[loopiemclooperson]

I had never heard of the ballistic evo2 batteries before. Sounds like a great setup.

Lithium is pretty tech for a z50!,

 

[66Cooper]

I wanted something very small and light weight. Did a quick search and found it. It's their smallest battery and I got it for under 60 bucks. Should be perfect for what I needed. Bonus, it only loses 10% capacity over a year if not used

 

[DSR BLACK DEATH]

Where's did you get that headlight from n shroud?
How much was that battery ?

 

[66Cooper]

I paid 58 bones for it shipped from eBay. Best price I could find. Comes with a precut foam block that u can use to retro fit it into an existing battery box. Doubles as it's shipping protection. Smart!

the 84 xr headlight shroud was a score from my friend. I told him about the build while over his new place and he said, hold on a minute. Pulled down the attic stair and came back with it!! Awesome! It was really chalky and faded so I sanded it down and it looks great. Going to used some heat to help bring up the luster and even the sanding out more. The yellow number plate decal matches perfect! The lens as stock plastic and beat. Sealed beam 35w which is totally weak.

I actually bought the factory option/upgraded glass lens that takes an h3, 55w bulb. From what I have read its a huge improvement. Baja design had the best price strangely and came with the bulb, rubber boot and all. I bought one for my buddy's xr as a thank you for the shroud.

Now, some might be saying, you need a hi/lo beam for the road. Yes, that's the problem with the h3 bulb but I actually found a company in California that sells a custom hi/lo h3 (35/50) bulb that was 10 bones shipped. It's on its way. Hoping its bright enough. If not, I'll rig something up

 

[66Cooper]

Well, I got it all wires up with the new battery, custom mount and ghetto rear tail/brake light setup. Wanted to give it a test...didn't go so well. Now I'm confused.

when I first got the battery mounted I switched it all on with the headlight. Currently only have a baja design 55w bulb in it with no low beam. Turned it on and it seems promising. Night bright light it seemed. I was happy and began making things official for a test run. Did that tonight and the light was super dim. Took it out for a FREEZING spin around the block and it eventually just stalled out. Light literally was completely out with the ign switched on. Had to push it the rest of the way. ( have fuel/carb issue as well) still, battery wasn't powering the light. Got home and tried again and it switched on but for only a few secs, dimly and went out. Tail lights until light is switched on, battery dead or drained. Had it on for a total of 5-10 max while running bike. Showed over 10v when I started. Back to crappy meter as good one suddenly broke tonight.

So, what the heck is going on? What can I test and where to see what is going on. Could the regulator be not working ? How do you test?

 

[66Cooper]

Pulled the battery and tested and it seems charged.
Set at 10v reading
And set at 50v on meter

no idea now. Regulator not working?

edit. Did some more tests. I'm and idiot. It stalled because I had the fuel turned off. BUT thelights are still super dim. So I got the bike running and ran some test. Being that the battery appears to be fully charged, I hooked it back up and started bike. here is what I got:
engine idle, no headlight, taillight = 14-15v (can't say I trust this meter so keep that in mind)
same as above but with engine revving a bit = 17v
at idle, no headlight but brake light on = 12v
now, headlight switched on (55w) = 5v
switched bike off = 13v

when I first hooked it bk up, the tail would light until you switched on the head...then all super dim.

 

[DSR BLACK DEATH]

Dam I dread when I do this to mine if your having issues

 

[66Cooper]

Let's hope I get it all sorted by then. Then maybe it will be easier for ya. I'm sure if I were to that have plunked down a bunch of cash on all brsd new stuff it be long done by now....but where's the fun in that??

Ill post pix of my battery bracket tomorrow. Came out pretty good.

 

[DSR BLACK DEATH]

Maybe your just missing one thing as from every thread I read, it seems easy from what all say.
But it's always easier said than done.
I have two bikes to convert over from 6 volt to 12 volt, but... Maybe ill leave em 6 volt...
If not ill do one at a time

 

[66Cooper]

I am starting to think that I need to have the headlight running off the stator and the rest run off the battery. It sounds awesome to have it all run off the battery but I am now wondering if this battery is not designed for that. I remember reading something but will confirm.


Update: I just read this on the warranty for the batter. Things that void the warrany. Is this what I am doing with mine and this setup? If so, I am more then happy to switch it back to the stock config with light running off stator.

• Applications not listed on the Ballistic website or using the EVO2 as a main power source

 

[66Cooper]

Try a few more things. Had to clean the carb to get it to finally run and also fixed my multimeter. Battery isn't looking good. It was down to about 5v and if you try to turn on the light, drops to almost nothing. I pulled it and have it on a trickle charger.

while the bike was running I had the meter on the battery. It appeared to be getting a charge. Was watching it tick up .o1v at a time. Granted, there was no draw on it as I had taken off the rear lights. Seems like maybe there's not enough getting back to the battery and I have no idea how to test that. As I said, I am using a stock honda regulator with 4 posts. One goes to + on batter, two go to the two stator leads, and the 4th is ground. I have no way to test to see what the stator is putting out. Testing the two white leads from the stator yields nothing. I'm sure I am not understanding that.

So, a guess I need to see if the reg is working correctly and that it's hooked up right. Anyone have a diagram for the reg leads and which goes where would be good just to be sure. Also, how do you test it and is my battery up for this job you think?

 

[66Cooper]

Update. I spoke with Jon (what a wealth of good info he has) and I think I may have figured out what is going on.

I am using a stock Honda regulator I pulled off an Elite80 Scooter. Honda wires their bikes with the headlight running off a T in the yellow stator wire...soooo you have to start your bike for it to turn on. Also, the beam will dim at idle. I wired my bike so its all DC where as both stator wires are going to the regulator and the headlight will run off the battery...and be bright all the time.

I ended up ordering a new regulator that is a full-wave, 12v unit that should be what I need. At least I sure hope so

 

[66Cooper]

Here is the battery bracket I fabbed up using the existing number plate bracket. It will be finalized and then powder coated with the rest of my black parts on the bike.

 

[1ez50]

Can you give us a link to the reg/ rect.? I've been watching closely and would like to do this with a couple bikes.

 

[66Cooper]

How about I wai till it is installed. Hate to send someone down the wrong path. Should be in in a day or two

 

[DSR BLACK DEATH]

How about a pic of ur bike also?.

 

[SwollenTripod702]

How does the headlight work when your motor is not running and the ignition and light switch are on?
How does the headlight work connected to the battery all by itself fully charged? Try it.
Did you put the battery on a charger initially and get it fully charged?
Your diagram shows that the regulated 12vdc is paralleled with your battery and therefore should not affect your headlight at all initially. Not until your battery has been drained and the stator is basically running your electrical system through your half wave rectifier should you see a dimming of the lights.
A half wave rectifier only uses one of the two halves of an AC sine wave and throws the other half away. If there were no battery, that would definitely explain your dim lights. But since there is a battery, I feel like there is something else wrong in the mix. The battery should run that headlight no problem once fully charged for like a half hour at least.....I would think. Its only drawing 4.58 amps.
At a 2.3 amp hour rating on the battery, using what I believe is a 10 hour standard on starting batteries, I calculate it should take 1 hour to drain the battery w/ a load of 4.34 amps. I AM NOT A BATTERY EXPERT and don't know if I am correct for sure.

 

[66Cooper]

I received the battery and plugged it right in without charging. Forgot to test to see what it was at. I do recall flipping the head light on and it being bright as well as the tail and brake light. Was happy to see them working properly.

Here is the battery info:
Ballistic Performance Components Part Number: 100-009
Parts Unlimited Part Number: 2113-0257
Dimensions (Metric): 52mm(L) x 52mm(W) x 84mm(H)
Dimensions (Standard): 2" (L) x 2" (W) x 3.25" (H)
Negative Terminal Location: Right
Weight: 246 grams (.543 lbs.)
Voltage (Charged): 13.6V
Amperage: 1 Amp/hour
Lead Acid Equivalent Amperage: 4 Pb-eq/Ah
Burst Cranking Amps: 80 amps
Operating Environment: -18°C (0°F) to 60°C (140°F)
Typical Applications: 50cc and under motorcycles, scooters, and ATVs.

what do you think?

Mother!!!!! So I put the battery on a trickle charge last night. Automatic type that maintains a battery after it's charged, ie no over charging. Went to go check it just now and my meter reads 0!!! What the hell?..

So, the battery can not drop below 6v apparently, after that the battery is just a paperweight. What the hell? So if this was in a car and you left your lights on by mistake, bye bye battery? Well that sucks

 

[SwollenTripod702]

My math was wrong on the 2.3 amp hour rating battery. It should more like 14 minutes till that headlight kills a 2.3ah battery. That being said, a 1ah battery should give you all of 6 minutes before it sucks the life out. I think the full wave bridged rectifier will help but you will still get dim lights at low RPMs. The original drawing you started with (ZB50) makes sense w/ a half wave rectifier. the headlight received both the positive and the negative part of an AC sine wave since it bypassed the rectifier, therefore giving the full 12vac. Now by running everything 12vdc through the half wave rectifier your cutting out half the sine wave and power necessary to run the headlight. I THINK that the bridged full wave rectifier will remedy the problem of the super dim headlight, but you will continue to have fluctuation at low RPMs. I believe the original idea from Jon was to run all the lights off of the battery for constant non fluctuating voltage and just have the stator keep the battery charged. I don't know if he has done it before w/ such a small battery or not. It seems to me though that that lil' battery cant keep up with the needs of your entire lighting system. Maybe it can though when getting charged through the new rectifier.
As far as your 0 volts.... check to make sure your dial on your meter is correct and make sure the batteries are good in the meter if there are any. If that doesn't work, buy a new meter and try again. that meter is a POS anyway.
Also, you could try it on your car battery to make sure it works.
I can't imagine you smoked your battery.

 

[66Cooper]

Yeah, I was afraid of we that. The plan wasn't to have lights on while the bike was off but my inexperience in this is the blame. I should have read into the battery more. I wanted something super light and compact so to fit where I needed it.

To to be honest, I don't care about the dimming lights at idle. I mean, it would be great if they didn't. What kind of battery would I need for that not to happen with the current, all DC setup i have?

The meter is brand new. Bought one last night just to keep in the house. Tested a C battery and it was spot on. It truly is reading 0. It had about 5.5-6v when I put it on the charger last night but I forgot to check it in the morning. Not sure it would have made a difference. It would have went into float mode if fully charged. Ballistics says if it gets to 6v it's dead. Crazy to me. What strange thing. Seems like no room for error at all.