Triumph Rat Motorcycle Forums banner

ok guys got a new question for you! got my ARD magneto.

2926 Views 18 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  GrandPaulZ
OK I'm not an electrician, how would i wire my head light and tail light now i have my magneto.i know i will need my alternator, but what the wire diagram look like. or how would i run the wires from what to what to what. if you now what i mean. sorry for the stupidity.
thanks
:-g :???:

[ This message was edited by: dgfironworks on 2006-12-10 06:22 ]
1 - 6 of 19 Posts
You'll have to rectify and regulate the alternator's output, so either a zener and old style rectifier, or a modern solid state regulator/rectifier.

From there, you have a hot wire. Just wire each light to receive power from each switch (on/off, hi/lo and brake light switch). Each of those switches receives power either directly from the hot wire (brake light), or through the light switch (all other).

Horn gets it's power from the horn button, which gets it's power through the keyswitch, but can also be "hot wired" if you are doing without the keyswitch altogether.

I'm not sure about these modern ARD mags, but the old ones required grounding to "kill" them, so you needed to have a keyswitch with a "normally closed" set of contacts to kill the mag when you turn the key off.

ALL components are either grounded through their mounting, or a "return" wire to the common Red wires in the harness, which are all grounded to the frame & engine.
See less See more
Personally, the single phase Sparx unit works fine. Some folks swear by the 3-phase units.

Have you seen the imitation "finned egg" zener diode heatsink that is actually a regulator/rectifier? They are the ones to have!
I'm a Sparx dealer. The finned egg comes with nice long wires in a plastic loom that reach all the way back to the electrical area.

One thing I do that's not shown on the wiring diagram is to pull the Black lead out and run it up to the ammeter. If you don't, you won't have charge indication!
After the first couple of engine revolutions running, the alternatr is putting out nominal power and should be able to power everything.
You should always add a fuse to your main circuit (at least), and no need for a capacitor with a no-battery system, as a second or two after the engine stops, the capacitor drains with just a tail light bulb.
I think I run a 20 amp on my race bike, but that's oversize for running a magneto.
1 - 6 of 19 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top