Home
Basic Dirt Bike How-To's - Video
Dirt Bike How-To's - Video
Living The Moto Life - Video
Bike Tests | Shoot-Outs - Video
Forums
What's new
Latest activity
Log-In
Join
What's new
Menu
Log-In
Join
Navigation
Install the app
Install
More options
Close Menu
Forums
Dirt Bike Discussions By Brand
Dirt Bike Brands - Other
Battery Pack/power Supply
Reply to thread
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Message
[QUOTE="techman, post: 151897, member: 17388"] Hi Helterskelter400, You can charge either SLA or NiCad on the bike when it's running, with simple rectification from your existing 13.8 volt a.c. system (you have a 12v bulb headlight, right?). However, the NiCad can improperly charge due to it's unique charging characteristics, wheras a SLA battery can't go wrong. They both drop in voltage as they discharge, and no, I'm not talking about internal losses drop from running a heavy load like 40 amps. What I mean is that if you expect 20 hours run time without getting some charge from the running bike engine, by hour 19 the voltage will have dropped siginificantly, with 10 volts being the furthest you'd want to take either pack. You can go NiCad if you put a series resistor parallel with a diode to limit the charge current when the bike is running. SLA doesn't need that. And when your bike's off, think of it as running your car radio with the key in the accessory position, it's the same thing. Hopefully your GPS is smart enough to revert to it's internal batteries when you unplug the adapter from the wall or the cigarette lighter. That's if you put a siwtch in or completely kill your battery pack. Elsewise, it'll simply always be powered up. Yes, either battery pack can be "charged at the same time as it runs the dc regulators (which run the gizmos)". What's actually happening is the current flows mostly to the dc regulators instead of into the batteries, and only flows somewhat into the batteries if they are in a low voltage/discharged state. Same as how a car works, you can watch an ammeter that shows the battery discharging at idle (-ve current) with all the accessories on, and charging again (+ve current) when the engine revs up again off idle. When the battery is fully charged and the motor's revving, the ammeter shows zero current (ammeter to battery +ve terminal to car +ve power rail). For reliability and peace of mind, go with SLA. If you can risk a battery pack meltdown, go NiCad. Been there, done that. You won't need the Baja regulator, your bike already has one, you just need a rectifier. Do this setup and you'll be good for a many week trip, no chargers required, just as how cars operate charging themselves. Only caveat is size the battery pack reasonably, i.e. don't expect a volkswagon beetle battery to run a competition stereo all night, or don't expect a micro pack to power the GPS for 3 days of parked time. Just calculate mAmps draw x time expected to run and that's mAmphours, or amp hours if you use those units. Then get a pack with cells rated for that and you're done. If you want a smaller, lighter pack you just have to restrict or shorten how long you leave your bike off, between running it and getting the pack recharged. Just so you're clear: existing headlight a.c. into rectifier, that d.c. into SLA, SLA into LM317 (or other chip), chip output into GPS. If NiCad, put a power resistor between the rectifier and the NiCad, rest is same. For the radio, find another regulator chip that can handle the amperage and hang it off the SLA or NiCad too. Your safest, least difficult bet for the LM317 role is to get a car cigarette lighter adapter for the GPS and for the radio, and hang them off the SLA, which is the same thing as if they were plugged into a cigarette lighter socket. Wire the regulator gizmos directly to the SLA and the power won't go away when your bike engine stops running, only the charging stops. You don't need to swap packs, having one charging and one being used. Good Luck! TexKDX, as far as I know the Baja Designs electronics are simply 2 wire snowmobile ac shunt regulators, as I needed one in a pinch and got a snowmobile part that was indistinguishable from my original. However, they are ac, not dc. Hence the need for a rectifer. An alternative would be to get a dc combo from Electrex, as Will Pattison pointed out some time ago, but there's some $ involved then. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Which ocean is California closest to?
Post reply
Forums
Dirt Bike Discussions By Brand
Dirt Bike Brands - Other
Battery Pack/power Supply
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top
Bottom