The 12 volt lighting coil and how to make it work.

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machanic said:
Hard to be specific about a generic, it is a Harbor Freight special, a cigarette plug USB, it has a voltage input range of 9-24 volts, the coil voltage drops down to 3.2-3.4 volts with a 10watt bulb load, my bike light has three brightnesses and works on low with this system but only draws 2.3 watts on low.
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So is it digital or some anolog crap with a zener diode controlling what's happening after some coil and capacitor wazoo? There's a point where you have to draw a line and stop using silly circuitry and just have to do some old school manual wiring. Remeber these things are designed expected to often be hooked up to 5-15 amp rails so they can get sloppy and use circuits that just eat a lot of power, power which is basically insignificant compared to the power being generated by a full scale alternator. You on the other hand aren't making that much juice by a long shot, so these fancy gadgets can actually make things worse..
 
Maybe put your multimeter in line between the hot wire and the part of the plug that takes it, put the lamp on low and check the current being used. Convert that to watts over the supplied voltage, then subtract the 2.3 watts the lamp uses and get an idea how much the converter uses.
 
The ones I have coming are quoted at 97% efficiency and something has to stabilize the voltage LEDs prefer it.
 
OK so then you're using something a bit more complex but better in the gas, sounds like something meant more specifically for small amounts of power. I have a couple drok converters that are pretty good at reducing power and since they are digitalized they handle changes in voltage easier without big caps to store energy and keep things even. They may be a bit less efficient but I am using high capacity batteries compared to the lighting needs and before that I was using 18 volts and reducing it, that was a nice little thing but I really needed more power, now a 12v 7amp deep cycle is really doing fine. I saw these li-ion motorcycle batteries, don't know if I want to invest one of those into a bike, I do know that I could certainly hook an old style car battery charger up to it and charge it, the new smart ones probably would get confused.

Before anyone has a panic attack the new li ion batteries that charge in a motorcycle will receive current and voltage meant to charge a lead acid battery. The manufacturer includes on board management of the battery much like a cellphone battery will simply resist overcharging, it's got a board that will regulate current into the battery cells and shuts off the path once the battery registers full. The battery also has circuitry limiting the voltage to the controllers and cells so yes a standard charger which does nothing more than a car or motorcycle electrical system would do can be used safely in conjunction with the drop-in-and-go style batteries.
 
Well the slow boat from China got here, wired in the USB module and success, the light I am using has three brightnesses, low comes on at 2500rpm, mid works at 35oorpm and all three work at 4200rpm, and no strobing but a little flickering. This weekend I will make a list of parts and where to get them, all Ebay and cheap.
 
It works, slow boat from China finally arrived. lights 030.jpg lights 031.jpg lights 032.jpg Wired in the USB power regulator and the light I am using which has three power sittings lights on low at 2500rpm, mid at3500pm and at 4200rpm all three modes work a slight flickering but no strobing. Over the weekend I will list the parts and ebay sites.
 
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