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edited 15/03/08
Electrics were completely redesigned. I don't do night riding
and figured for emergencies
I can make do with 3 - 4 hours of lighting.
Thus
I have employed a 12V gel cell battery, which happens to have very
similar dimensions
to the original small lead acid accumulator. I
wrapped it in black leather and mounted it with
foam padding and a
leather strap.
At this time charging is done via a socket in the
side car lug at the garage overnight. But I
have already a working
charger in place of the old generator. It's from a chinese pit bike and
will charge with about 300mA once connected.
All bulbs are LEDs
except the headlight which is 12V 35/35W. The horn is working and I
can
ride hundreds of kilometers with the charge dropping insignificantly!
Remember
that the ignition circuit and power is an entirely self contained
magneto system
and does not rely on the battery or the generator.
The 3 little switches have these functions:
one for ignition, one for lights and one for general power (stop light and horn, indicators
in the future)
The
wiring 'harness' thus is much simplified and fits within the space
around the seat braket.
The headight now has very little wiring in it.
All I needed was a couple of metres of ready
made 'trailer chord' from
the super market and the harness was complete.
The little switches are hard to see if you don't know where to look, so I gather it's quite
safe without an ignition lock.
below: to
fit this little magneto charger I had a conical adapter turned from mild
steel.
The rest fitted as if it was made for this conversion.
It needs a diode for rectification and then it can be wired to the battery. Given that this
little pit bike magneto will charge with a few hundred milliamps, it won't require a regulator.
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