pamco with no battery?

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Dandan

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ive done a bit of searching and all i found was one person saying he didnt think it was possible. Is it possible to run a pamco ignition with no battery and just a capacitor?
 
you need a Permanent Magnet alternator along with a few other items, like the Hugh's Handbuilt PMA kit, to run a capacitor in place of a battery. points/pamco, it should not matter.

the alt. rotor (pma or otherwise) charges the electrical system, the pamco/points say when to ignite the plugs. different systems, sort of.
 
Yes, you can run a Pamco on a capacitor. But you do need a PMA to run a capacitor. The Battery sends juice to the stock charging unit to excite it in order to start it and begin charging, in a nut shell. So you need a battery. A capacitor gets it's juice built up by kicking a couple times then sends the charge to fire the ignition, but won't hold enough charge for a stock charging system or electric start.

I think I'm remembering correctly.
 
I'm just trying to have the most reliable ride possible. With no bettery to go dead, only 1 single carb, pamco, and xscharge pma I think I would have the most relIable xs possible.
 
Dandan said:
I'm just trying to have the most reliable ride possible. With no bettery to go dead, only 1 single carb, pamco, and xscharge pma I think I would have the most relIable xs possible.
Click to expand...

From what I see in the build threads it's just like these guys are saying , you need a PMA and a capacitor. If you want a reliable ride you would want a PMA and a Pamco anyway , battery or not.
 
Interestingly enough, with Hugh's PMA and an untimed Pamco I was able to kick my bike over and have it idle with the choke out and no capacitor. In case you're wondering why, 'cos I forgot to put a fuse in the inline fuse holder and didn't realise :D
 
Austblue said:
Interestingly enough, with Hugh's PMA and an untimed Pamco I was able to kick my bike over and have it idle with the choke out and no capacitor. In case you're wondering why, 'cos I forgot to put a fuse in the inline fuse holder and didn't realise :D
Click to expand...

They will run without either, however you do need one of the two. The charging system needs a battery or cap to send the unneeded power
 
Austblue said:
Interestingly enough, with Hugh's PMA and an untimed Pamco I was able to kick my bike over and have it idle with the choke out and no capacitor. In case you're wondering why, 'cos I forgot to put a fuse in the inline fuse holder and didn't realise :D
Click to expand...

It sounds like you have wired the capacitor in wrong. There has been a wiring diagram circulating on the site that has the capacitor fused separately. In that case, you probably can run the engine, but without the capacitor, the output from the PMA / rectifier / regulator will be very unstable and could go very high (20V+) and fry the entire electrical system, including the PAMCO. Please post the wiring diagram for your setup and let us have a look at it.
 
!!!!

I have wired it per option A shown below which I grabbed from the wiring diagram thread

powerwiring2.jpg


So is this wiring diagram wrong or do you think that I've wired it wrong. I remember questioning the position of the fuse myself but dug around on here and read that the fuse was only to protect the capacitor and not needed to protect the rec/reg.

There you go, I thought the reg/rec's job was to smooth the peaks off and the battery/cap was to ensure constant flow.

I did since that event put the fuse in and ran the bike in the shed but haven't ridden it yet.

Thanks for the heads up
 
Do you remember the scene in "Indiana jones...the last crusade" where this guy is told he must choose one of the grails as the "Holy Grail"?


Yes, you chose poorly...:doh:...if the fuse blows, or just comes loose, the output from the reg / rect will go nuts and could fry the entire electrical system, including the PAMCO.....:yikes:
 
BUGGER! Ah well glad I found out now but that means I'll be rewiring it this weekend. Probably worth a mod going into the wiring diagrams thread and removing that diagram I reckon.

Thanks for the pick up Pete I'm glad I posted my silly story now.
 
The line in bold is what convinced me that option A was ok. Have I misunderstood the statement or is it wrong?

The red wire from the rectifier is power out of the rec to charge the battery. The only time power flows through that wire is when the bike is running, it don't need a switch.
Do you know what a diode is? If not, it is a one way valve for electricity. The rectifier is three pairs of diodes that are linked together to convert AC voltage to DC voltage. They are set up so power only flows from the rectifier to the battery.
The only way for power to flow from the battery to the rec on the red wire is if at least one of the six diodes are bad. Seldom happens.
On the 20 amp fuseyou want this between the battery and the rest of the electrics. This will protect, in case of a short in the wires from the fuse, through the main switch to your fuse box. You could run without but carry a fire extinguisher, it may come in handy to put oiut the fire.
An inline fuse holder works well. I like to wire the rectifier red wire right to battery positive. I then hook the fuse to battery positive. You can hook the rec red wire after the fuse, either way is fine.
On the 20 amp fuse holder I hook one lead right to the battery. Then run wire from the other lead to the key switch. You want the main fuse as close to the battery positive as you can. That way it can protect as much of the harness as possible.
Click to expand...
 
The issue with 'option A,' if I'm understanding you correctly, is the the fuse's placement according to the capacitor and key, not the reg/rec and key.

the 20amp main fuse needs to protect the main harness. the fuse in A only protects the cap. and nothing else, surging power to the rest of the bike even if the fuse is blown missing, or loose. The alt.'s power in option A is heading straight to the main harness, unfused. i.e. option A is like having the city's power, from the powerline, bypass the transformer and shoot straight into your kitchen appliances. think of the alt/reg/rec/battery and or capacitor as the line side, the harness beyond your key as the load. you need a fuse, or fuse panel, between the two.

please excuse me if this is redundant and please ,anyone, correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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