curdy Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 OK so what's the deal with battery eliminators? I'm new to the whole bike thing, so you'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge...but I'm learning fast! Right now I'm in the process of restoring a '78 XS400 that is only a kick start to begin with. So is the concept here that I can reduce weight by getting rid of the battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neebob Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 With alittle research I was able to find the right capacitor to substitute for the battery of my 91dr350.After starting the bike the lights and blinkers worked better than with aweak battery.All a battery eliminator is is a capacitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayla Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 To build a battery eliminator you need a few large-ish electrolytic capacitors (like around 1000uF) connected in parallel. This will give a capacitance of around 3000uF which is plenty. You also need a resistor connected in parallel with the capacitance to give your regulator/rectifier a load, otherwise it gets pretty hot. A battery eliminator won't work if your bike needs the battery to get started in the first place, and I think the XS might. I'm facing a similar thing with my XS250- I don't want to use a battery but it needs one (I think) to start. After having searched (googled) for stuff it seems a stator and flywheel from an RD350YPVS (RZ350 in the US) could be a solution. Either that or http://www.sparxelectrical.com/ do a replacement set up that looks ok. http://www.sparxelectrical.com/acatalog/SP...lternators.html and go to the bottom of the page for the 3 phase 210W alternator. You should be able to keep your points set up but lose the rubbish standard charging system, which means you can run your bike without a battery. I think I'll eventually be going for a Sparx kit for my XS, and maybe try wiring a CDI from a recent 4t parallel twin into it so I can get rid of the points altogether. I'm still in the process of exploring my bike so please excuse me if any of my XS knowledge is wrong. Kayla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator drewpy Posted February 14, 2008 Moderator Share Posted February 14, 2008 I looked into this for my flat tracker and the xs400 can't run without a battery due to the way it needs 12v to magnitise the field coil. I have seen an xs400 cafe racer which looks like it has one and emailed the owner (to no response) on how he/she achieved this. until there is an answer I am going to ditch the starter motor and fit a small battery where the starter was. this will give me that open look i'm after through the frame. you can see the bike here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator mervin Posted February 14, 2008 Moderator Share Posted February 14, 2008 I looked into this for my flat tracker and the xs400 can't run without a battery due to the way it needs 12v to magnitise the field coil. I have seen an xs400 cafe racer which looks like it has one and emailed the owner (to no response) on how he/she achieved this. until there is an answer I am going to ditch the starter motor and fit a small battery where the starter was. this will give me that open look i'm after through the frame. you can see the bike here i think you may be able to get an after market ignition system for the RD,s that runs without a battery. but it is a race system and will not run lights, goes by the name of martek i think dunno if it fits the xs merv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts