Alternator output - ping PipL mebbe

Google hasn't turned up the Raptor's alternator spec[1], so as a
general question, is a late '90s Jap bike alternator likely to cope
with powering a SatNav, heated waistcoat, heated grips & a 100/80 watt
headlight?

[1] Anyone know what a TL1000S spits out?

 

Don't know....

But someone here

http://wotid.com/tls/content/view/53/60/

has stated they ran two 55w driving lights on the TL so that's an extra
110W. You're adding about 20W for the headlight and ? for the
waistcoat. SatNav will be negligible.

However, this all relies on the regulator and alternator on the Raptor
being the same...

 

What battery is fitted? Should give you an indication. On the R-GS, BMW go
up from a 14Ah battery to a 19Ah one, plus a bigger laternator, if the
heated grips option is specified. This rating is designed to cope with the
ABS option to, which has a power sapping pump.

If you have the same battery as Tayna quote for the TL100R (14Ah) then you
might get away with it. Googling suggests you have a 12Ah battery
http://www.bikepartsuk.com/modelsearch.asp?model=Cagiva Raptor 1000
which I reckon will make the charging system marginal.

Can you use one fo the new fangled 100% more light bulbs? More lumens for
your standard 55W
http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/H4-Bulbs/

 

I'm glad you've decided to come on the winter trip with us but I think
your Tiger would be better suited to the conditions than the Raptor.

I send you an invite to the mailing list when I get a chance.

 

Unfortunately not: I only have the service manual for my TL-R left and
though it gives a description of how the alternator & regulator work,
how to test them and so on, it just says that the alternator is three
phase AC!

 

Interesting mod, that. Ta.

The alternator will be, dunno about the reg/rec.

 

Pretty sure it's a 12Ah.

I've got the Philips ones in the Jeep & I'm not that impressed. They're
a bit brighter on dip but they seem dimmer on full beam.

 

10/10 for effort.

 

The DL was uprated to 400 watts in 2003. No idea what from, though.

<pats nice little 1080W Compufire>

No, I haven't fitted it yet.

 

Aha: just found the spec buried in a table marked 'servicing
information': not in the specifications or in the electrical section.
The (TLR) alternator's rated at approx. 380W @ 5000rpm.

Battery is gel 12V 10Ah.

Regulator is shunt type that uses 3xSCRs controlled by 'a chip'.

 

Aha! Guess I'd better track down the heated waistcoat & grips specs.

 

Shottky-barrier rectifier diodes Vf typically 0.2V as opposed to 0.7V for
regular silicon.

The downside of SB rectifiers is higher reverse leakage and price starts to
rise rapidly as Vrm rating goes above about 60V - this may not seem much of
a problem, but a PM alternator can belt out well over 250V if allowed to run
with no load, so an intermittent connector on the alternator and your
rectifier is toast.

The data sheets also recommend ESD handling precautions (sensitive to static
discharge) but I've never blown one.

The main advantage of SB rectifiers is very low reverse recovery time (Trr)
which is good for high frequency switch mode power supplies. Personally I
doubt the 0.5V per diode saving will yield any noticeable advantage - if the
current capacity isn't there an extra volt isn't going to make a big
difference to the power output.

If I were going to put SB diodes on a PM alternator I'd put an old brit-bike
zener diode on the output as a failsafe - maybe a couple of silicon diodes
in series with the zener so it doesn't take over the role of regulator.

 

Which seems to be 60W for the grips & 38W for the waistcoat, so I
reckon it'll be fine.

 

If the regulator contains 3xSCR its pretty unlikely to be a shunt type, the
3 SCRs being half the 3PH bridge rectifier - the control chip simply doesn't
turn the SCRs on when the battery is full.

The nearest I've seen to a SCR operated shunt regulator is on the single
phase PM alternator on the CB250G5/CB200 etc, when the battery is full the
SCR is switched on to short one AC arm of the bridge rectifier to chassis -
effectively switching the full wave rectifier to a half wave rectifier.

A typical example of a shunt regulator would be the old Lucas zener diode -
there have been various power transistor based shunt regulators from Japan
with more accurate voltage reference and sharper VI knee curve than a zener.

 

Not a manufacturer official document then.

(fire thyristors and watch smoke pour out of breather pipe................).

 

They also don't last very long IME.

 

Nah, they're separate.

IANAE but I reckon you'd get some pretty serious voltage peaks on
unloaded coils (typically 60-100V) and there's be nothing to measure
if they were simply switched off for a whole half-cycle. You could
switch them off as the DC voltage peak exceeded the upper limit but I
think you'd get some hefty spikes as the magnetic field collapsed, so
you'd need some means of dealing with that.

 

More than that - I've measured over 300 on a single phase alternator
spinning at 5000revs.

I've also got away with using a SP motorcycle rectifier for mains - but its
not something I make a habit of.

and there's be nothing to measure

If you put the 3 SCRs at the + end of the 3PH rectifier (pointing upwards
IYSWIM) each SCR having a "bias" resistor to its respective AC input
terminal, it will switch on every time its AC terminal goes positive. Next
add the regulator - a chip that senses when the battery has reached 13.8V,
it switches on 3 transistors that clamp the 3 SCR gates to the + terminal
and preventing them switching on.

Switching spikes would only be a problem with GTO SCRs that can be turned
off by reversing the gate current - normal SCRs once triggered continue
conducting until the AC cycle decreases below the SCR holding current.

Whether or not Shindengen thought of it, if I was building a motorcycle
rectifier I'd use controlled avalanche rectifier diodes, sort of half way
between an ordinary diode and a zener, Avalanche voltages are typically 350V
and up and have a much shallower knee curve than a zener.

An off load alternator shifting 300 + volts won't continue to do so at much
current, so a decent sized controlled avalanche rectifier will hold it below
its destructive breakdown voltage.

 

Given that you lost me at the word 'SCR' I suspect you're making all
this up....

 

Mathew 7:6