Improving the electrical system

So my project is well under way. The order for the mr turbo kit went in this morning! 8-12 weeks later and I'm forced induction capable. There's plenty of info on beefing up the motor, frame, brakes, and fuel system.

Its hard to find good information on the electrical system. Most of it consists of bringing it back to oem spec; clean contacts etc.

So I've made some measures on the stock system and here's what I've found.

My stator puts out 20 volts AC at idle and 60 volts at 4000 rpm.
this was only part of the story, so I made some Amp measures too. Key on and kill switch off: -6amp
key on and kill switch on: -9 amp (points ignition)
idling: -3 amps at 12.5 volts
2000 rpm 0 Amps at 13.5 volts
4000 rpm +2 Amps at 14.8 volts

So at first glance it seems like the system will charge at anything above 2000rpm. The points do use less current as the rpm rise. I have about 11 being drawn by the system. I don't have a load tester to see what kind of load I can add before the dc voltage drops. But as a guess, if the main fuse is 20amps then the system can take probably 18 amps continuously without blowing a fuse.

Since I've already added a slightly brighter headlight, and will be adding a fuel pump and and electronic ignition. I'll need a little more capacity in the system.

If the stator can do 18 amps, its a safe bet thats what the regulator can take before it over heats.


The stator I bought off of ebay as a donor (+ the case) for 30 bucks is wired in the wye config, three phase and has 60 wraps all ccw. The wire appears to be 18 gauge, which may be fine. To boost the stators output can be done by stronger magnets(hard to get), change the air gap of stator and rotor(really hard!) or more wraps of wire( easier). I don't know yet if I'll need to upsize the wire or not.

So the plan is to put ~75 wraps per coil and change it to delta config. This in theory means I'll need to rev it higher before I can charge, but at highway speeds the engine turns over 4500rpm.

To keep the regulator from smoking, there are fancier mosfet types from modern sport bikes rated for 50 amps that would be more efficient that the scr type I have and should be able to handle.

This may not work, but I'll try it out and see what happens.

Sam

As a follow up, here's the donor stator showing the wye connection.

Here it is free of the wiring and just out of the degreasing bath. They didn't skimp on the epoxy. There's a thick green layer over the stator frame and a clear layer over the wires.

Now I need to source some magnet wire, one of those stator kits from redline cycles(for the blue plug and fresh insulating sleeve) and some decent epoxy to coat the new wraps in.

For the benefit of the woefully ignorant (me :silly: ), would you please explain what wye configuration & delta configuration means?

Thanks.

One thing to remember about adding more wraps is that it changes the inductance of the windings. If you go too high with the inductance, the current will not be able to change direction fast enough at higher RPMs. This may boost output at lower RPMs at the expense of losing output at higher RPMs. This effect will also depend on loading, so you definitely have some leeway to play with.

Re: delta vs wye. Delta is when the three phases are wired together in the shape of a triangle. Wye is when the three phases are wired in the shape of a "Y".

loudhvx wrote:

One thing to remember about adding more wraps is that it changes the inductance of the windings. If you go too high with the inductance, the current will not be able to change direction fast enough at higher RPMs. This may boost output at lower RPMs at the expense of losing output at higher RPMs. This effect will also depend on loading, so you definitely have some leeway to play with.

Re: delta vs wye. Delta is when the three phases are wired together in the shape of a triangle. Wye is when the three phases are wired in the shape of a "Y".

Yep, I did a lot of reading around electricity and magnetism and the more I read the more I realized what I didn't know! Core losses and hysteresis good grief. My plan is small changes for small improvements and nothing too crazy should happen. I hope! :blink:

I feel like brown shoes in a world of blue suits when these guys get deep into that there electronical talk stuff! :blink:

Well as much as I see and understand where your going with this and the need in it.... For myself, I chose a solution to my needs... Go L.E.D. for load demands/current consumptions...

Translations.... As can be found here and on other websites, ppl had issues of dimmed head lights when going dual 60watt bulbs... Well yeah :S ....

So, to decrease the load demands, convert everything over to LED.... Example, those little ass instrument panel lights are ~ 4 watts.... that's .333amps= 333 milli amps= 1/3rd of an amp! Now if you have 2, 3 or more of them lit up.... Whoa!

Tail light bulb ~ 23watts... Think about it, that's
1.9amps just for a freaking tail light bulb!:blink:

In running dual headlights, I only measure a .4Vdrop difference between on/off in using the lights.

OMR

Another really good way to save power is in the ignition. If you can get the Kawi electronic ignition from an early 1980's bike, you can save a lot of power at idle. Those ignitions use a variable dwell angle based on RPM. They go from about 100 deg at idle to 120 degrees at higher RPMs. Most of the ignition current is wasted at low RPMs as heat in the coils.

If you then use my HEI replacement igniter, you can get the idle dwell down to 60-80 degrees or so. Even with the 2.5-ohm coils, this will still save you about 1 amp at idle over the stock points system. Since you have Dyna green coils, you'll save even more than that.

www.geocities.com/loudgpz/GPZgmHEImod.html

i may be wrong hear , but dont they sell a higher output stator?
i thing Z!E states that theres is a higher output.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this project works out for u Sam. This is a much needed upgrade for the old KZ.
i dont know if this is of any use to u, but i see that Z1E does have a higher output stator.

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1312

it says 10 to 15% more output. so u know that it is posible to make some improvement to the original.
Good luck , and keep us posted.

mark1122 wrote:

I'm looking forward to seeing how this project works out for u Sam. This is a much needed upgrade for the old KZ.
i dont know if this is of any use to u, but i see that Z1E does have a higher output stator.

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1312

it says 10 to 15% more output. so u know that it is posible to make some improvement to the original.
Good luck , and keep us posted.

Yep, I've seen these listed in a few places. But I don't know of anyone who's used or tested them to see exactly what their output is.

I'm not sure where the limit is for our alternator: magnets or windings. I've got to get some magnet wire and rewind to a known spec and then test things out.

For the record, I've secured a 50 amp regulator off of ebay.ca - $20! (from a 2006 ZX10R, my KZ's great grand son!)

easternbeaver.com has some excellent connector for it. Once this is in place it should tolerate whatever current the stator can put out.