Scooterotica

can someone who is running a battery fed lighting system using a podtronic or wassel rectifier with bgm or sil stator please measure the ampage dra from battery to compare with my readings as i forgot to take them beforehaving my stator rewound .
with engine not running with all lights on ,45w spot ,35w main and 35w dip (dip is to replicate tail light x4) its pulls -6.7amp out of battery.
with engine running ,
no lights i get @1500rpm +1.5amp
with light i get @1500rpm -5amp
@2500rpm -2amp
@3500rpm -1amp
@5500rpm 0amp
the rewind co asks if i can get details of an original set up to compare with what they have done so far ,as this will help with further work .
thanks

Hi Mark,
My battery system doesn't have a running engine at present and my other Wassell setup doesn't have a battery. If you don't have any luck, I'll connect a battery up (possibly tomorrow, weather permitting) and take some readings

thanks . the rewind company said they can do it without the readings it weould just be easier with . thanks

mark wrote:... i forgot to take them before having my stator rewound

and I wrecked my meter by not turning the dial to not read amps... but will check the fuses and hopefully be able to try it on olly's...

I have the battery rigged up now but won't be able to start it 'til tomorrow. I assume you're taking readings at the battery? What size battery are you using? What's the total wattage you'd like me to test with, I only have normal lighting with rear LED but could rig up some bulb holders?

disconnect the battery and fit meter in line , if it reads + when turning lights on without engine running just swap leads so it reads-.
i only need to know what ampage the rectifier is putting into battery at the said revs with your lights on as long as we know what draw the lights pull on battery when engine isnt running i can work out what it would be on mine .
also say what watts your lighting is using

found some fuses, and got my meter reading amps
on olly's, without the engine running, the draw was -9.1A
this with 35w headlamp, [guessing] three x 5w for tail, speedo & festoon and both pathfinders at 48w each. so about 190w total
losing the pathfinders it read -4.5A
will start the engine shortly and see what happens... but should think about feeding my kids soon

so on above bike [without the benefit of chris' mechanical tacho]

@ tickover, no light on ~ +2.0A

@ tickover with standard lights on ~ -1.5A
revving with standard lights on gave a + reading, never as much as a whole 1, but a plus nonetheless

@ tickover with std lights and one pathfinder ~ -4.0A
@ tickover with std lights and both pathfinders ~ -6.3A

revving gained a couple of Amps, so that why it was just positive with only standard lights on.

wish I had got my meter working when I was doing all those rectifier tests...

so, that suggests running standard lights is borderline, would probably keep charged on a run, but could start to drain the battery riding around town ??


the beat goes on...

oh yeah, that with wassell unit, 7.2Ah battery & BGM 120W stator

Okay, the results are in.
I rigged up enough bulbs to consume the same amount as Mark, i.e. around 115w +speedo and pilot light, running a DC converted SIL stator, no other mods.

Without engine running -7.1A
1500rpm (tickover) -4.5A
2500rpm -3A
3500rpm -2.6A
4500rpm -2.4
5500rpm -2.3

So definitely an improvement Mark.