White Wire Voltage Question

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Fulltimer

Fulltimer

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Aug 13, 2010
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Does anyone know how much amperage draw can be pulled before it effects performance? I have read that you shouldn't use the white wire for lights because it would pull too much juice from the spark plug. But what would the max safe draw amperage be?

Terry
 
2door

2door

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Sep 15, 2008
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Terry,
As for amps, you should be more concerned with wattage if you're considering using the white wire for lights. It has been experimented with countless times and the results have always shown that anything much over 2.5 to 3 watts will adversely effect ignition performance. Reducing the spark plug gap by a few thousanths can help a little but not much. If I had my way the white wire would not be there. An on board battery to power lights, and in some cases a tire driven or hub generator is a far better option than trying to use that trouble prone white wire. Good luck and just wait; you're going to get a lot more advice and if you use the search feature (keyword: White Wire) you'll have lots to read on the subject.
Tom
 
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Kevlarr

Kevlarr

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Jul 22, 2009
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I gave up trying to power anything off the white wire. If you notice the new Grubee motors with the integrated ignition doesn't have one. If would be nice if they would design a true single coil alternator for these motors (6 or 12v, doesn't matter to me) that can power some lights and still power and trigger the ignition.
 
Fulltimer

Fulltimer

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For what I was thinking of doing I guess it wouldn't matter much. Just a small LED light shinning down on the ground under the motor. They take so little it wouldn't matter much. For the regular lights I'm using a small 12v ATV/motorcycle battery.

Terry
 
S

Scotchmo

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Jun 23, 2009
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Fulltimer said:
For what I was thinking of doing I guess it wouldn't matter much. Just a small LED light shinning down on the ground under the motor. They take so little it wouldn't matter much. For the regular lights I'm using a small 12v ATV/motorcycle battery.

Terry
Click to expand...
If you hook the anode of the LED to the white wire, it will not affect the engine performance. 2 watts (0.3 amps) is about all you will get. If you try to draw more, the voltage sags but there is no affect on the engine.

I usually recommend a ½ wave rectifier diode to charge a small 6v battery from the white wire. Again, as long as the anode of the diode is hooked to that white wire, you will not affect engine performance. The battery regulates the voltage swings so the LED will run at a constant brightness. Without the battery, some voltage sensitive LEDs may even blow out at high rpms.
 
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