More power Mr. Scott

[TopCatGr58]

AUTO ALT Alternative??

Hey Red,

What lights do you have on your trunk, boxes?? Are they the 4" round, or are they the oval shaped ones?? Superbrightleds.com has the 4" round kind for reasonable prices vs. what you can find at Walmart or such!!

As for the ALT mod, I, too, was thinking about this, and I thought we had a discussion about this a while back. One thing was a concern about the direction the ALT spins, since most are mounted so that they turn Clockwise. Mounting one using a bracket and pulleys would have it turning CCW to keep it mounted above and inside the outer edge of the OEM alt. IIRC, Randy had said that it didn't matter which way it spun, but the position/angle of the cooling fins on the pulley would NOT be spinning in the right direction to pull air into the unit??

Another thought was to like you said, GUT the OEM cover, perhaps even cut an opening in the end of it incase the replacement one was a bit wider, so that it could stick out the side. Find a way to fasten the pulley shaft directly to the crankshaft, there is a threaded hole that the ALT "flywheel" attaches with, perhaps being able to "make/Machine" an adapter that would thread onto the end of the auto ALT pulley shaft, and also thread into the XS11. crank shaft, then just make some attachments to secure the auto alt housing to the OEM housing, so that the auto would spin whenever the engine is running.

Also, the Auto ALts, have built in regulators, so would be just a matter of hooking up a nice fat 12+ lead to it and to the battery, and let it CHARGE!?!? Wouldn't need the XS11 Reg/Rect!

DOABLE?? ?
T.C.

[HobbyMan]

I believe with enough time anything is doable. It might be difficult to mount an auto alt to the crankshaft, but I don't think that I would like the looks of it. With a car alt, on the older ones anyway, the diodes( rectifier ) are in the alternator housing, but a a regulatior is still required externally. I just polished up my spare alt that came with the last bike I got. It had deep gouges in it as though the bike was dumped on its side with no crash bars. All I need to do is replace the external wires and it will be like new. Now, I am thinking that if I can get a bad set of windings to experiment on, I would rewind the whole thing. I certainly think it is doable. All I need is the right wire and a little knowledge. Mathematically, it is easy (I believe) to figure out how many windings you need, and the rest seems relatively simple. It is a 3-phase alternator, just like a car, so all I would need to do is set it up right and build it. With a resource like my Dad, a walking encyclopedia with a EE degree from ND, it definitely seems like something I will be attempting in the near future. One more thing, I don't like the idea of using any kind of pully or extra mechanisims. We would already taking more HP to run the bigger alt, We wouldn'g want to waste even more with messy belts and pullies.

[HobbyMan]

correction: I am not sure on the newer alts if the reg is seperate from the alternator. It just may be like TC said with everything already contained in the alt housing

[81xsproject]

modern auto alts have the regulator built on. That way when your reg goes bad you get to spend 4x the cash and get the whole works

[randy]

81xsproject is right, the regulator is internal in the modern alternator. Also, one benefit of a pulley system is that it allows you to OVERDRIVE the alternator, running it at a higher RPM than engine

[red bandit]

The tail lights on the trunk are 2" round, 2-1157"s, brake and tail, plus the original brake/tail. Trunk has 2 small indicator type lights ea. side. Side bags also 2 ea. side, plus turn sig. 1156. Fairing has 2-1157 running and turn. 2 running lights on crash bars. Plus radio. With all lights on I don't have much head light, especially when I hit the brakes. Now you see why I took the side lights out, it helped but I still don't have enough power. The mod I have in mind is just an idea/dream at this point, although I do blieve it can be done. I don't want the alt. to be external, to ugly looking. Finding the RIGHT alt. my be hard to find...and expensive???

[red bandit]

Another idea!!! What about an alt off of say a goldwind or something like that?

[HobbyMan]

That isn't a bad idea. Goldwings typicillay run many electronic divices so they must put out mucho amps. Now I am glad that I drive old cars. When my diodes go out, I can take the alt off and dissasemble it. Then just put in a new set. On my 88' lincoln town car, the regulator is seperate so it only takes about 5 min to pull it off. Anyway, I like the idea of using a goldwing alt if it would fit. I also found this page which has some info on alts. alternator info

[TopCatGr58]

Well,

Just checked BikeBandit, a complete alternator/regulator assembly for a 90 GL1500 is close to $300.00!!

An auto Alt is usually less than $100.00, although they are also usually a bit larger, but perhaps one for a smaller car/import might fit better inside the OEM Alt housing??

Red, did you check out the www.Superbrightleds.com site?? You'll want to look at the MARINE, Truck, as well as AUTO bulbs, and click on ToBuy to see prices and description and photos of types of bulbs:

2 2" rounds $6.29 ea amber/red

2-1157
OEM brake/tail 24 RED LED complete bulb: $7.29 ea.

2 indicator lights each side trunk: Clearance LIghts,$5.95 to $7.95 depending on style!
2 side saddlebag ea

2 1156 turn: $7.49ea for 24LED Amber separate circuit board/plug

2-1157 fairing/run/turn :White Sep.Circuit Board/plug: $19.95 Or 24LED complete bulb:$7.29 ea

T.C.

[HobbyMan]

The space alloted for the alternator is just not big enough. How many amps are we talking about here? If we jsut wanted to tweak it a bit, we could rewind it with thinner wire with more turns on the coills. If someone made a silver plated copper wire, that would allow the alternator wiring to have less resistance( within specs) and have a greater number of windings on the coils. Another option would be to, as said before, build a 1 or 2 inch space plate that would move the alternator out, allowing for a bigger magnet, and larger coils. Or, you could use the plate to make for a car alternator.

[Geezer]

Originally posted by randy
81xsproject is right, the regulator is internal in the modern alternator. Also, one benefit of a pulley system is that it allows you to OVERDRIVE the alternator, running it at a higher RPM than engine

Most car alternators are run at 1/2 engine speed or slower.

The reg/reg unit I build gives almost 14 volts at idle and full charging at 1500 RPM. The only thing I'm running other than stock is a 100w headlight bulb but it doesn't seem to dim at an idle.

Geezer

[trbig]

As bad as I hate to suggest it since they are getting more scarce, Tony's (Geezer) R/R unit with the XJ's alternator and sidecover with stator would probably fix everything. It would say YICS on the side, but that's not as bad as a car alternator sitting in there somewhere.

Tod

[SG-Olli]

Originally posted by Geezer


Most car alternators are run at 1/2 engine speed or slower.


Geezer

I dare to object.
With the pulley on the crank being twice the diameter than the one on the alternator, the alternator runs twice the engine speed.
But keep in mind the larger the alternator the lower is its maximum speed.
If you run an alternator in a car with twice the engine speed it runs at about 12.000 rpm max. If you use the same ratio in a motorcycle it runs at 17.000 rpm. That'll kill it probably.

[tommystinson]

Who's got a junk one? I'm up for rewinding one if I have magnet wire heavy enough. Does anyone know the approximate gauge? I'll pay shipping if an XSsive will part with their part.

[red bandit]

Do you guys think an XJ's alt. would have enough power to run all the lights I have?
Red