Torker Boardwalk

GoldenMotor.com
turnofftheradio

turnofftheradio

Member
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
Now that I have introduced myself, I took a minute to snap a few pics of the bike. I rode it to work today, I live 1.5-2 miles from work depending on route.

I've seen a couple boardwalks here, but none like my factory flames. Its a cool bike, and was a great price when I bought it years ago.










the headlight is modified. The origional was a toy. My buddy used to work for nichia led, and I have a few led show of doo dads, one of which was a mini lantern. I removed the top housing of it, then cut the reflector housing to fit the larger diameter led cover. The lantern oddly enough is the same size as a D cell battery, which as luck has it, is what powered the origional lamp. So it fits perfect with the 2nd d cell behind to hold it forward. I did have to drill a hole in the housing to accomodate the pushbutton. I can improve on what I have from here. It works immensely better, but not best.
 
turnofftheradio

turnofftheradio

Member
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
and a few more



had to chop the fender for the chain, I still need to clean it up, but function over form untill I know what I need. I really did not want anything even close to the chain.




I'm fine with the idler/tensioner, but I can see the need to weld it on for safetys sake. I do have a buddy with a welder that can zap it up quick.
 
turnofftheradio

turnofftheradio

Member
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
I did a little work this weekend.
I added:
front brake ( cheapie)



I added a brake and running light. Both I picked up at my local auto parts store. The switch for the brake light I used a trunk ajar switch from a cadillac and a center cap bolt from an f150.




Then, I tore apart a ballast to find this 6v nicad battery that may work for me. I have not yet experimented with it, but it shows potential. Currently without it my lights only work with the engine running (white wire)



I'm almost at 100 miles so far, and am now running 25:1. Ive hit 30 a couple of times, but still try to keep it under 25. the engine is producing much better power.

whats everyone think? i'm doing ok?
 
turnofftheradio

turnofftheradio

Member
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
moonerdizzle said:
thats a nice looking scoot. whats your tail light off of? its really sharp
Click to expand...
Its a cheapie led marker light I purchased at oreilie's auto parts. I'll have to find the box for a brand name. I think it was < $6.00. I did have to grind it a tad and use some black rtv to mate it to the fender nicely. It comes totally flat surface mount on the back, and my fender has enough curve that the left/right sides stuck up enough for me to want it more flush. It did however fit fine and securely without any modification, but it didnt have that "finished" look. the larger brake light was also from oriellies and <$6.00 as well. they had kind of a lot of styles to choose from, some led some regular bulb type.
 
turnofftheradio

turnofftheradio

Member
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
a little progress

no more flashing leds.



while Its certainly still a work in progress, it functions as it should. 6v 4000mah.

You can see for now I have a small toggle to be able to pull the battery out of the circuit, I may move this switch to handlebars later. at rest no engine with all lights on I'm at 6.2v charged. running with all lights Im at 6.7. after a half hr. my battery still reads 6.7, so I think I'm safe. all I used was a single diode on white wire.

here is a poor diagram of how its hooked up.

---white wire---Diode--light (+) wires---switch adds bat (+). The other side of bat and all lights frame grounded

my lights are steady, and if I stall out I still have my running lights/brake light functioning. This was important to me as I ride in the dark to work.

If I flip the switch, My lights work independantly from the battery just as if they were just hooked to the white wire, and flicker with engine rpm.

I'd like to paint or encase that blue battery in something black, maybe an old tube. and mount it more permantly.
 
turnofftheradio

turnofftheradio

Member
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
moonerdizzle said:
i dont think thats a battery, im pretty sure thats a large capacitor
Click to expand...
I can assure you, it is a battery. A nickel cadmium battery. The label even says so :)

whats funny, is that it is considered "non-replacable" by our electrictians here, although it is installed with spade connectors, not soldered to the ballast board. The board itself has some really large capacators on it, nearly half the size of this battery. FWIW, the ballasts fry before the batteries are junk nearly every time.
 
Last edited:
turnofftheradio

turnofftheradio

Member
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
JonnyR said:
thats a awesome idea keep us posted on how it works over a period oftime i might want to do something like that and how much does one of them run?
Click to expand...
today my measurements were approx the same. As far as cost goes, I bet the whole emergency light ballast is expensive, but I'm not sure. The battery itself probably way cheaper, but for me was free (used) We have 30+ schools here and every 5th? light is an emergency ballast with this battery in it. thats a TON of batteries. They get replaced fairly often and end up "recycled". I'm sure I could stockpile a bunch of used ones, but I cant imagine anyone would want to pay for a used battery. I'll ask an electrican to find out the cost of the battery new.

oddly enough, I cant seem to find anything about the battery through search, which I'm not that great at I admit. what I can tell you is that it is made by
Tran-Bal
5KRDH 0413
6.0v 4000mAh
Nickel Cadmium
thats whats on the label at least.
 
moonerdizzle

moonerdizzle

New Member
Jun 28, 2009
874
0
0
Cheese head capitol
wow, i learned something new, time to dig out a ballast from the garbage at work, i could use some batterys for my lights. they throw out atleast 2 or 3 ballasts a day at work
 
J

JonnyR

New Member
May 13, 2012
1,203
1
0
37
ronkonkoma, new york
turnofftheradio said:
today my measurements were approx the same. As far as cost goes, I bet the whole emergency light ballast is expensive, but I'm not sure. The battery itself probably way cheaper, but for me was free (used) We have 30+ schools here and every 5th? light is an emergency ballast with this battery in it. thats a TON of batteries. They get replaced fairly often and end up "recycled". I'm sure I could stockpile a bunch of used ones, but I cant imagine anyone would want to pay for a used battery. I'll ask an electrican to find out the cost of the battery new.

oddly enough, I cant seem to find anything about the battery through search, which I'm not that great at I admit. what I can tell you is that it is made by
Tran-Bal
5KRDH 0413
6.0v 4000mAh
Nickel Cadmium
thats whats on the label at least.
Click to expand...

depending on price i might be one of those people lol
 
turnofftheradio

turnofftheradio

Member
Sep 4, 2012
242
1
16
America's Hi-five
moonerdizzle said:
wow, i learned something new, time to dig out a ballast from the garbage at work, i could use some batterys for my lights. they throw out atleast 2 or 3 ballasts a day at work
Click to expand...
you will want to look for ballasts with emergency light control. they are visually larger/ longer than the average ballast, and are marked as such. Mine happen to be red in color. Usually they also have a reset button that will protrude into the fixture itself, and/or a very annoying beeper that goes off when there is a problem with the ballast. most, if not all fail in the charge circuit or the actual ballast itself, leaving a good battery inside a broken ballast.

Its raining today, so no testing this morning. It is friday, so if the weather breaks later I'll go for a happy fun time ride and do some more testing.
 
maniac57

maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Oct 8, 2011
4,484
22
0
memphis Tn
turnofftheradio said:
I did a little work this weekend.
I added:
front brake ( cheapie)



I added a brake and running light. Both I picked up at my local auto parts store. The switch for the brake light I used a trunk ajar switch from a cadillac and a center cap bolt from an f150.




Then, I tore apart a ballast to find this 6v nicad battery that may work for me. I have not yet experimented with it, but it shows potential. Currently without it my lights only work with the engine running (white wire)



I'm almost at 100 miles so far, and am now running 25:1. Ive hit 30 a couple of times, but still try to keep it under 25. the engine is producing much better power.

whats everyone think? i'm doing ok?
Click to expand...
Be sure you use a regulator of some kind to keep the engine from overcharging the battery at high-revs. Ni-Cads don't like overcharging. They catch fire and stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom