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12v lighting question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2018 9:40 pm
by sunrisemac
My GP runs really well and reliably on points and 12v battery with the simple 12v lighting mod, however I am going to ask a question that has most likely been answered before by some clever chaps on here.
Can I achieve flicker free 12v lighting at low revs without changing to electronic ignition and if so what is the most practical solution?

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2018 11:35 pm
by Knowledge
You cannot achieve flicker free lighting by converting to electronic ignition. The lighting and the ignition are two separate circuits.

Often on a standard six pole stator, four coils are dedicated to lighting, one to ignition (the low tension coil) and the final coil position is occupied by the electronic ignition trigger (or points on an only stator). When the headlight is on, it is powered directly from the coils, and therefore it is affected by engine speed.

What you need is a battery in series with your four lighting coils. OK, you have a battery, but I imagine it is there to power the horn, side light and brake light. You can test this by disconnecting the battery and finding out what no longer works.

So the question is, how can the battery be utilised to to stabilise the voltage, regardless of engine revs. There are going to be several different answers to this, but perhaps a sensible question would be, what is wrong with flickering lights at tickover?

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:09 am
by Fast n Furious
sunrisemac wrote:My GP runs really well and reliably on points and 12v battery with the simple 12v lighting mod, however I am going to ask a question that has most likely been answered before by some clever chaps on here.
Can I achieve flicker free 12v lighting at low revs without changing to electronic ignition and if so what is the most practical solution?

Have you got one yellow wire from your stator or two?

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 12:53 pm
by grandpa
HI Sunrisemac
I am sure you must have considered the wassell mod.The 3 scoots I have restored all have had it fitted giving good lights, good horn.indicators alarm and Led spot lights with no flickering.
Have a look at this:
https://www.scooterotica.org/forum/view ... conversion
And this:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6441&p=53753&hilit=wassell+dc+conversion#p53818
grandpa
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4814/311 ... 23bc_h.jpg

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 10:58 pm
by sunrisemac
Thanks for the replies, I don't think I worded my question very well having read the replies.

I do know that ignition and lighting coils are separate on the stator, I have done the simple 12v conversion using 5 pin vespa px regulator as described in the workshop tasks to achieve better lighting, I changed the battery and horn and bulbs to 12v, I had the flyweel remagnetised and everything works, it just seems that it takes quite a few revs to get enough voltage through the system for the lights to be at full intensity which is not too helpful at times in slow traffic.

I have looked into the Wassell conversion but I came to the conclusion (probably incorrectly) that I would need to convert to an electronic stator and thus electronic ignition for the necessary bits to work

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 11:02 pm
by sunrisemac
Knowledge wrote:
So the question is, how can the battery be utilised to to stabilise the voltage, regardless of engine revs.


That's the question I should have asked, I realise I didn't word my question at all well :oops:

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 11:10 pm
by dickie
sunrisemac wrote:
Knowledge wrote:
So the question is, how can the battery be utilised to to stabilise the voltage, regardless of engine revs.


That's the question I should have asked, I realise I didn't word my question at all well :oops:


The battery (if in good condition) will keep the voltage at around 13v at any engine speed. Depending on stator and regulator power versus load, this will rise to maybe 14.5v at higher rpm.

Can you measure the battery voltage at tickover and something like 4000rpm?

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 11:43 am
by grandpa
Hi Sunrise,
this picture is of a jet200 with wassell and 5amp/hr conventional battery ticking over with all lights including headlamp on and indicators flashing and it is showing 12-12.5volts on the voltage display on front crash bar.Ok, this is a fairly new electronic stator fitted before I bought the scoot but I have the same set up on a points ign Gp 150 where I put new 12 volt coils( available at the time on ebay) on the original points stator.I have seen 12volt stators on e bay under £20 probably with duff pick up or Lt coils.you can have non flickering lighs :D
Imagevoltage at tickover 001 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156795374@N05/, on Flickr

this is the gp150 with lights on at tick over
Imagemegaride 001 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156795374@N05/, on Flickr
Grandpa

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 8:28 pm
by sunrisemac
Hi Grandpa,

Thanks for the info, I've found 12v stator coils on ebay and they are on the way, there is a fair chance that the stator plate components have had a fair bashing over their nearly 50 year life, although it ws effectively laid up for 15 years when we first got the scoot. I'll keep you posted.

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 8:32 pm
by sunrisemac
Fast n Furious wrote:
sunrisemac wrote:My GP runs really well and reliably on points and 12v battery with the simple 12v lighting mod, however I am going to ask a question that has most likely been answered before by some clever chaps on here.
Can I achieve flicker free 12v lighting at low revs without changing to electronic ignition and if so what is the most practical solution?

Have you got one yellow wire from your stator or two?


Hi Fast n Furious, without looking, as it's all up and running at the moment, I think there are two yellow from the stator.

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:21 am
by Fast n Furious
sunrisemac wrote:
Fast n Furious wrote:
sunrisemac wrote:My GP runs really well and reliably on points and 12v battery with the simple 12v lighting mod, however I am going to ask a question that has most likely been answered before by some clever chaps on here.
Can I achieve flicker free 12v lighting at low revs without changing to electronic ignition and if so what is the most practical solution?

Have you got one yellow wire from your stator or two?


Hi Fast n Furious, without looking, as it's all up and running at the moment, I think there are two yellow from the stator.


Ok Good.
Does your headlamp illuminate without the engine running?
Does your brake light illuminate without the engine running?

Re: 12v lighting question

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 7:54 pm
by sunrisemac
Fast n Furious wrote:
Ok Good.
Does your headlamp illuminate without the engine running?
Does your brake light illuminate without the engine running?


Brake light runs off battery without engine
Headlamp runs off stator with engine