sparx battery eliminator any ever use one

has any one ever used one of those sparx battery eliminator? any problems? thanks

Had one on an old Triumph and it worked good.But anything is an improvement on the Lucas system.Lucas electric also builds refrigerators thats why people in europe drink hot beer.

Ive done some reading and found out a lot of people have put them on their brit bikes. I guess your wiring just has to be flawless for them to work good. thanks for the reply

76 LTD wrote:

Had one on an old Triumph and it worked good.But anything is an improvement on the Lucas system.Lucas electric also builds refrigerators thats why people in europe drink hot beer.

His prowess with auto electrics is why every Brit refers to Lucas as "the Prince of darkness".

The battery eliminator is just a capacitor. Regarding KZ's, some can and some can't use the eliminator. If your alternator uses a big permanent magnet flywheel, then it is eligible for the eliminator.

If the alternator uses a field coil, then it will need some sort of battery, however it can be just a small scooter battery.

The majority of KZ's have permanent magnet alternators. The most notable exceptions are the early (if not all)KZ400's and the 1977 KZ650.

Do you need to still have a rectifier / regulator if you have a battery eliminator??

Gra wrote:

Do you need to still have a rectifier / regulator if you have a battery eliminator??

Yes, otherwise you will get too much voltage to the capacitor (which is what a usual battery eliminator is.)

Also if you do this, and the reg/rec has a brown wire to it, the brown wire must be hardwired to the capacitor. Normally the brown wire gets shut off when the bike is shut off. But that means the alternator is still running un-regulated until the motor actually comes to a stop. This means the alternator is putting out full power during the time the motor is turning and the bike is shut off. (This can happen anytime you are coasting in gear with the ignition off, but it also happens when you turn the motor off for a brief moment.) With a battery, this is not really an issue since a battery can act as a crude regulator. A capcitor does not. It will just get huge surge of voltage until it fails.

To prevent that, the brown wire must be hard wired to the capacitor.

There is no issue if the reg/rec does not have the brown wire and only has the positive-output and ground. I don't think the 79 650 has the brown wire.

76 LTD wrote:

Had one on an old Triumph and it worked good.But anything is an improvement on the Lucas system.Lucas electric also builds refrigerators thats why people in europe drink hot beer.

Lucas - because gentlemen shouldn't be motoring about after dark anyway.