The Magic School Bus
Registered
So as soon as I bought my 2005 a few months ago, the rectifier failed. I bought a new one and although I now think I should have bought one from Rick's or Electrosport, I bought a $30 model from an alternative American manufacturer only to later find out that they just resold this item from a manufacturer in Taiwan. So, in order to mitigate the risks of failing this el cheapo part and to mitigate the possibility of a failure damaging anything else or the harness, I installed two new mods. One voltmeter and a 12v <.05amp blower fan at 32cfm, which turns out to supply plenty of airflow, before the fan it got really hot after only a few minutes at idle, with the fan this thing doesn't even get warm! Here's a pic of the blower (looks cooler through the hole in the fairing - I removed the black cover- I'll post another pic when I get the fairings back on later).
Because I wanted the voltmeter to be accurate and reliable I designed a circuit for it on a DPDT switch, 3 wire voltmeter, and 9v lithium battery. This allows me to use the 9v to supply the voltmeter power, thus eliminating draw from my 12v battery for accuracy. Flip the switch two positions to the left to cut off the 9v and bridge the voltmeter test circuit with its positive power circuit making the voltmeter a 2-wire version, testing the voltage of the 12v while drawing it's power from it too in case the 9v is running low or I suspect any problems with it.
Because I wanted the voltmeter to be accurate and reliable I designed a circuit for it on a DPDT switch, 3 wire voltmeter, and 9v lithium battery. This allows me to use the 9v to supply the voltmeter power, thus eliminating draw from my 12v battery for accuracy. Flip the switch two positions to the left to cut off the 9v and bridge the voltmeter test circuit with its positive power circuit making the voltmeter a 2-wire version, testing the voltage of the 12v while drawing it's power from it too in case the 9v is running low or I suspect any problems with it.