disappointing DC conversion...

[byron]

The lights won't become useless, if wired correctly they will just revert to being powered from the stator

ok, so maybe my wiring is wrong.... how are your lights ever powered by the stator ? Have you taken power from somehwere other than the battery for the lighting ? the rectifier unit only puts out between 2-3v DC, so enough to keep the battery topped up, as long as it is not being overused...
All of my lighting comes from the battery.
Have I missed a trick somewhere ?

[byron]

here's a basic diagram of the rear wiring :

[coaster]

Hey Jarv, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your diagram, mine is wired the same but you shoud be seeing around 14 volts with no load accross the battery and with the liughts on you shoyulkd see the voltage rise a bit with the head light on and maybe also with one spot on. It frikin freezing outside but for you I will go and investigate

colin

Actually, it will have to be a bit later as apparently we have to go shopping Women, no sence of priority

[soulsurfer]

You may need to fit a capacitor, have a look at Monty's posts here... http://scooterotica.org/forum/viewtopic ... 211#p40211

[byron]

ok, how about this ?
tap into the [unmodified] yellow from the stator and connect this to the original rectifier unit, then get some AC for the standard lights from this.
I have just tested this and the battery is still getting the same charge as before, even with a headlight bulb connected to the AC.
I have been running a similar setup on my scooter [without a battery, just to get some DC for my tacho] for 4000 miles without any issue.
The advantage of this is in the event of battery failure everything is all in place to revert to a "standard" 12v system.
But would there be any long term damage to the components ?

[byron]

...you shoud be seeing around 14 volts with no load accross the battery

yep, getting that

...It frikin freezing outside but for you I will go and investigate

thanks colin

.Actually, it will have to be a bit later as apparently we have to go shopping Women, no sence of priority

tch... I should really make a start on my christmas shopping too

You may need to fit a capacitor, have a look at Monty's posts

thanks again, I'll have a read of that

[coaster]

Ok Jarv, I've braved the elements now in the interests od science.....With my trusty fluke meter connected in series with the battery I'm seeing pretty much what I expected:

Lights off - Between 0.25 and 1 amp depending on revs

Headlights on - and at tickover it shows a slight disscharge -0.25amps but rises to around +0.3 amps at 3-4k revs. These readings are slightly reduced with high beam as it's 60 watt as apposed to 55 watt.

Spot on - The amps drop to -4-5 amps but that improves to about -3.5 amps at higher revs.

In conclusion it would seem that there is sufficient amperage to operate the lights at all times but continuous use of the spot would drain the battery in (I thgink) around 2 hours at which point I would have to do without the spot light and I would expect my lights to dim slightly at very llow revs as per an Ac set up.


Also, if using a 35/35 headlamp bulb I woyuld expect the spot to be operable without the battery discharging.


Hope that helps Jarv, I would appreciate Firekpd andf or J1MS comments on this.

Going to get warmed up again now

[cezeta]

slightly off topic.....but it seams that the pathfinders are hard to power. even 120 w bgm is not big enough to power 2x 35w bulbs on top of the standard lighting.

taffspeed have just started advertising a new set up at 200 watts which should be enouigh to do the job. looks variatronic at a glance, not of interest to me but i thought you guys may want to take a look. they have them on ebay.

[coaster]

slightly off topic.....but it seams that the pathfinders are hard to power. even 120 w bgm is not big enough to power 2x 35w bulbs on top of the standard lighting.

taffspeed have just started advertising a new set up at 200 watts which should be enouigh to do the job. looks variatronic at a glance, not of interest to me but i thought you guys may want to take a look. they have them on ebay.

Thanks Cezeta, I've seen those too but the dowside I'm hearing is the fact that you will be generating amperage just to dump it as heat through the regulator for most of the time Not sure how much in terms of HP that relates to though (also, the BGM saps more power than a std stator too)

[coaster]

ok, how about this ?
tap into the [unmodified] yellow from the stator and connect this to the original rectifier unit, then get some AC for the standard lights from this.

I ran mine like that foir a couple of months on thre indian stator before going fully DC
and they worked fine, just needed the rectifier in line with the horn and spot feeds. Oh and I had a problem with not being able to earth the negative side of the battery as the lighting coil was still earthed. This presented a problem with the spots as the case of the bulbs is connected to earth

[/quote]The advantage of this is in the event of battery failure everything is all in place to revert to a "standard" 12v system.[/quote]

I intend to carry a spare DC regulator/rectifier unit which using Soulsurfers method with Maplin plug couplers would make fitting a new one dead simple by the roadside. Or you could just disconnect the batttery and bypass the unit, this would give you un-regulated AC so you would have to keep the revs right down or risk blowing the bulbs