[Turducken]

Will the old 6 volt panheads run with a dead battery? Will it run with no battery?
Can it run off its own generator?

1963 Panhead kick-start DuoGlide
Thanks in advance for your response.

 

[pasadenajim]

Generator?

 

[shovel13]

i ain't saying yes and i ain't saying no but maybe , i do know i have ran my shovel with a dead battery but i couldn't use the lights or it would die, and that was with the early hd electronic ign.

 

[chopper_larry]

I may be wrong, but I don't the voltage makes any difference.
What does, is how you're wired. Mine will run once it's jumped started with a completely dead battery. I made some motorcycle jumpers with "shock-cord" and some alligator clamps. My bike is kick start only,
and I run a 6 amp 12 volt battery. I got the wire from the volt regulator runing to the "run" position on the key switch; then another wire from there to the battery (with a 10 amp fuse inline). I try to get a new battery each year, but had the last one for 3 years.

 

[shovel13]

here's one for ya larry, do you know of a way to run an altenater shovel without a battery? i've got an old shovel motor that i want to build a chopper around and not run a batt. any ideas

 

[chopper_larry]

I wouldn't bet my paycheck cause I'd be lying if I said for sure;
I would guess the only way to run an alternator without a battery (or a dead one) would be to be running a magneto. Not bad if yer in a dry climate. With the generator and a dead battery, you gotta keep the revs up ALL the time. Hope that helps.

 

[Gerry]

jep. chopper-larry is right. the only way to ride an late-shovel without battery is an magneto. looks kind of cool, cause you can build a very clean look...but it can be really hell while kickstarting. you need to produce the initial-spark by kicking! no batterie support.

regards,
gerry
www.shovel-head.com

 

[shovel13]

thanks for the replys, but it's not the running that is my concern. what about the electricity being generated by the alternator , other than using it to power the headlight can you ground that many amps? wouldn't it fry a standard regulator? see where i'm going with this. i guess the cats out of the bag ,i'm not an electrical engineer.....ha ha

 

[chopper_larry]

I'm not either hehehehe.......but seriously I think it's because it's what it says: alternator.......meaning it alternates putting out juice in a cyclical way or as needed, whereas the generator is constant output all the time above certain rpms. What this means to me is with an alternator, your voltage regulator wire always must go directly to the battery (with fuse or circuit breaker in line), so the system is always relying on the battery, so if it's shorted or dead .....SOL. With a generator, you can run the volt reg wire to the key switch (the battery wire is also there as well), but now you're directly wired, so the bike can constantly rely on the generator. If you need lights with a weak battery tho, you will also probably be SOL!

 

[chopper_larry]

I also should have mentioned that whether you have an alternator or generator they both are outputting to the voltage regulator (which is controlling the amount of that juice that gets into the system).
I had a volt reg "stick open" once and it blew up my battery ...TOO much juice. So, a very good volt reg is a good idea.