Scooterotica

AUSSIE wrote:Sorry for being dim but can the C wire be explained a little more?
From the battery positive through a fuse to the switch then onto where?

Yeah sorry just read my post back and it is a bit confusing. The fuse does not have to go into the C wire, best place for this is in the battery earth connection, there it will blow if a short develops anywhere in the DC system.
The C connector needs a battery feed so that the regulator can sense the state of the battery and adjust the output on B+ accordingly. When the machine is off this connection will still allow a small current to flow so it needs to be isolated by a switch. The easiest way to connect would be to wire the B+ through a switch to the battery (+ve) and use a small link to connect B+ to C.
To use a varitronic reg/rec for DC, I believe another stator ouput is needed, the vari has 2 power outputs.

OK I've just dug out the regulator I tried before:
It says G G A and an earth terminal sign on the 4th connector.
12v 80w Taiwan Vespa Co ltd regulator no. 161639.

Any good?

just go full dc and you will never regret it

mark wrote:just go full dc and you will never regret it

that wasnt the point of the question

No, I have a lince too, so when that is completely restored hopefully next year it will have this stage 4 GP motor in it as well as a completely redesigned loom, so that may well be completely DC.

However, this loom is AC and likely to stay that way so I'd like to know if the regulator I mentioned is any good for this particular application really or should I sell it on?

There are 4 terminals on the Varitronic regulator,power in,power out,earth and battery feed.All you need to do is run a wire from it to a battery.My Digi speedo shows 14 odd volts when scoot is running proving the regulator is charging the battery.No switches involved just an inline fuse fitted on battery.http://www.lambretta.co.uk/downloads/vari1.jpg

timexit17 wrote:OK I've just dug out the regulator I tried before:
It says G G A and an earth terminal sign on the 4th connector.
12v 80w Taiwan Vespa Co ltd regulator no. 161639.

Any good?

That is only a regulator and doesn't have a DC output, some machines had a feed from that to a seperate rectifier.

There use to be an add on available for the Vespas ac system, which was used by some to power there radios which some fitted to the scooters with speakers bolted to the leg shield toolbox door.
Wouldn't one of these gizmos do the job if you could get one?

Anyone know who supplied them and what they did???

wack 63 wrote:There are 4 terminals on the Varitronic regulator,power in,power out,earth and battery feed.All you need to do is run a wire from it to a battery.My Digi speedo shows 14 odd volts when scoot is running proving the regulator is charging the battery.No switches involved just an inline fuse fitted on battery.http://www.lambretta.co.uk/downloads/vari1.jpg

Not an expert on the varitronic (can't say I'm an expert on anything really), as I've never seen one in the flesh, but the vari reg like any other shunt reg doesn't have an input/output. If you look at the tech specs you posted you will see that the AC loom feeds are connected directly to the stator power, the fourth terminal marked charge is connected to another stator output and I've always believed that this provided the DC power. If it doesn't, I'd be interested in how it does actually work.
Kev.
P.S. you can also run the vespa reg/rec without the C connected, negating the need for a switch, but like the vari it will run at full output all the time, connecting the C gives the optimum charge rate.

firekdp wrote:

timexit17 wrote:OK I've just dug out the regulator I tried before:
It says G G A and an earth terminal sign on the 4th connector.
12v 80w Taiwan Vespa Co ltd regulator no. 161639.

Any good?

That is only a regulator and doesn't have a DC output, some machines had a feed from that to a seperate rectifier.

Many thanks firekdp, I shall keep it as a spare regulator then!
Looks like I will need 2 x battery charging regulators anyway for the GP and Lince when I vamp them up next year, as the scootRS is only half wave and obviously isn't keeping the battery charged as well as it should.