Bottle dynamo charging system

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bigbutterbean

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This happened as a result of a thread I started asking what would be the best type of generator to use for a charging system. A forum member commented with an offer of a free 12v bottle generator and charger from wonderful creations on ebay. I gladly accepted the offer and began making plans to build a charging system. My wife's brother in law also hooked me up with a power distributor with 5 terminals. The charger contains a recitifer, voltage regulator and fuse holder. The generator didn't come with any mounting hardware, so I came up with my own and the generator roller wheel sits on top of the rear tire. The charger has 5 wires coming out of it, positive and negative input and postive and negative output, and the 5th wire can be wired to a switch if desired. I cut the wire shorter and capped it with some shrink tubing pinched shut over the end. In the picture, you can see how the generator is mounted. The charger is the black box with the green/yellow led in the middle. To the right of the charger, you can see a small metal block with a clear plastic cover and red lettering. This is a Rockford Fosgate power distributor. I don't know the model, its not listed anywhere on it and rockford's website doesnt list it. They have updated versions listed, so this must be an earlier model. The input wire from the charger is normally connected to the generator, and the output is connected to the power distributor. Also connected to the power distributor are the headlight, brake light and battery. This way, the generator/charger will run the lights when the bike is moving, and the battery takes over when stopped. I am running a 4A fuse currrently. The charger is disconnected from the generator until my new 12v sla battery arrives. The 12v system can not efficiently charge the nicads wired in series that I'm currently running. The 12v battery will be here saturday.
 
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Oh and testing with my multimeter confirms AC voltage from the generator and DC voltage from the charger. Forgot to mention that. I tested the circuit with the bike on the center stand, so it may differ somewhat under load, but the numbers were correct when testing with the bike in place.
 
I got my 12v 1.2Ah SLA battery today and installed it. It works great. Had a little problem today with the generator though. I went to the central pa motorbike rally today, and when I got there I noticed that the little plastic wheel that's supposed to spin the generator was completely destroyed. I guess it was pushed against the tire too hard. So when I got home, I found something made out of aluminum to use as a spindle wheel for the generator. It took a little modification, but it works and seems not to be pressed quite so hard against the tire. Either way its aluminum, so I don't expect it to wear out any time soon. My system is fully operational now. I'm going to be using a different brake light soon though, and turning my current brake light into a tail light. Apparently tractor supply has trailer marker lights for cheap, and they are much brighter than what I'm currently using for a brake light. My brake light is ok for night use, which is why it will make a good tail light, its just not very bright during the day. I just need to find a switch to wire into the brake light so I can turn it on or off when I want. I'll probably pick up a trailer marker light after work on monday, since there is a tractor supply close to my work.
 
I picked up a trailer marker light today, but it turned out to be incandescent which I'm almost certain is too high of a wattage for my system. I'm going back tomorrow after work to exchange it for an led light, which I'm hoping will provide the brightness I need. I will probably try lowe's for a toggle switch for the tail light.
 
No, but its a tung-lin 12v, 6w generator apparently available in abundance just about anywhere on the web (amazon, ebay, etc.).
 
Well I'm not sure, but I may have blown the generator. I noticed after a few rides that it was really warm, so I probably burned the brushes up. I'm going to ride it back and forth to work a few times and see what happens, but I may just order a charger for it in case.
 
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