Rick's Hot Shot Upgrade?

Finnigan

Finnigan

Over 1,000 Posts
The 360 runs great during the day but with a headlight on it drains in minutes riding around the neighborhood. I have the kohler RR grounded and the white and yellow wire are spliced so i think its just time for a little overkill.

Anyone have any experience with the Rick's Hot Shot Electrical upgrade?
 
Ricks Stator upgrades the system from 130 Watts to 150 watts. Thats 20 Watts.

That will give you just barely enough to run a 55 watt low beam. Stock is 35 watts.

You didn't mention if you are running higher wattage lights....

Also, if you are running below 3000 RPM, you are not charging at all, regardless of the alternator, and below 2000 RPM you are draining the battery. I added a voltmeter to my tach, and it helps you keep the battery charged as you can watch the voltage climb and fall with RPM and what is going on....

Are you stock Charging system? Regulator/Rectifier Stock? What battery are you using? Are your connections, especially battery terminals, tight?

Lots of reasons for low charge.

Don't idle a lot either....
 
Finnigan said:
Good to know, thanks. Any advice on adding a voltage meter since you've got one?
Click to expand...
see my build. I rebuilt my tach and added it there.

E-bay has voltmeters that are in the $3 - 5 range.


Sent from planet Earth using mysterious electronic devices and Tapatalk
 
mydlyfkryzis said:
Ricks Stator upgrades the system from 130 Watts to 150 watts. Thats 20 Watts.

That will give you just barely enough to run a 55 watt low beam. Stock is 35 watts.

You didn't mention if you are running higher wattage lights....

Also, if you are running below 3000 RPM, you are not charging at all, regardless of the alternator, and below 2000 RPM you are draining the battery. I added a voltmeter to my tach, and it helps you keep the battery charged as you can watch the voltage climb and fall with RPM and what is going on....

Are you stock Charging system? Regulator/Rectifier Stock? What battery are you using? Are your connections, especially battery terminals, tight?

Lots of reasons for low charge.

Don't idle a lot either....
Click to expand...

I got a 17 tooth front sprocket to reduce highway RPM's and now I'm thinking that might have not been the best idea. I'm using an H4 headlight, mini tach and speedo from DCC, LED brake light and a 4 cell antigravity battery. All my connections are snug but I was test riding around the neighborhood which was between 2 and 3k, so thats the problem right there most likely.

I just ordered some voltmeters from ebay, did you put the terminals on the battery itself?
 
Finnigan said:
I just ordered some voltmeters from ebay, did you put the terminals on the battery itself?
Click to expand...

That's the best place.

If you just tap into the wires on the dash, actual voltage at the battery will still be pretty close though. Probably only .1 or .2 volts higher (depending on the health of your harness and its connectors).
 
In the Headlight bucket is an unused, brown wire. Switched 12V. On mine, there is a 1 volt voltage drop from the battery. So my meter reads 1 volt low. I correct it in my head while riding.

If you put the voltmeter on an unswitched connection, it will slowly drain the battery. Brake lights are intermittent use, the LED, while reducing current needed while braking, is only used when stopping...So not much continuous savings of current there.

The voltage regulator may be putting out too much voltage. those little batteries cannot stand be over-voltaged, or drained down .


You need to thoroughly check and make the charging system good.

Also, weak magnets (they weaken over time) on the rotor will reduce output too.
 
I installed the Kohler RR but havent thought to actually check how much its putting out to the battery. I'll clip my DMM onto it tonight and check the output at idle and revs.

Which terminals would I clip onto for this? (left, right, middle)
 
Idle you will probably see battery voltage, and slowly dropping. These machines do not generate at an idle...

The alternators are rated at 5000 RPM. Assuming a fully charged battery ( a low battery will keep voltage down), it should be higher than 13.6 and slowly climbing as the battery tops off.

Depending on the regulator, anywhere from 14.4 to 15.5 is normal, with 14.5 a good place to be. My Kohler clone tops at 15V. The stock regulator went to 15.6V.

If you get to about 8000 RPM, the alternator will be pretty well maxed out, that will show you the absolute max capability of the regulator.

Keep in mind, the regulators work by a "not to exceed" rating. they only regulate the max. they have no effect until the voltage reaches there setting.... However, the resistance of the bridge rectifier can affect lower RPM performance. A low forward voltage rectifier can help you at the lower RPMs.
 
Definitely interested in this one. Having the same issue on my cb450, when I turn the lights on the bike dies within a minute or so. Using an H4 headlight, bullet style taillight, and Kohler Regulator/Rectifier. I guess the link to the headlight says it all... "Best be sure your charging system is up to snuff on a vintage motorcycle to power the halogen bulb without an issue."


Headlight:
http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/p2229/buy/m-c-parts/taillights-headlights-amp-signals/cycle-standard-5-3-4-quot-diameter-diamond-chrome-halogen-headlight-clear-lens/

Taillight:
http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/p1504/buy/m-c-parts/taillights-headlights-amp-signals/cycle-standard-bullet-tail-marker-light-dual-filament/

RR:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Voltage-Regulator-Rectifier-for-Kohler-41-403-10-S-41-403-09-S-41-403-08-S/261287072274?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D18348%26meid%3D2152726816106666424%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D8402%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D170698108850%26

Battery:
http://www.amazon.com/UPG-UTZ7S-Adventure-Series-Battery/dp/B001ZTDEEY
 
Anything more than 35W on the headlight is probably not a great idea for a Honda twin or single.
 
DCC has 35w/35w H4 bulbs. They are brighter than the 35w Stanley bulb that is stock.
 
Ok well now the flip side of the question: is it possible to have too much charge coming from the stater if i'm not using enough wattage with lights?
 
That is what the voltage regulator does, anything over the rating and it grounds the output (proportionately) to prevent the output from exceeding it's preset voltage level. Below that threshold, the regulator is dormant.
 
So here's the deal:

Measured from the battery to start with and stopped because the results seemed promising.

At idle with lights OFF the battery never went below 12.8V, any sign up RPMs made it go slightly above 13.0 and I watched this happen for a few minutes.

At idle with the lights ON the battery never went below 12.6V, slight RPMs made it blip to 12.7ish

So this makes me think that I started with a VERY dead battery the other night. I went looking for 35W H4 bulbs around town and had no luck. So I'm thinking of returning the 200$ stator mod because it doesn't look like I'm starving the power source.
 
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