Griffo
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 05:55 AM |
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BEC does the alternator cope?
Im a little worried about the alternator in a BEC
does it really have enough power to run all lights (front dipped & main, rear, brake, dash...etc) as well as the other things like electric
reverse? heaters? wipers (if you have a full screen)
It would seem there is a never ending list of things to run from the poor little bike alternator
will it cope?
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RazMan
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 06:16 AM |
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It is all too easy to overload a BEC because you have double the lighting requirement for a start. Don't fall into the trap of sticking a pair
of H4 headlamps on the front as this will often overload things before you start. Try and use LEDs whenever you can for stop/tail/indicator
applications (I would say that wouldn't I  ) and electric heaters are a big no-no, so fit a 'wet' one with a small motor.
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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indykid
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 07:06 AM |
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if you're seriously worried about wipers, heaters or reverse, i think you're looking at the wrong thing building a BEC.
as for lights, incandescent bulbs will be fine for all your lights run off the bike alternator. there's more than enough BECs kicking around
with the same setup.
if you want LEDs though, i hear Razman was supplying them a while back.
tom
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Guinness
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 07:29 AM |
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In the majority, I'd say that BEC alternators can cope with the load in a car.
The only additional load in my Indy compared to when the engine was in a bike is:
+1 headlight
+1 side light
+1 fog light
+2 side repeaters
-11 lamps in the clocks
+1 digital dash
ZZR alternator is 28amps, and I recently changed from a standard Sierra battery down to a 12Ah bike battery.
I don't do mega miles at night, in fog though!
I'd guess if you had a 300 mile trip to do in the pouring rain, at night, with a heater on, having to constantly reverse out of parking spaces
it might stuggle!
Mike
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Andy W
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 07:34 AM |
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most modern super bikes run twin head lamps and rear lights anyway. So no problems.
Andy
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02GF74
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 07:56 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Andy W
most modern super bikes run twin head lamps and rear lights anyway. So no problems.
Andy
yeah - that is what i would have said.
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BenB
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 08:39 AM |
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In my experience it all depends how you're driving. Although most bike alternators give off a fair wallop of juice, they often don't do
this at tick-over.
so if you're blatting through the night at 6k there's enough juice for headlights, wipers etc etc.
but if you're sat in traffic idling with the lights on, wipers on etc etc you're going to run down the battery.
Maybe that's just a quirk of the ST1100 alternator but heyho...
Guess how I know.... Sat idling by the side of the road for a while waiting for someone (headlights on). Got fed up using up petrol so switched off
the engine (and the headlights obviously). Went to restart. Nothing....
Even just running the ECU and fuel pump requires > 1.5k!!!
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stuart_g
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 08:45 AM |
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Same as above, the engine you would be looking at using in a bec will be from a bike with the same amount of lighting as a car so no issues there. As
for heaters I think in a bec you would really want to keep the weight down as much as possible so if you do want a screen I would just go for as small
as possible heat exchanger that is heated by the cooling system of the bike that way you are only going to power a fan to blow the hot air to the
screen, so not much power required. The windscreen wipers are going to take a fair bit of current I would think, Try to find a good quality system
that uses the least amount of power. A good installation will keep things running smooth and less power consumption.
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Mole
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 09:38 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by BenB
Guess how I know.... Sat idling by the side of the road for a while waiting for someone (headlights on). Got fed up using up petrol so switched off
the engine (and the headlights obviously). Went to restart. Nothing....
Kickstart??
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BenB
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 11:54 AM |
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Sadly no!! Local garage wanted £50 to come out a mile and jump start it... I was almost tempted to get a taxi home and get the tintop but I'd
stopped in possibly one of the worst places near my house to break down and the hoodlums were circling... I very much doubted the car would be there
when I got back...
In the end I rang my dad and got him to put down his dinner and come out with some jump leads 
On my wiper installation I was very careful to make sure that the tubes were as straight and as short as possible. I welded up a mount for the motor
so that the gap between the motor outlet and the first rocket box is about 2cm (and dead straight). I also bent the wiper arms to reduce the amount of
friction between the blades and screen.
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jlparsons
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 01:04 PM |
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Does the leccy reverse cause issues when the lights are on at the same time, or does the battery give enogh short term boost to cover it? I'll
be running LED lights everywhere but the main and dipped beams.
Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Contents may settle during
shipment. Use only as directed. No other warranty expressed or implied. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Subject to
approval, terms and conditions apply. Apply only to affected area. For recreational use only. All models over 18 years of age. No user-serviceable
parts inside. Subject to change. As seen on TV. One size fits all. May contain nuts. Slippery when wet. For office use only. Edited for television.
Keep cool; process promptly.
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charlierevell
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 01:48 PM |
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On my blade the lights dim on idle but other than that its all fine.
220miles in fog and rain with all the lights on (No wipers) Killed the battery when i bought it but later found out it was the original from and 03
engine!!!
Tango orange is an 'IN' colour!!
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coozer
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 02:50 PM |
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I don't know.. bike engines are just not worth the bother...
(hiding )
Anyway, if your that worried or have loads of accessories to power how about a front ribbed pulley off a zetec in between the gearbox adapter and prop
running a small car alternator mounted on top of the gearbox, charging a Red Top 25 or something similar?
[Edited on 19/3/08 by coozer]
1972 V8 Jago
1980 Z750
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Griffo
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| posted on 19/3/08 at 04:16 PM |
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Thanks for all the replys.
Im not bothering with a wind screen and in all honesty i will probably give the heaters a miss too. My main concern was the electric reverse using a
starter motor which is probably the biggest drain you can put on any alternator/battery.
would i be right in thinking you'd be ok providing you kept the revs reasonably high?
I suppose as a precaution it might be sensible to carry a spare bike battery in the "boot".
as for LED bulbs, I thought hey where illegal? or is that just they type you get in halfords?
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tks
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| posted on 20/3/08 at 06:46 PM |
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Look one thing is the main buffer you have and the other is the charge / usage you have got.
Offcourse a reverse can be runned from anykind of battery. But it will depend on milage vs reverses time vs headlights on time etc...
- bigger battery is more forgiveing because it lets you use energy wich you later on can recharge...(buffer)
- bigger charge let you use more, but takes more horses...(your alternator always produces maximum @ revs)
- less consumtion lets you charge faster
Sow basicly it all depends on how your milage is and what kind of BEC you use.
my rectifier produces 35amps VFR 800
35*14 = 490Watts thats allot of energy
ahh and none of the BEC charge at tick over because of the fact that they have a alternator wich uses permanent magnets and coils to generate the
electricity...
there for the rectifier is used wich generates a 14volts out of it and it destroys the rest of it. (there is no control of the field of the magnets -
a normal dynamo controls both the fields so it can produce on a wide rev range)
your millage/usage will deside wich battery is best for you...
Tks
The above comments are always meant to be from the above persons perspective.
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Coose
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| posted on 20/3/08 at 09:43 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by coozer
I don't know.. bike engines are just not worth the bother...
(hiding)
Anyway, if your that worried or have loads of accessories to power how about a front ribbed pulley off a zetec in between the gearbox adapter and prop
running a small car alternator mounted on top of the gearbox, charging a Red Top 25 or something similar?
[Edited on 19/3/08 by coozer]
Why bother? How many miles are you going to do backwards?
Spin 'er off Well...
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Griffo
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| posted on 21/3/08 at 01:06 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by tks
Look one thing is the main buffer you have and the other is the charge / usage you have got.
Offcourse a reverse can be runned from anykind of battery. But it will depend on milage vs reverses time vs headlights on time etc...
- bigger battery is more forgiveing because it lets you use energy wich you later on can recharge...(buffer)
- bigger charge let you use more, but takes more horses...(your alternator always produces maximum @ revs)
- less consumtion lets you charge faster
Sow basicly it all depends on how your milage is and what kind of BEC you use.
my rectifier produces 35amps VFR 800
35*14 = 490Watts thats allot of energy
ahh and none of the BEC charge at tick over because of the fact that they have a alternator wich uses permanent magnets and coils to generate the
electricity...
there for the rectifier is used wich generates a 14volts out of it and it destroys the rest of it. (there is no control of the field of the magnets -
a normal dynamo controls both the fields so it can produce on a wide rev range)
your millage/usage will deside wich battery is best for you...
Tks
you make a very good point, i think a bigger battery is the way to go although they do weigh a fair bit. Its probably better to loose a negligible
amount of acceleration than not be able to start your car again after reversing though. i suppose keeping the revs up whilst reversing wouldn't
harm either (something the neighbours will love at 8am on a sunday).
[Edited on 21/3/08 by Griffo]
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