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Flyinfool

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Everything posted by Flyinfool

  1. Flyinfool
    Lookin good. I know the feeling of getting it going after a winter of work. Glad everything worked out so far.
  2. Flyinfool
    We would rather look at the wife than you anyhow.
  3. Flyinfool
    OH NO! My old puter has no idea what a docx file is. Does that mean that I have to buy a new version of my office 2000 to be able to open a docx?
  4. Flyinfool
    WOW I really had no intention of opening such a big can of worms here. This charging system issue apparently is as bad as politics and/or religion. I realize that there are certain myths about electricity that have been repeated so often that they have become gospel to some, and each camp has its follerers, and will not be convinced by mere facts. Notice that I have NOT said which camp I am in at this point but believe me I am in one. I will listen to any theory that can be backed up with physical measurements.
  5. Flyinfool
    9 dB is a BIG difference, for every 3 dB the sound pressure doubles. That meas that 9 dB louder is ~8 times louder. Decibels are measured on a logarithmic scale so a small numeric change makes a big difference. The Stebels are measured at 4 inches. Sound pressure is cut in half every time you double the distance. A db reading without a distance is a totally meaningless number. That is like saying that my car does 125 without specifying mph or kph. You also need to know which scale the db as being measured on. There are a lot of ways to make dbs lie for those that do not understand them. Unfourtunatly There are very few horn makers that give enough info to make an educated decision. Look at the specs for the Stebel horns (page 4 bottom of page), they are one of very few horn makers that give accurate info about their horns, Notice their dB spec, 139 dB(A) at 4 inches and already down to 115 dB(A) at 2 meters. I used to work as an engineer for Prime Manufacturing, one of the products that we made was Horns for locomotives. The spec that we had to meet was 125dB(A) at 100 yards. That is LOUD. Most of the "train horns" that you can get aftermarket are not up to the task of 125 db at 100 yards, but are still a lot louder than something measured at 4 inches. The biggest problen with installing a train horn on a road vehicle is the air supply, It is hard to supply 120 psi @ 30cfm to get full rated volume.
  6. Flyinfool
    In comparison those electric horns are pretty wimpy. Gary You are correct, finding a good place for the horns is the hard part. Maybe I will have to chrome them and not try to hide them.
  7. Flyinfool

    Late emails

    Flyinfool replied to TEW47's topic in Watering Hole

    Today at work I just got a load of old emails. They were from late '07 to early '08. At home I regularly get emails that are up to 3 weeks old in my yahoo account.
  8. Flyinfool
    I knew someone would ask........ This is what I am working on a way to hook up to the compressor. It was my understanding that the regulator is a linear regulator that works by taking any excess voltage and turning it into heat. That is why the after market "HD" regulators come with a great big finned heat sink. the more amps that you pull the more heat you make till you get high enough amps that the stator can no longer keep up and you pull the voltage of the stator down so that there is not as much voltage to drop. The power that the regulator must deal with is; (Stator output voltage - 14.0 Regulated output voltage) X Amps. So as the amps go up the heat in the regulator also goes up. Like I said that was my understanding of how the system works, there are other ways to regulate voltage and I may very well have guessed wrong. I will have to do some testing to see if I can tell for sure what type of system is there. IF the system did actually run the stator at full power all of the time and dump the excess to ground, then the regulator input amps will be more than the regulator output amps. (least efficient type of regulation) If it is a linear regulator then the input amps will equal the output amps of the regulator. (inexpensive reliable regulation) If it is a switching regulator (would be nice but I doubt it) then the regulator input amps will be less than the output amps. (Most expensive and most efficient type of regulation) Time to do some testing.
  9. Flyinfool
    I was not worried about the battery handling the load. There is plenty of safety margin in there. My concern was putting an additional 16A load on the electrical system of the bike while going down the road. Granted I will be putting on a VERY intermittent load. I am guessing about 1 minute per week (if I can get a leak free system). It is my understanding that the stock charging system is rated for ~30A. I keep reading the tails of adding a pair of 55W driving lights at 9.2A getting things pretty close to the edge of the charging systems capability along with the electrical demands of the rest of the bike. I do not have the driving lights but do have about another 3A worth of LEDs. The more often that the charging system has to run at max capacity, the shorter its life will be. The more that I think about it, as long as I have a relay so that the compressor can never run when the bike is not running so that an air leak would not leave me with a dead battery. It should be OK. I guess that being old means that everything has to be overkill, good enough is never good enough. I might be trying to over think this again.
  10. Flyinfool
    OK you guys that know the electrical of a first gen inside out. I am thinking about mounting an air tank and compressor in one of my saddle bags on a 1st gen. When running, the compressor will pull 16 Amps. It should never have to run for more than 2 minutes, typical run time is 30-45 seconds. I hope it will not need to run more than once a week, once the novelty wears off. Will the electrical system handle this? If not; I was thinking of installing a secondary battery with a SPDT relay so that the bike electrical system will never have to power the compressor. The extra battery would be connected to the com term of the relay and the compressor will be on the N.O. side with the bike power for charging on the N.C. side. The coil would be wired in series with the secondary battery and the pressure switch (through a relay) to refill the tank. The bike will still be able to charge the secondary battery when it is running, but the relay would isolate the compressor from the bike. The small 7Ah battery that I was going to use is plenty to refill the 1/2 gallon air tank 7 - 10 times before it needs a charge. My question is, how much extra load will be on the bikes electrical system while charging the battery? If charging the extra battery can/will end up pulling just as much power as the compressor then it makes no sense to add all of the extra complication. Does any of this make sense? Any other ideas of how to safely power the compressor without risk to the R/R or stator. This is most likely next winters project so I have a lot of time to work on the plan.
  11. Flyinfool
    It sees that there is a split between the being to long or to short, This means that it is probably about right. i read a post some where on here that someone replaced the dash flasher bulbs with some LED bulbs and they were easy to see in full sunlight.
  12. Flyinfool
    I like it. Good thing it is going to snow tomorrow, Gives me something to work on.
  13. Flyinfool
    Glad it did not end up to bad. Does that count as a $5 donation.
  14. Flyinfool
    Someone has to get you going........lol
  15. Flyinfool
    I did not do any conversions, those capacities are quoted directly from the service manual except for my fat fingers. It should be 3.5 L not 3.8 L which makes all of the numbers agree mathematically. The numbers are on page 2-17 of the service manual. I do agree with your math though.
  16. Flyinfool
    4 Quarts is over filled. 5 Quarts is way to much. The service manual lists the oil capacity with filter change as, 3.5 L (3.1 Imp qt, 3.7 US qt). My '88 takes a little less than 4 quarts to get it to the center of the sight glass.
  17. Flyinfool
    And then dispose of the turkey baster. Try here if you need more http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=4369552 They have several different sizes to choose from.
  18. Flyinfool
    To bad it is $o expensive. It really looks interesting.
  19. Flyinfool
    MMmmm.... Forest rat on the BBQ.......... Glad to hear that you almost got it all together.
  20. Flyinfool
    Interesting thought. no more carb sync just one float. maybe 2 if you put a double pumper. A single carb will have smoother flow with less pulsing. (which is good unless the bike already has a tuned intake system)
  21. Flyinfool
    I am very much still in the early research stage. I learned a long time ago that you really want a progressive break controller and not a time delay type. The progressive type controller applies the brakes in proportion to how hard you are hitting the brakes. Once adjusted correctly you will notice no difernce in stoping distance or brake peddle effort in any conditions. It is the cheaper time delay type that are all or nothing. There is now way I would even consider anything other than a good progressive controller for a bike. I did look at the brake system from Bunkhouse campers. It is an electric/hydraulic system that can be adjusted for desired brake pressure, but appears to still be an all or nothing setup. Anytime your brake lights go on it nails the brakes at the preset level. I am still hunting for a small enough system for a MC trailer.
  22. Flyinfool
    I know that there was an old thread with this same title But i am having no luck with the searching. Anyways, my question is; has anyone tried to hook up electric brakes for the trailer behind the scoot? I am thinking of building a trailer to be able to haul large lightweight items (specifically big Radio control model aircraft). Not much weight but a lot of volume. I am loking at a box size of about 96" long x 40" wide x 24" tall. Max cargo weight will be 100lbs Typical would be more like 50 lbs. Every trailer that I ever pulled with a cage had electric trailer brakes, and I was wondering if anyone ever installed them on a scoot trailer? My initial thought is that It would sure make a difference in a panic stop situation as well as save wear and tear on the bikes braking system.
  23. Flyinfool
    If the methanol is causing these problems, it has been in our gas since 1995, anything that uses gas built after that should be designed to handle it. I know that there was a flurry of problems when the crap gas first hit the market, mostly because you have to richen up the mixture a little for the crap gas, but most everything since is designed to run on it. I do notice that I have to tweak the needles on my chain saw depending on where I get the gas.
  24. Flyinfool
    I found out the hard way that my Springer loves Tabasco sauce AND all of the anti chew formulas from the pet store, She even likes to eat raw habaneros. I have yet to find anything other than bananas that she does not think is a treat. Fourtunatly she has grown out of the chew stage and the house is still standing (barely).
  25. Flyinfool
    AS my agent explained to me from American Family, there are so few motorcycles insured compared to cars that they do not spend the time to come up with special plans for bikes. That is what they told me when I checked into a discount for having collector plates. Cars with collector plates get a huge discount bikes get squat.
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