Scooterotica

martinr wrote:hi mike yes my headlight is pretty good . i got a complete new gp headlight unit with rim from sip which helped and the shocking thing about it was it FITTED

To be honest this must be the best way to use the Varitronic, the Wassell system is only possible because of the Wassell/Podtonics units, this isn't possible to use with the Varitronic due to the single box of tricks controlling the timing. The downside with the Varitronic for me is the poor lights at low rpm, but if running everything else from DC improves the headlight then that's good to go

bollox, I have a varitronic and fitted a 12v battery.

I charge the battery via trickle charge (there's no other way) and the only thing I have running off the batt are

a) rear brake light (so not on all the time, purely intermittent)

b) horn (as above)

c) front spotlight ( only one) and it won't to more than 30 miles before going dimmer than a dim thing!

Donnie wrote:bollox, I have a varitronic and fitted a 12v battery.
c) front spotlight ( only one) and it won't to more than 30 miles before going dimmer than a dim thing!

Just to dispel a possible missunderstanding, neither the Wassel DC or Varitronic setups generate enough amps to power a spot light for very long. Quite how long will depend on the size of the battery and the wattage of the spot lamp. I have a 7.2 amp per hour battery and I know I have to 'manage' the consumption (I have 2 35 watt hologes so approx 30 mins too). Riding at say 40-50 mph the stator will be chucking out enough to power the headlamp so the battery will slowly drain with the spot on. I have mine wired to only work with full beam and can be switched off when not needed, I have a 55/60 watt H4 Xenon headlamp fitted which is more than adequate on dark lanes but the spots are great for the twisty bits. I seldom need them on for more than a few minutes at a time and if I find the battery going flat, I put it on charge at home. My spots have H3 lamps and I bought some LED H3 lamps which would be fine if they were just for show but the light was far too scattered and of no use for what I wanted. Shame as they took next to current at all

Technically the DC output is more than a trickle charge, although like the vespa systems it will only be half wave so won't keep up with high power items.
If I can find a cheap second hand one (not likely) I'll convert it for someone to try. Failing that I'll try to buy one direct from the manufacturer.

Could anyone enlighten me on how to run all but the headlamp on DC with Varitronic, preferably a wiring diagram? If possible I'd like to use position 2 on the ignition switch to switch on gauges, can this be done?

Could the DC output be enough to power my SIP Speedo?
At the moment the speedo's great on tick over with no lights, turn the headlight on and the speedo goes off!

Fit a small battery.

What is the smallest battery I could use?
More physical size than Ah

Pop into your electrical suppliers and ask for the smallest physical size alarm battery, I think they go down to 1.2mA, or there are batteries designed for running gauges that are small, have a look at MB or call or Facebook message them

Maplin stock a full range of suitable batteries which are the same as Soulsurfer is talking about. They are more expensive than buying from an electrical component dealer (or via ebay) but if you go into a Maplin store you can have a look at several to guage the physical size.