Lighting Coil Discusion

[Svock]

Hello,

I just recieved my lighting coil back from Baja Designs. I have done a little bit of night riding, and enjoyed it...but always wished for more light. Now, I am converting over to dual sport so, I needed to get my lighting coil rewound to power the additional headlight, talilight, blinkers and horn.

I went with the Baja Designs 100 watt rewind. I chose this over the 75 watt rewind. I am told that the difference between the two is negligible, and it is doubtful I will get 100 watts, except, possibly at wide open, hitting the rev limiter. What is your opinion on this? How many watts will I be getting while riding aggresively? Not necesarily race pace.

Also, I am running an Acerbis DHH headlight, what wattage bulbs do you recomend? I am thinking two 40 or two 45 watt bulbs. What do you think?

PS: I have attached before and after shots of my lighting coil.

Thanks,

Svock

 

[canyncarvr]

Where there is some give....there is some take.

A 100W coil will presumeably give you 100W given enough spin, but that same coil will not work as well at lower RPM as a lesser wattage coil.

Most of the aftermarket headlight shells come with 35W lamps. I don't know how high in wattage you can go (availability) using the halogen style bulbs that fit in the UFO/Acerbis and such.

Consider there is more than light to the equation.....there is heat. Besides, if there is a tail/brake light, horn and blinkers to power, why would you want 90W of headlight?

You're going to end up with a juice shortage someplace.

 

[kmccune]

Did you have to send the whole plate out or just the coil?
What was the turn around time?

 

[Svock]

I sent out just the coil. Baja Designs called me when they recieved the coil, and asked if I would like to send the plate, and they would solder the new coil on for me. I declined, as I could not easily remove my stator plate. (that is why I didn't send it in the first place) I was a simple task to solder up the new coil, and put some heat shrink tubing over it. Just started it up a few minutes ago, runs great, lots of light. I will have to wait till dark to get the full experience ;)

The turn around time was 8 working days, and that is including shipping both ways. Note, I am in California.

Svock

 

[JasonWho]

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[kmccune]

Thanks, that sounds better to me too. :)

 

[skipro3]

I've heard the magnetic loading of a heavier coil results in a similar effect as a fly wheel weight. Anyone have a comment on their experiances with that phenomenon?

 

[kmccune]

I won't give you more inertia that would keep the engine from stalling, OK a little but that wire doen't weigh that much more then the old wire.But it will slightly slow down the rate that your bike will rev up to top R's. It feels kind like a flywheel change but without all the benefits, but that may be a good thing, depends on you.

 

[JasonWho]

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[G. Gearloose]

I doubt you could run two 40 watt lights without the RPM's cruising high.

Upgrade to electronic blinker, and LED taillight bulb to save every watt.
Make up a quality NiCad battery pack. I think the NiCad is more forgiving for quick charge and discharge than NiMH.

Need to find another way to squeeze another pole-pair on that stator plate to get serious, 4-stroke style wattage.

You can gain a few watts by adjusting the cores on the stator plate, and minimizing the air gap.

 

[skipro3]

Would stronger magnets affect the output?

 

[G. Gearloose]

Theoretically, most definately. but flywheel balancing afterward requires expertise.
Better magnets wouldn't be as effective as another pole at low rpms'.

Most things to increase peak voltage are wasted because it gets shunted to ground above 14V or so.

Increasing power delivered for the average of the revolution, is the goal.

If that peak power could be captured in a cap, instead of shunting it all away, efficiency naturally improves. The cap could dump the current back into the system as the waveform drops; but this only applies to rectified systems that are dual-sported, not the stock AC system

Also, there should be a smart way to add a cap to the system to improve the power factor. Current leads voltage in an inductive system, reducing effetive power. Adding capacitace gets the current and voltage in sync.

Hmmm....