DC or AC

GoldenMotor.com

jji7skyline

New Member
Jan 15, 2013
114
0
0
Australia
I've had fun with circuits and little batteries before, and I think that powering something off of something else without using replacement batteries is cool, so I'd like to ask:

Is the white wire DC current or AC current? I would have assumed it is DC, but then the white wire would connect to the + of a bulb, and the - would connect to ground? Or either the blue or black wire?

I've searched the forums for answers and haven't found any.

[bronxaccent]Help a guy out here[/bronx] :p
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
The white wire is AC. You can install a rectifier to convert it to dc if you wish. The white wire is the positive, and you can ground whatever you're powering to either the frame or the engine itself.
 

nightcruiser

New Member
Mar 25, 2011
1,180
2
0
USA
The white wire provides very jagged A/C with high narrow peaks, it is not a smooth sine wave like the power you get from the wall outlet. You can rectify it to dc and get maybe 3W of power from it to run lights or charge a battery or whatever. I would recommend that you at least add a filter capacitor to chop off those peaks which can go pretty high. If you are using a battery you'll need a blocking diode to prevent the battery from being drained when you hit the kill switch. (cause that shorts the ignition and white wire to ground) If you draw too much power from the white wire your motor may not start or may run funky... Good luck....