tapping off from the regulated AC and then rectifying that to save bothering with the zeners. Can your tacho be isolated from earth, ie be fed by positive & negative wires with no electrical contact to the frame?

tapping the output from the regulator and running that through the rectifier to get DC ? hmmm... I hadn't thought of that method... I'm thinking I'm nearly there with the zenor diodes, i've can get too many volts and not enough, just need to find the middle. Ideally they'll need a bit of alloy as a heat sink, yes ?
the tacho needs to be earthed to the engine/frame to work with the spark pulse.