Ram air turbine battery charger

[rockjok]

Since the charging system on the XS is very limited I've been trying to come up with a reasonable way to increase the charging potential. I've been in the situation where there is plenty of juice to run the headlight and starter but the voltage was low enough to keep the TCI from allowing the engine to start.

On my sidecar rig I have hookups for heated grips, heated clothing, satellite radio, GPS unit, 12v cooler, 12v travel stove, and driving/fog lights. I have two extra motorcycle size sealed batteries mounted under the sidecar seat which are also useful as ballast when I'm not hauling my dogs around. I've modified the sidecar to run an XS front wheel and have considered running an alternator from it but space is a bit tight.

I'd be glad to spend a little more on gas (wind resistance) to be able to have more charging. It seems that it would be possible to mount a small diameter radiator(?) fan on a car alternator for additional charging at highway speeds. Perhaps I could fabricate a fiberglass fan shroud to protect the fan and channel more air.

I'm wondering if a generic car voltage regulator running off this alternator could be connected directly to the battery without endangering the XSs wiring.

Anybody have any thoughts or links relating to this topic?

Rob

[TomB]

Anybody have any thoughts or links relating to this topic?

Yeah! had to check it wasn't April 1st

[skids]

I don't know how you would run two voltage regulators while keeping them independant yet interconnect wiring. It would seem that one VR would dominate...

[Dsxs11]

Let me get this straight. You want to take the pulley off the car alternator and use a small fan blade to wind power it? Here are just a few of the problems you will run into. 1 the wind will not spin the alt fast enough to charge. Typical alternators don't start charging in a car until 1500 RPM. 2 Any change in direction will most likely stall the fan or spin it the other way. If this is going into a sidecar situation, My suggestion would be to mount a General Motors 1 wire alternator under the side car and add a pulley to the axle and a run a belt from pulley to pulley. And only charge the sidecar. As for the bike not having enough voltage to start I would wire in a headlight off switch and kill the lights start the bike then turn them back on. My 79 Special won't turn the light on until it's running.

[mason79]

i installed hid headlights and they consume 1/2 the power, that is the same as a 30 percent increase in power, and since i only have lo beams i can turn it off!

[skids]

HID are low wattage lamps? What do you mean, "and since i only have lo beams i can turn it off!"

Originally posted by mason79
i installed hid headlights and they consume 1/2 the power, that is the same as a 30 percent increase in power, and since i only have lo beams i can turn it off!

[mason79]

hid xenon bulbs with ballast, consume 35 watt with 4 time the light output, go to ebay and look it up, it is bright as hell! and they normally have only lo beams so the dimmer on the bike actually turns it off, and for daytime on the freewa i feel comfortable enough to have it off and really give my battery a charge.

[rockjok]

I recall seeing aircraft systems for electrical emergencies which is what I was basing my thinking on. Similar to the hydraulic "RATs" that jets use. There are also a bunch of "green" websites on homemade wind generators. These seem to involve a bit of modification to an auto alternator. I think rpm would be a problem without these mods.

My original idea was similar to your axle suggestion. This sidecar has a true double sided swingarm and not just an unsprung spindle and room is very limited. I could mount a pulley where the brake disk used to be but, since I travel a lot of rough tracks, the alternator mount would be questionable.

The XSs I've had low voltage starting problems with had intact electrical systems (i.e. no headlight until after the starter cranks). The problems were running too many lights and too much clothing for too long. Shoulda had a voltmeter hooked up.

Last week I had the "dim headlight" problem and ended up bypassing the reserve lighting unit. Per Skids suggestion I also replaced the relay with a standard one and ran a new fused 12v line to the high side. Headlight works great but I do need to add a switch (or another relay) to turn things off when the engine isn't running.

Hmmmm...... I've got a trailer hitch. I wonder how large a solar panel I could tow.......

Rob

[TopCatGr58]

Hey RockJok,

Here's a couple of threads that we discussed the Alternator alternatives!

Alt. Thread 1
This first one has a couple of links within the responses to check out as well!

Alt. Thread #2

Some very good info about this possible mod.
T.C.

[HobbyMan]

HobbyMan's mindless ramblings about the issue:

In order to use a car alternator, it would need to be rewound for lower rpms. It is actually done quite often. My welding teacher in HS replaced all of the manual pumps on his windmills with car alternators and electric pumps. Combine that with a car battery and you can have a really neat system. If you are going to put a car alternator on there, you might as well run it off of the engine via belt drive and completely remove the existing unit. Think of the extra weight. Most car alternators have built in regulators these days also, giving you one less thing to worry about. Check out the links posted in TC's links. Look at some of the modifications done already. My last thought, if you put it all in perspective, a wind generator/ alternator is not going to give you extra electrical power when you need it most (idling engine).
For fun, I would have the alternator on a completly seperate 12v system. When you are at idle or stopped, you intense lights are not running. When you get up to speed at night, your alternator would put out and your lights would turn on.