Calling Doc Sprocket and other electrical Gurus

Hi all, I finally got around to hooking up the electric start/charging system on my honda clone. the wiring harness was a rats nest of wires cut stripped twisted together not hooked up wires etc so I just started from scratch testing and hooking stuff up as I went. while I was checking the charging circuit I noticed that I got 6 volt A/C out the charging wire at idle and 15 volts at high rpm. I ran it through the Diode and got that converted to D/C voltage. How ever I was wondering If it was suppose to have a voltage regulator or if there was a briggs or honda VR that I could use so that I could get some charging at idle and low rpm, because thats where I usually run during trail rides. Do I have to go to a alternator to get low rpm chargine? Am I way off base here? electricity is not my strongest suit....

All I can tell you is Briggs non voltage regulated don't charge at idle, mower engines run upper rpms when mowing, and charge there. Voltage regulator won't increase voltage. I recommend led lighting. We run our lighting off the ac lighting circuit, not charging circuit, don't know if clones have them. Our lights get brighter with rpm.
If you want to run a winch, alt is easy to go. Mine is only VR tractor we have, and it charges just above idle.

Thats what i needed to know, thanks Stretch. Clones only have one charging lead. and I found out researching today its only capable of 3 amps, so not really worth messing with with only being able to get three amps out regardless, Ill just hook it up to the trickle charger after a ride for a bit.

Hay People,

Yah, 6 volts is not charging anything. I'll start at the generator wire coming off the stator on the motor. Good thinking on putting the diode on that wire, if you think about it, when idling the motor is putting out 6 volts, so since the electrical is 12 volts, the 6 volts won't push it's way into the electrical to charge. Plus, with the diode in place on this wire, the 12 volts won't push it's way into the stator and try what you call motor the stator or short out the electrical through the stator.

Now, the stator wire with the diode on it is set for charging and the best place to run this wire would be to the keyed wire that disconnects from battery power when the key is off and when the key is on the wire connects to the battery. So the circuit would be, coming from the battery to the key which is the disconnect point, coming out of the key to the charging wire with the diode.

To hook up the lights, you can hook them up 2 to 3 different ways.

1-If there is a separate wire coming off the key for the lights, (key on/ power on and key off/ power off), this wire goes to switch, then to lights.

2-Branch off the charging wire between the diode and the key, to switch, then to lights. For regular lights or LED lights.

3-For LED lights only. An LED light is a light that is a diode, so you can hook up the power for the lights before the diode from the stator wire. Since the LED light is a diode, you don't have to worry about the electrical back feeding through the LED lights in any way. Plus hooked up this way, the lights will probably flicker from the AC current coming off the stator. Since they are hooked up before the diode, they will dim and get brite with the engine rpm, since this is happening this means they are not hooked up to the battery but only to the charging wire off the motor because the diode isolates this. So when the engine is idling and hooked up this way, the lights will not kill the battery, and when the engine is off the lights will not work because the diode prevents power getting to the lights from the battery.

As for the voltage regulator, the battery should be able to take the voltage, I don't think you will need it, but it wouldn't hurt anything. The voltage regulator would only keep the voltage from going over a certain limit, will not help low rpm charging in any way.

If your not using a key, you can run the charging wire 2 ways.

1- From stator diode, straight to battery.

2- From stator diode, to a switch, to battery.

Basically... What those guys said. Your charging circuit is pretty much solely intended to top off the battery after starting the engine, and not a heck of a lot else.

If you need big amps, you're pretty much stuck installing an aftermarket alternator like a Delco 12si.

Old topic this is but, I got my thinkin hat on, and thats not a good sign
You have 2 wires comming out of the stator, both are Ac. but one of the wires, usualy the red one has a black sleave on it and inside there is the magical famous diode everyone is talking about. So.... thats just a single diode on one wire.
but you have 2 wires.. How about you take those 2Ac wires connect them up to a FULL BRIDE RECTIFIER, and a smoooooting cap on the Dc line. would this work Doc? will this cure this low voltage @ idle sickness?

Mr.P