HT 6v Charging System w/- ground

This is why they just call it "The Shack" now. There is no more Radio Shack except for a few popular small parts. Try a computer supply megastore or real ham radio forums.

The parts aren't available at my local Radio Shack... I asked for a few of these, even had the Radio Shack part numbers... problem seemed to be, I wasn't buying a cellular phone or flat TV so they weren't prepared for me. The poor young woman at the store, attractive as she may have been didn't know what a zener diode was. They did have some PC boards though. Kinda sad what they've become lately.

I did manage to get the parts (from another place in Tulsa) and with my lovely wife wondering what I was doing, I put the circuit together. It's the first component-level soldering I've ever done! And it works great. Only difference in my setup is the battery, and the power resistor. I accidentally got a 10 watt instead of a 5 watt, and my battery is a 2.5 ah instead of a 1.3. I had an old spotlight with a 2.5 ah 6v SLA battery and used it.

-Mark
 
Just an update on the 6v negative ground charging system using the white wire. I ran it for about 700 miles with the zener regulator and most recently, 200 miles without the regulator. My conclusion is that if you use a lead acid battery, you do not need the regulator. It makes no difference. The output of the white wire through a rectifier diode is too weak to hurt the battery. It barely keeps it charged. The battery typically stay at 6.3v when using the horn, and stop light intermittently. I have used the headlight and tail light for 10 miles at a time, several times. It take about 20 or 30 miles of driving without the headlight on to get the battery fully recharged. As I said earlier, this system is only suitable for occasional night driving.

If you want a higher performance system, a company on Ebay is selling 6v and 12v add on coils with a higher output. 12v LED lights and accessories are more common than 6v. If I was doing it again, I might use one of their 12v coils. Their coils have a greater output than the white wire so a regulator may be required.

If you want a minimal 6v system, you can run the white wire through a diode to keep a 6v battery charged. The ½ wave diode keeps the system from robbing power from the ignition cycle. The battery lets the lights work even when stopped and no need for a regulator.
 
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Can you please list the ebay seller? This sounds interesting. I have Norman's Light Kit but I would like the high output 6v system. Many people would like a 12v system.
 
Here I will vent my ignorance on the subject- it was always my understanding that in the presence of both AC and DC operation on the same item,they cannot share a common ground- at least, that's what I remember... yet I cannot recal who told me this. It might have been nothing more than a natural assumption on my part... and here I see a situation where the black wire off the motor shares a ground with a DC system? How is that so? Mind you, a common ground to my system will eliminate one wire in either direction, so I'm all for it if it works.
 
Does anyone know the characteristics of the "white wire"? it seems to be a bit mysterious.

I'd like to gather some characteristics about this wire and the energy that it provides.

I'm an electronics design engineer, and I'd like to use some engineering principles to create a 6V charger and 12V Charger for our bikes.

I just hate that they tell us to take off the white wire and "don't use it" BS. it's there for a reason.

If anyone can help me, i'd appreciate it.

if I come up with a reasonalble design, I'll share the info with the group.

I'm thinking of a small switching power supply to boost the voltage to 12 V to charge a battery. The battery will run a light(s).

What I'm looking for (Anyone ever put a meter or a scope to this signal?)

Output Voltage:
Voltage type AC or DC?
if AC, what is typical frequency? I'm guessing it's relative to the speed of the engine.
and most importantly, what's it's power capability. ie. amperage capability

I can measure my bike, once I get it running. but in engineering, it's never a good idea to use a data sample from one unit to design something for several units..

Thanks
 
Here I will vent my ignorance on the subject- it was always my understanding that in the presence of both AC and DC operation on the same item,they cannot share a common ground- at least, that's what I remember... yet I cannot recal who told me this. It might have been nothing more than a natural assumption on my part... and here I see a situation where the black wire off the motor shares a ground with a DC system? How is that so? Mind you, a common ground to my system will eliminate one wire in either direction, so I'm all for it if it works.
ground is ground. Cars use the same ground for ignition systems (more AC like) and the DC system for running accessories, like headlights, radios, and fans, etc. a car also create AC power (Alternator creates altermatic Current AC) but the voltage regulator converts that to DC for use in the vehicle.

side note: the only reason we have AC power in our homes, as it's more efficient to transmit AC down power lines to our homes and great distances. read about Tesla vs. Edison. Cars use DC because the power runs short distances and we use batteries to power things in a car. These bike, hopefully are no different.

if you're referring to the kill switch circuit on these engines, the ground shorts out the blue wire via the kill switch. The blue wire provides a signal to the CDI to tell it when to fire the spark plug. if you ground that wire (Via the kill switch) the CDI won't get a spark signal and will stop firing the sparkplug and you engine stops running.
 
there are several different ways that white wire is soldered on these days, and on 2-wire mags it is missing

if you have a white wire, it may be soldered as a spare for the blue wire, it also may be soldered to a separately wound ciol for AC output, but it weakens ignition if used - not sure if it may be soldered in even more ways

there is an add-on coil that can be ordered that makes AC power from other side of stator, but some folks claim that it also robs power from ignition
 
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