Quote:
Originally Posted by Othen
The electrical system on the Bloop is so simple: just a magnet on the end of the crankshaft and three coils: one is the magneto for the engine (CB points/condenser and a coil - that is it) the other two power the lights and charge the battery. There are two (factory) alternative ways of wiring these two so one may either have bright lights or a well charged battery, but not really both at the same time. It does have just one piece of modern (for 1976) technology though: a solid state rectifier (it is just a semiconductor diode - cuts off half the wave) - which was quite new business in the 1970s.
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Isn't marketing wonderful? Solid-state aka
semiconductor diodes have been around since WW II and consisted primarily of a P and N junction where one was positive and the other was negative. In 1948 William Shockly successfully managed to create a PNP junction (or it might have been NPN, can't remember now) but that is better known as the transistor. By the very nature of the construction and development, semiconductor diodes had to come before transistors.
If memory serves correctly, the diode on the Bloop was to prevent the battery discharging into the magneto at low engine speeds and turning it into a motor.
Proper half-wave rectification needs 2 diodes and full wave needs 4 diodes, usually arranged as a rectifier bridge. I suspect the voltage regulator/rectifier will have one or arrangement or the other. If the batterys main function on the Bloop is to keep the brake light alive if the engine stops, it won't need to be a big battery and nor will the charging system need to be that great. Bright lights would be the option i'd choose from the magneto outputs!
