White wire is the positve what do you for negtive?

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MarcPhotoMan

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May 21, 2008
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Montreal, Canada
I know there must be an answer some were on the forum but i cannot find it.
I know the white wire is 6v ac positive.
But... what do use for the negative.

I really need lights to ride here during the fall
Soon i will not be able to ride the winters here are just way to brutal.
 

TexasDav

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Aug 19, 2008
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Houston
if the white wire is AC it is both at the same time and would need a rectifing diod to make it positive DC. and the frame or motor is ground
 

TexasDav

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Aug 19, 2008
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Houston
No , a rectifing diod will only allow the positive current to pass thru, converting it from AC to DC positive current. What I did on mine is used a battery for a honda NC50 $20.00 and is only 3in. It is 6volt. I used the white wire to keep it charged. White wire soldered to a rectifing diod from radio shack. hooked to the positive wire. Negitive hooked to frame. all lights are one wire positive and bike frame negitive. But Norm has a system that does not use a battery, just the white wire, may be a better system. Lots of people here use it.
 

jasonh

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Jun 23, 2008
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Longmont, CO
you would probably get a much better ground if you connect to the motor or black wire instead of the frame.

Thanks for the tip on the battery/diode combo. I was wondering how to do that.
 

HoughMade

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Apr 15, 2008
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Valparaiso, IN
Always run a ground wire back to the frame directly. It is built to ground to the engine through the chassis like a car (bike frame, handlebars, etc.), but for a better, more reliable ground, just run a wire to the engine itself.
 

jirble2

Member
Mar 23, 2010
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I've been wondering the same thing too.

If I DON'T have a rectifier, battery, or anything like that, how would I connect say, an incandescant lightbulb, to my white wire? Ie. White wire goes to which pole and what do I connect to the other?
auflg
 

BarelyAWake

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Jul 21, 2009
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Maine
Regular lights (incandescent) don't care about polarity or even AC/DC for that matter, they crave only adequate voltage - the filament will glow no matter which way it's connected... but the lil solder nubbin on the bottom is the positive (engine's white wire) and it's metal case the negative (black wire/frame ground).

LEDs are far more picky - wire them up wrong and they may never work again...

Problem with the white wire is there's no real lighting coil on these engines, the output feeble - the wrong bulb may just act as a kill switch lol

This thread has a buncha good info: http://motorbicycling.com/f23/lights-run-off-white-wire-no-7306.html
 
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jirble2

Member
Mar 23, 2010
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Ok, I understand now.

But just one other thing: If I have something running off the white wire, then how can I wire in my kill switch? Just one idea I had while pondering this thought is that you could have 2 wires joined up to the white wire -one to a lightbult or whatever it is you're running, and one to the kill switch. Would that work?