DC conversion - not floating ground

[johnm]

Hi all - first post

Just bought a zero mile/hour 2000 EC200, had it a couple of months and have got fed up with dim lights and indicators that do not function with the lights on. So did the DC conversion without floating the ground.

Parts used

Trail Tech regulator/rectifier
Trail Tech battery
Part plate of a Trail Tech battery bag
Velcro anchor straps - two
Car flasher relay
Bullet connects
Spade connector
Wire, red and black
Cable ties
Heat shrink

Here is what I did - aim was no holes drilled and completely reversible

Battery install - lot of head scratching for location, but decided on right hand side of air filter box, was attached using two velcro anchor straps. See images Battery 1 & 2.

Install voltage regulator rectifier
Installed on rear/upper bar in air filter bay, this was mounted on the plastic packing plate which came with the battery bag (bag not used), this plate was cable tied to bar. See Rectifier Regulator mount.

Next located the AC regulator and removed
Located earth for lights/indicators/horn etc - this was located above AC regulator; remove from frame. sample check all earth wires to ensure are not connected to the frame - I found a secondary earth through the handle bar switches. Resolved with insulating tape placed on handle bar before mounting switch.
Move alternator wires yellow and white from under tank to air filter housing area (they should simply unclip from frame).

Modifications to loom
Earth wire remove eye connector and replace with bullet connector.

Install of wiring
Battery positive (red) take wire to where the original AC regulator output connected to loom, also connect Trail Tech Reg/Rec red lead
Battery negative (black) connect to Trail Tech Reg/Rec blue lead
Remaining Trail Tech leads
One yellow connect to white alternator wire (yellow no longer used)
Other yellow to original earth point on frame (where AC regulator and loom earth were mounted)
Black wire to the new earth wire where you attached the new bullet.

Flasher Relay - two connectors will have to be swopped over depending on the type of flasher relay you have.

That's it - tidy wires, install tank and panels, all electrics can be tested prior to start

My results
Every thing off
Battery volts 12.5

Lights on for a couple of minutes voltage dropped to 10 volts

Engine started
Every thing off for a couple of minutes 13.5 volts
Lights and flashers on stays at 13.5 volts at close to idle speed

[eff]

Great first post! Welcome. This should be "Sticky'd" and/or be copied over to the technical articles on the main site.

[GMP]

Very nice and welcome! Glad to see people who understand this contribute.

[johnm]

Thanks guys.

Looking for better lighting next - possibly a Ricky Stator 8", with dip and high beam.

[Brian]

Thanks for posting this. I am heading down this same road soon. Waiting for parts to trickle in and time to work on it.

[wence]

John,
I have a battery setup in my 300 and am running a Hid setup.
I used a turntech 5ah battery and ended up floating the ground in the stator but the light setup doesn't even effect the battery charge when bike is running and only drops it a little on start up when bike not running.
For under $100 Aud these are the go. I am using the standard 07 light right now but have a 7" round light I will be adapting for next season.
Plenty of light as is though for trailriding(racing too really).
Cheers Mark

[GMP]

For next year I'm going to try and run two Vision-X LED lights off my 2K-2 with a rect/reg and a capactor filter, no battery. I'll just make an isolated module in a small box to connect between the bikes AC and the lights, easy to R&R as needed.

[MattR]

Originally Posted by eff

Great first post! Welcome. This should be "Sticky'd" and/or be copied over to the technical articles on the main site.

I made it a sticky. Thanks for posting John!

[Neil E.]

I consider the term "floating the ground", to be a real misnomer. Does the GasGas normally have part of the windings split out to feed a small rectifier? This would create some DC, but I don't know what it would be used for on a bike without a battery.

There are only two functions in an electrical system: ignition and lighting. Ignition is taken care of through a separate winding and the CDI. If the lighting is fully AC, there is only a regulator installed to limit the voltage level. This prevents burning out bulbs at high RPMs.

On many bikes, the lighting coils have a common ground partway through the windings. Above the ground point is AC. Below the ground point is AC too, but gets fed to a rectifier and changed to DC for battery charging. This is typically only a small amount of current and not suitable for any real load like a big headlight.

Floating the ground is a misnomer because the ground is just being moved to the "bottom" of the windings. You take a larger rectifier and change the entire AC output to DC. "Moving the ground" would be the correct term.

[GMP]

The Kokusan 2K-3 has no separate small winding for DC. There are two output windings and a common that is referenced to the stator frame(motor/chassis). The 2K-2 has just one smaller 35W output winding. A DC conversion is just like building a linear DC power supply from a transformer, bridge rectifier, filter, and regulator. The Trailtech module just integrates these components except for the filter as the battery takes its place. In either case the DC output is isolated from the AC input to the rectifier. If the grounds were connected, one pair of diodes in the bridge would each be shorted, one during 0-180 deg (+) and the other during 180 - 360 deg (-) of the sine wave, bypassing the DC system load.

So you are isolating the grounds. If you choose to have a DC chassis ground then it must be done with the stator mod. I'm pretty sure the white and yellow outputs are out of phase (different poles) and not just a center tap type arangement of a single winding. The term "Floating" the AC ground or removing its reference to the chassis is just a way of saying "Isolating".