home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: sparky!uunet!ogicse!emory!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!lenti.med.umn.edu!mark
- From: mark@lenti.med.umn.edu (Mark Olson (CDC))
- Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles.dirt
- Subject: voltage regulators
- Message-ID: <1992Nov18.155521.28437@news2.cis.umn.edu>
- Date: 18 Nov 92 15:55:21 GMT
- Article-I.D.: news2.1992Nov18.155521.28437
- Sender: news@news2.cis.umn.edu (Usenet News Administration)
- Organization: University of Minnesota
- Lines: 19
- Nntp-Posting-Host: lenti.med.umn.edu
-
-
- Most of the moto voltage regulators I've seen are the shunt variety. They
- use SCR's to shunt the generator voltage to ground when it reaches a certain
- voltage (15-16 volts?). If the load is enough so the voltage doesn't reach
- this value, no current is shunted away. I suppose the virtue of this
- arrangement is in lower complexity of the alternator (you don't need a
- rotating field and the brushes that go with it), and a simpler circuit
- for regulation. The downside is that the alternator is always loaded at
- it's maximum output, thus taking extra horsepower.
-
- I would think that one could make a regulator circuit using 3 scr's,
- 3 rectifier diodes, 3 zener diodes, and some resistors/capacitors. Of
- course, it'd have to be small, heatsinked, and vibration-proof. You'd
- probably spend close to the amount you'd pay for one made for the bike...
-
- IMHO, of course.
-
- mark olson
- mark@lenti.med.umn.edu
-