lighting idea

[Gungatim]

Hi all, new here but have been reading a Lot of info on lighting, but I am surprised nobody has solved this little challenge yet (despite promises). In looking at how other similar machines handle this, I noticed a few things. Cushman's from the '50's had multiple stator's on the engine, one for tail lights, one for headlights, etc. Going through my Briggs manual for modern engines, I see they just add extra pickups whenever needed, to charge a battery, another if the mower has lights, etc. Why not do the same with these little HT motors? Ordinarily it would be easy to do with a flywheel, just add another one arund it, but on these the space is pretty limited. So, if we could machine an extention to fit onto the crank, and mount another coil pickup around that with an extention between the cover and engine (maybe plywood or something) we could get a decent amount of power to run lights or charge, etc. Seems like we could get a chinese supplier to make an add-on kit for this pretty cheaply.

Any machinists on here interested in prototyping this?

 

[Gungatim]

OK, did some more research, Honda GX200's (and their chinese equivalents) used an optional "lamp coil". they were (are) available in 6v 15w or 25w, and 12v up to 50w. If these little engines are geared down to output around 2500-4000 RPM at the gear, we could easily epoxy a magnet onto the chain gear, and mount one of these coils outside of the chain. They are available aftermarket as a replacement part. Also, those chinese 50cc 2cycle scooteers have 2 pole stators for charging and lighting. these are already mounted on a plate and just need a way to mount in place of the current magneto. then you could wire up a std. auto coil w/condensor for the ignition.

Surely someone has to have tried this? Any reasons this wouldn't work???

 

[Nuttsy]

Pics? Links? Visual aids of any sort?

 

[Gungatim]

Here's a couple pics, one of the scooter setup and one of the honda one.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m238/tschubeck/Hondastator.jpg
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m238/tschubeck/stator_1e41qmb.jpg

I see after reading some more that these motors don't have a set of points, so converting to a conventional ignition system would be slightly more difficult but doable, probably no real benefit unless you fry the original setup and can't get parts. I still think a mod to add a stator for lighting power is probably the easiest way to go. If I can find someone willing, maybe I can have a small flywheel machined out of aluminum that attaches to the sprocket, has a magnet epoxied into a recess, and fits over one of these stators. As an add-on kit, it would be a simple way to add decent lighting.

 

[RedGreen]

Shimano makes a front wheel hub generator, but I have wondered if going 20 to 25 mph would burn it up. Perhaps you could make a front wheel mount for the stator listed above?

 

[sparky]

K, take this tiny compact flashlight, the Fenix L2D Q5, and tack it onto a TwoFish handlebar mount for $65 after you use the cpf8 coupon code. Good thing about that company is they have free shipping to anywhere in the world!!

So, for $65 you get something very light, thin... can easily be removed from mount and placed comfortably in a pocket, and it makes an excellent weapon too... runs on 2-AA [rechargeable] batteries for more than 2 hours... is regulated to give off consistently bright white lighting & a relatively wide beam... plus, it's waterproof.

No need to deal with heavier motorcycle batteries, electrical configuration & setup hassle / wiring, extra drag on your engine (slightly extra gas & less power output), and/or the lack of "pocketability".

 

[Gungatim]

Redgreen, I have heard of these but never seen one. I will have to take a look and see how they work, I assumed a hub generator setup would be achallenge trying to get the wires out of the hub as the wheel spins. Maybe mounting the stator on the frt. wheel fork, and using a disc break setup for the magnets to mount on. If I can figure out an easy way to do this with off the shelf parts, I will post the details...