Headlight upgrade

[sluggo49]

With that line of thinking, putting valves into pistons is hardly a catastrophe relative to, say, a nuke going off in Times Square. Let me qualify my use of the word catastrophic: the system suffers enough damage that it completely ceases to function and it's components are in an irrecoverable state of failure. OK? 😎

 

I'm not sold on series regulators yet. I understand how they work and what they do with regard to switching the stator output. I guess I'd like to see what the stator voltage spikes look like when the regulator turns the stator output off. Not sure how well the insulation on the stator wire will hold up to that. But maybe current designs have some damping components in them to minimize that effect. When I replace my next R/R, it will definitely be MOSFET, though.

[superhawk996]

I'd never considered voltage spikes and issues it could cause.  From memory the no load voltage is 50-60v., never tested one while it was connected and under load.  I also don't know if suddenly unloading it would make for a higher voltage than what it makes when tested unloaded.  I also don't know if a series regulator completely opens the circuit or has something in it so that it won't spike.  I assume they'd take that into account when designing them.

[sluggo49]

I may be dating myself, but you may remember that ignition systems with points had a capacitor (condenser as it was known) to prevent arcing across the points as they opened. The nominal DC voltage across the points was 6 or 12V, depending on the system, hardly enough to initiate the arcs that pitted points. The arcing was caused by the voltage spike that occurred as the points were opened.

 

Maybe someone with an oscilloscope could have a look at a series type r/r on the AC side. But I expect you're right and the folks who designed them included a damping mechanism to diminish the spikes.

[superhawk996]

When the distributor points open and the high voltage is created I think some of it flows into the primary side of the coil and back to the points.  I don't think a stator can create that high voltage spike.

[sluggo49]

The stator can't cause a spike. The spike is caused by the series r/r when it interrupts the flow of current from the stator. (Same as when the points open.)

 

All the electrons that are in motion in the stator windings while the circuit has continuity don't come to an abrupt halt when the circuit is opened by the r/r. The result can be a very short duration, high amplitude voltage spike.

 

But as was mentioned earlier, the series r/r designers must have taken that into account when they designed the circuit. I'm just gonna hols off long enough to convince myself they did a good job.