Pulsing halogen Headlight Shorten Life?

Loudvhx, any concerns regarding the KZ electrical system regarding pulsating currents...

Pending voltage/current swings, ~ 2amps being switched at 30Hz or so... For see any issues in over taxing the electrical?

I think the flickering is done with just a very short momentary reduction in voltage. It can be a steady reduced voltage or high frequency duty cycle reduction. But with either method, the shorter the pulse, the greater the reduction must be.

I don't think you want it to be like a turn signal flasher, you want it to be more like a loose wire type flickering.

"loose wire type flickering."... Well hell.... already have that! :ohmy: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Old Man Rock wrote:

Loudvhx, any concerns regarding the KZ electrical system regarding pulsating currents...

Pending voltage/current swings, ~ 2amps being switched at 30Hz or so... For see any issues in over taxing the electrical?

Not really. If anything, it will reduce power usage very slightly. If there is any high-frequency noise that will affect any thing, it can probably be shunted with a cap. But I really doubt it's necessary. The alternator and ignition are already huge noise makers and they don't seem to be a problem (unless you use a digital voltmeter on the bike without some resistor wire/or caps/or plugs).

Cool topic... thanks guys!

Old Man Rock wrote:

"loose wire type flickering."... Well hell.... already have that! :ohmy: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

:laugh:

Maybe the whole thing should be mechanical. Just wire the headlight through an un-powered relay and replace the spring with a really weak one. Then every small bump that comes along will cause the light to flicker.

Gotta find some use for all those relays. :ohmy:

"Gotta find some use for all those relays"... Pulse it off the coil mod... :ohmy: :evil: :whistle: :pinch:

Thanks for the replies. It is klugey to have to use power resistors to get the "low light" current. I figured 50% ON time and off time was right, I guess I will play with that on the bench and see what looks best for attracting attention. Longer on time would reduce power diss in the shunt resistors and let me use lower Ohm values there.

www.buchanan1.net/modulator.shtml

www.timberwoof.com/motorcycle/lightslaws.html

Here's a low side (ground line) modulator using an N-FET switch that has both high and low light intensity, the low intensity is done by a low duty cycle PWM running at about 200 Hz frequency. The two 555's are OR connected so whichever one pulls high turns on the light. The left one is the 4 Hz oscillator, the right one is about 200 Hz (but at a low duty cycle) pulser that will give the lower light intensity during the interval when the 4 Hz oscillator is not driving the light ON. There is also a switch to turn the headlight on manually so it can not pulse. This design requires no power resistors for "low intensity" loading but it also requires a 12V line be available to run it. This has not been built up so R-C values may have to be adjusted to get osc frequencies and duty cycle on target.

otakar wrote:

www.buchanan1.net/modulator.shtml

www.timberwoof.com/motorcycle/lightslaws.html

Not sure I would want this design because you will have about 1.2 - 1.4V drop across the darlington of Q1/Q2 which will definitely make the light dimmer.

I've got one of these on 3 of my bikes. Simple plug and play that conforms to DOT regs if that's what your looking for. Never had a problem.

www.comagination.com/modulator.htm


I carry one of these with each bike.

www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-technica...s/Modulator-regs.htm