But on a different note Cas, were you affected by the disaster in Hawaii? I can't remember what island you are on.
Best regards Ron
excellent for 6v - the output is still correct. Tested with my Iphone (which I can not afford to replace). It says 12-24 volt I think because modern manufacturers never encountered 6v systems and saw no need to include that in the specs. The usb adapter in the image has correct output and will show battery voltage as well. I guess it has a small regulator built in which is set to the correct output of 5.5v.
As for the fires in Hawaii, they were absolutely frightening. I'm on a different island and on the windward coast. we get around 1/2 inch of rain every day and no chance of a wildfire. PS for any ex firefighters out there. 8% humidity, 100km/h winds gusting to 130. The headfire was running along at about 50km/h. the winds were funneled by the steep gorges, traveling downhill over very dry grassland. Nothing that any firefighter could do except wait until it reached the coast. Even then, it burned all the vessels in the harbour including those on swing moorings. A WM20 would have barely outrun it.
email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com
Cheers Cas. I never thought that they just left 6V off the title.
Very good to hear that you're on a safe island. Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
I had this issue when using a GPS on my M21 6V back in 2013. A kindly chap in NZ helped me out and even put together a "black box" and sent it to me in Germany! He noted that there may be a problem using commercial units designed for 12V systems.
Here is his explanation...
"The problem is running a car GPS unit in a car that has a 6 volt supply. Normally these units have a little power regulator that plugs into a 12 volt lighter socket and steps down the voltage to 5 volts the GPS units need. I don’t know if ALL of them use 5 volts but all the ones I have seen do. The problem is these regulators won’t work reliably on a 6 volt system because the voltage regulator component in them needs several volts more input voltage than the 5 volt output voltage.
They may just work then when extra load drops the input voltage (such as switching on headlights) they’ll stop regulating and your GPS unit will turn off. This is the case for any device operated in the car via a normal regulator such as cell phone chargers or radar detectors
The way around this is to use a component called a LDO, or low drop-out, regulator. The following simple circuit will give you a 5 volt output from any input voltage down to about 5.5 volts. Below that it will give the input voltage minus 0.5 volts. A healthy 6 volt system in a car should be able to supply more than enough voltage so that never happens.
The device to use is a LM2940 regulator. It is more or less designed exactly for this application. It is protected from reverse polarity (connecting the wires backwards), short circuits on the output (getting your wires crossed) and thermal overload (getting too hot). It can supply up to 1 Amp of current which should be more than enough for modern GPS units."
cheers
if anyone wants to make your own, I have the instructions etc, materials cost about 3 quid!
email (option): petercomley@web.de
Jon Cull or anyone else with relevant info: Can you direct me to a source for a 6v LED bulb that will "light up half the parish" and will fit the DU142 headlamp assembly? I hear that there are such bulbs that give more than 3000 lumens, but have not been able to find one. The best I found on Amazon and Ebay is 800 lumens, which is only a little brighter than a standard automotive incandescent bulb.
email (option): jonny.rudge@verizon.net
The 12 volt armatures are not as reliable as the 6 volt ones in my experience..The best results I've had are with a standard 60w dynamo running a regulator designed to operate at 12 volts....However, nothing is for nothing and the dynamo won't produce maximum wattage until it is running faster than it would be with the standard system...
I ran this set up successfully on an M21 I owned for about 8 years until I sold the bike...I used non LED bulbs of moderate wattage and the lights were fine for riding over Dartmoor, which has no street lights....As an aside, the 12 volt Altette horn I fitted also lasted longer than any of the many 6 volt ones I've had...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com