onebad66impala
XS650 Member
leo, thank you for the help. thats it i went ahead and wire the pamco in and kicked it fired right up im so ready to ride
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Sparkx capacitor
- Thread starter jefft
- Start date
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- Tags
- electrical
plane_ben
XS650 Junkie
Hey guys and gals, I've been looking at all threads with capacitor info looking for the magic number to run for batteryless operation. Haven't found it. Anyone know? I picked up a 15,000 micro farad/30volt one today based on my faulty memory of some number I saw awhile back. Is this enough? Or do I need more farads? I want to run just one for a clean look. The store I bought mine at says I can return the one above if I don't hook it up until I'm sure its capacity is what I need. Any help from you all would be helpful.
pamcopete
Ride.Enjoy.Life is Simple
One thing to keep in mind when choosing the size of your capacitor (Farads) is that the capacitor is very much like a completely discharged battery when the engine is not running so when you kick to start it, the capacitor has to charge up to at least 6 Volts (in the case of the PAMCO, higher for some other ignition systems) in a very limited amount of time. If your capacitor is too large, it may not charge up enough on the first kick and if you have your lights on, it will discharge before you can kick it again, so more is not always better when it comes to capacitors.
plane_ben
XS650 Junkie
So I should be fine with the 15,000 uF/30v cap? I know the Sparkx will work fine, what I don't know and can't find is the uF for the Sparkx. Everyone that sells it just lists part# and no specs. I have a shop close by with 100's of caps, most are about 8 bucks.
The Sparx capacitor or others like it are aluminum can capacitors.
http://www.chemi-con.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&itemid=29
The can of an Aluminum can capacitor is not internally insulated from the negative terminal (cathode) due to an indeterminate resistance caused by a naturally formed oxide layer on the inside of the can that has been coated with the electrolyte.
The mounting spring of the Sparx capacitor is kind of a pain because it should be completely insulated wherever it is mounted, otherwise it doesn't seem to work right. If you are using a Sparx on any bike IMHO you definitely need to insulate the mounting spring and likewise the whole capacitor. Try to leave some ventilation for it because it gets warm. Then hook it up with the DOUBLE TOP terminal to the positive lead of your bike as the double terminal is supposed to be the ANODE. I had a problem with this when installing a Sparx on a 1977 Yamaha DT400 but it works now.
That's why the Accel Battery Eliminator Capacitor comes with an insulated mounting clamp.
Afterwards I found a Pacifico 6 Volt Eliminator for sale and it looks like a good deal and might be better for negative ground 6 volt bikes.
http://www.motorcycleandoutdoors.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=vpac6velim&CartID=1
http://www.chemi-con.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&itemid=29
The can of an Aluminum can capacitor is not internally insulated from the negative terminal (cathode) due to an indeterminate resistance caused by a naturally formed oxide layer on the inside of the can that has been coated with the electrolyte.
The mounting spring of the Sparx capacitor is kind of a pain because it should be completely insulated wherever it is mounted, otherwise it doesn't seem to work right. If you are using a Sparx on any bike IMHO you definitely need to insulate the mounting spring and likewise the whole capacitor. Try to leave some ventilation for it because it gets warm. Then hook it up with the DOUBLE TOP terminal to the positive lead of your bike as the double terminal is supposed to be the ANODE. I had a problem with this when installing a Sparx on a 1977 Yamaha DT400 but it works now.
That's why the Accel Battery Eliminator Capacitor comes with an insulated mounting clamp.
Afterwards I found a Pacifico 6 Volt Eliminator for sale and it looks like a good deal and might be better for negative ground 6 volt bikes.
http://www.motorcycleandoutdoors.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=vpac6velim&CartID=1
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