Running LED headlight on 83 110

[yoyosmuggla]

Being that the 110 doesn't have a radio rectifier; does anyone have any ideas or tips on how to run an LED headlight? I had a cheapo I wired up but the dirty AC burned it out after a few uses (electricity isn't my strong suit even after two circuits classes in college :X)

[jb2wheels]

You probably burned out the first LED by sending it un-regulated AC off the stator.

Buy and install a 2-wire AC dirtbike or snowmobile voltage regulator.
Something like this but sometimes you can get them on eBay for $5:
https://www.amazon.com/Voltage-Regul...-2-spons&psc=1

Yellow wire T's in line with power wire from stator.
Black wire to ground/frame.

Buy and install another cheapo LED in your favorite flavor/shape.
Maybe something like this $13 pair of cubes:
https://www.amazon.com/Nilight-Drivi...&sr=8-11-spell

This is not the ideal solution and probably not good for the lights but it's what I do and I've never fried one.

Ideally, you float the ground from the stator, and a regulator/rectifier combo and a battery.
I've never done it and can't coach it.

[ps2fixer]

As stated above, that's one option, one thing to keep in mind is that the power to the LED is still AC based, so at low rpm you might be able to see it flicker and such. The power driver inside the LED likely will run a bit hotter on AC power but from what I've read as long as it doesn't overheat you're fine.

LED's prefer DC power, so you could run a single large diode to be a "half wave rectifier" + the ac regulator before it , or a full blown full wave rectifier, which generally has the voltage regulator built into it. There's DIY circuits for these as well, but sounds like you'd prefer going with a premade regulator of some sort.

Note, the half wave rectifier would only output about half the power of your alternator, and it would have the same flicker effect as the AC power, except the heat would be mainly generated at the diode instead of inside the LED's power driver.

The premium setup is a full wave rectifier to charge a small lead acid battery and run the LED's off that. The battery makes the low points of the rectified power smooth, so the LED sees true DC power, 100% no flickers unless the battery is dead.

Also, some ATC110's have a 6v stator, and other's have 12v. Both can go higher voltage, it's just what the voltage is at with the designed electrical load (watts). That's why if you remove the headlight, the tail light will blow (over voltaged)

I haven't sourced a good place to get a full wave rectifier, a used one from an ATC200E/ES/M would work well. You could also hybrid it as two seperate parts, get a high amp (20-30amp should be overkill but last basically forever) bridge rectifier to make the DC power, and the 2 wire style voltage regulator.

Anyway, if you want to continue with this goal, I can help with where to wire things in and such. The ATC110's stator internally grounds, so if you do use a full wave rectifier, you CANNOT ground the battery negative so some harness mods would have to be done or run dedicated wire for the lights. If the one AC leg from the stator, and the neg output from the rectifier connect, it's a dead short though t he regulator and could blow out a diode in it (if it's over sized then it should survive but the stator might get hot and burn out). Fuses are always a good idea to protect from that kind of stuff.

Also if you want to try to cheat the system, get the same size LED light as the OEM headlight bulb and ideally the voltage should be within spec for the light while it's on. The initial turn on will be a voltage spike though, that might be what killed your light already though.

[jb2wheels]

That's good info right there - thanks!