I've got a circuit diagram I just finished drawing up for a set of turn signals that i'll be mounting on my dirtbike for convenience (as in, it's a non street legal bike, trail use only, but I take it short distances anyway), and I can't decide if I should run the signals off of the built in 12 V in the bike, or if I should mount a smaller 12 V lead gel cel in the seat.

Btw, lights will be coming off every time I hit the trails. Everything will be clamped down for easy removal.

Haven't gotten the circuit wired together yet, so I can't give any current draw req's just yet, but i'm 99% sure that my bike has a trickle charge system.

thoughts?

You wont need a second battery:

You'll need two relays,spade connectors,lugs and quick release in-line connectors(to remove the lights when you need too.
The first main relay should be a 'normally open relay' the second should be the constant 'open' 'close' type(i am assuming this second relay came with your blinkers).

Don't take the power for the lights directley from battery, you will need to take a 'Red'/live from the switched side of the ignition. From there place an 'in-line' 12v fuse on that live. From there that live will feed the coil on the first relay(basically the ignition switches on your new lighting circuit).

Now with the first relay has not yet got an earth/negetive-, so with the spade connectors eath the coil '-' off the bikes body.

Now when you switch on the ignition your first relay 'clicks' and you now are ready to put power to the lighting circuit.

From the battery take a live(fused) and run it to the switched side of the same relay. Now what happens is that when the ignition is on you now have a safe switched lighting circuit that turns on with the main power.

Now on relay 1 you have one connector left this is the switched feed that will use to feed the second relay and I assume the lights came with a diagram to show you how to wire the lights to that second relay, you can either pick up the earth/negative from the battery or the body of the bike, whichever is handyest.....hope it helps
connecting the light themselfs will be done with the quick release in-line connectors

Well, I just checked, and the battery in the bike is dead atm :P

I'll prolly end up just dropping the gel cel in there. I've seen ideas similar to yours run on street bikes before, but my bike is a kicker.

Separate gel cel will probably be easier to run anyway, less jumping through hoops to disconnect power from the lighting circuit to the power source.

Btw, my circuit is completely home done. A friend of mine got the lights bashed in on his mopeds a few days ago, and while they worked fine, he ended up getting a new set, just for aesthetics, and gave me the old ones (lamps and mounting brackets only that is), so I drew up a blinker circuit myself.

My circuit basically is a 555 modulating ,via an NPN transistor, a SPDT relay, with the normally closed being connected to nothing, and the normally open being connected to + Vcc, and the power source to the whole thing being connected via one half of a DPCO switch. The other half of the DPCO connects the Pole of the relay to either of the two lights. I'd scan my diagrams, but my scanner isn't hooked up atm

What do you think of the setup, just from hearing of it?

Should I still be running a fuse?

If you dont really want to do a propper job on it and it is just a kicker as you say well then yeah just throw a second battery in there and just make sure you do put in-line fuses on because those bikes get knocked around so much that a fuel leak coud see you inadvertadly performing one of those explosive jumps moto-x style with flames and all ...seriously just make it safe so that if the circuit does short there is a fuse there to knock it off

Well, how would I go about re-charging my battery? The manual says it's an MF Battery, whatever the hell that is. Can I just jury rig it to my Lead Acid charger? Can I just try to Jump Start it with my car?

And I just fond the circuit diagram for the ignition system, so even if I do end up using a secondary battery, i'll probably still end up taking your suggestion .

Quote from sinkoman :

Well, how would I go about re-charging my battery? The manual says it's an MF Battery, whatever the hell that is. Can I just jury rig it to my Lead Acid charger? Can I just try to Jump Start it with my car?

And I just fond the circuit diagram for the ignition system, so even if I do end up using a secondary battery, i'll probably still end up taking your suggestion .

well...honestly what I would do if I where you is forget about whatever you thought you knew with the diagram and all and take five minutes to read post#2 because i think i did explain it very well

Sinkoman, you don't want to charge a motorcycle battery with a normal automotive charger because they need to charge with a lower amperage. There is a great charger for motorcycles to keep them charged called "Battery Tender". It is a maintenance charger that monitors the battery and charges at a lower rate than normal auto chargers. It comes with an adapter that you mount to the battery, then you just plug the charger into the adapter that hangs outside the bike.

Jump starting it won't work because that is for starting the bike, not charging the battery. Since you said it is a kick start, you can't start the bike by jump starting with a car. Just to note, never jump a motorcycle with the car running. It sends too much of a voltage spike to the bike. It can be done with just connecting the batteries up without running the car though.

Just do the lights the easy and legal way. Get yourself an XR400, very nice bike. It's a 4 stroke, but loads of off-road power. They don't come stock with the light kit, but it's available.

Thanks all for your help

The whole reason I want to run it off of a second battery is because it'll be allot easier to maintain than running it off of the bikes battery. The bikes battery runs an old electric starter on the bike that doesn't work all that well, so I just always just kick the bastard (embarrassing using the electric start on a trail too :P).

Now, the bike DOES have a charger, but I think the fact that i've run this thing for about a year without touching the electric start, and the battery is still dead, is a testament to how crappy the charger is.

THAT'S why I want to run it off of a second battery. Because I really don't have the money to go out and buy a second charger, and then manage all the wiring within the bike, and try to work around it.

BUT, I DO have a lead acid charger that's been working beautifully for ages, and low and behold, I have a SPARE LEAD ACID BATTERY!

And CSU, what I meant about taking your suggestion, is I most likely WILL end up wiring up another relay and fuse circuit in there between the battery and the lights, EVEN if end up using a second battery.

Btw, I got the parts I needed and finished most of the circuitry today. Just need to finish some basic wiring and see how it works.

I have another question though. I ended up changing my 555 circuit, and instead of outputting the expected 5 volts, it's doing 12. I'm wondering if it's safe to run this 12 volts straight to the lights, or if I should dial it down with a regulator, and then run it to a relay.

Quote from mrodgers :

Just do the lights the easy and legal way. Get yourself an XR400, very nice bike. It's a 4 stroke, but loads of off-road power. They don't come stock with the light kit, but it's available.

It may be easier, but it'd be nowhere near as satisfying or fun as taking an idea from your head, drawing up a bunch of diagrams on paper, and then turning it into a fully functional device.