Seen the above done countless times on good ol' YouTube but how do we actually do it? What capacitors can I use? Can I do a straight swap? Cheers in advance ?

 

Welcome to AAC!
Don't believe everything you see on U-thingy .
It could be done, BUT..... Consider a worst case scenario: you're out on the road at night and your engine fails. To be street-legal the bike needs lights. For a capacitor bank to keep, say, 10W of lighting going for more than a minute or two will require a huge capacitance. The cost for that plus the necessary charger/regulator to prevent over-voltage and lights burn-out will almost certainly be much more than the cost of a battery.

 

Google, "Triumph battery eliminator". It was a commonly done thing back in the 1960-1970 era on kick start British bikes. But won't work to eliminate a battery for an electric start bike.

 

Seen the above done countless times on good ol' YouTube but how do we actually do it? What capacitors can I use? Can I do a straight swap? Cheers in advance ?

It's not worth the bother. A capacitor costs more for a given capacity, and will occupy more volume. It might even be heavier. The only sensible use of a capacitor for starting that I've seen is a hybrid lead-acid with a capacitor. The battery charges the capacitor, which provides a large but brief surge current to start the engine. This surge capacity allows using a bit smaller lead-acid portion since the peak current is no longer the limiting factor. I think this is competitive in very cold environments where lead-acid batteries lose so much of their capacity.

 

Hello, try this:

http://www.b50.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3196

 

Seen the above done countless times on good ol' YouTube but how do we actually do it? What capacitors can I use? Can I do a straight swap? Cheers in advance ?

BSA (and possibly Triumph) did it on the 250cc scrambler version. The electrolytic was pretty big, but I don't know the capacitance. Those old Brit bikes used a dirty great Zener shunt regulator - a capacitor might confuse modern mostly electronic regulator packs.

There are s few old Brit bike forums where you might get the right answer - the only one I can think of is uk.rec.motorcycles on Usenet. Its not specifically Brit bike oriented, but there's a few old hands. There's also a classic or vintage forum, but I can't remember the name.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, the aim Is to reduce the light flickering, at idle, and obv save weight as trying to get the bike under 100kg wet.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, the aim Is to reduce the light flickering, at idle, and obv save weight as trying to get the bike under 100kg wet.

easier with a 3-ph alternator stator than a single phase type - but whatever you can get hold of must have a matching rotor that fits the taper on the end of the crank shaft.

 

Only just seen this post so you may be sorted by now
the "Battery eliminator" was used on some brit bikes in the 60s/70s
I hate battery’s so still use them
you will not completely eliminate the bulb flickering at idle without a battery but the capacitor does help and it never goes flat and stops you starting the bike
original was 4700uF but I use a 6800uF 35volt make sure you buy a large power supply type about35x50mm you just wire them the same as a battery they are polarity sensitive

 

Only just seen this post so you may be sorted by now
the "Battery eliminator" was used on some brit bikes in the 60s/70s
I hate battery’s so still use them
you will not completely eliminate the bulb flickering at idle without a battery but the capacitor does help and it never goes flat and stops you starting the bike
original was 4700uF but I use a 6800uF 35volt make sure you buy a large power supply type about35x50mm you just wire them the same as a battery they are polarity sensitive

and if the Zener drops out - https://groceries.asda.com/product/view-all-party-supplies/asda-party-poppers/910001798892

 

and if the Zener drops out

What Zener? The bikes those were used on were generator equipped, kick start.

 

Thank you a great help looking FWD to experimenting with that I'm guessing that if I use LED'S the flickering will not be an issue just brightness overall will be effected?

 

and if the Zener drops out - https://groceries.asda.com/product/view-all-party-supplies/asda-party-poppers/910001798892

I take it you mean goes if the Zener goes open circuit
well many people now use Sealed lead acid batterys in bikes
so I know which I would prefer to go party popping
I always ride with the lights on mostly for my own safety and i carefully balance the load
lights/ign to use almost all the alternator output
so the 100watt Zener only has to drop about 20 watts most of the time
if it was to go open circuit the lights can just about manage the extra without blowing

 

Thank you a great help looking FWD to experimenting with that I'm guessing that if I use LED'S the flickering will not be an issue just brightness overall will be effected?

LEDs may be ok really depends on the alternator some bikes only have single pole lights windings

 

What Zener? The bikes those were used on were generator equipped, kick start.

The old brit bikes were regulated by a dirty great Lucas Zener diode.