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BSA C15
BSA C15
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6 Volt Wiring |
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The C15 in it's original form was blessed with a sophisticated 6 volt system.
By clever switching you could run extra current through to boost a failing
battery. In it's day, most batteries were not the modern reliable units and
many hours was spent coaxing every drop of energy from them. It was not the
throw away society then and the cost of replacement was postponed until the
thing was actually dead, and then some. Most motorcyclist would be familiar
with the bump start for emergencies.
I am not an electrician and so I do not propose to explain the 6 volt system, but rather merely display the wiring diagram. Hence the reason for converting my bike to a 12 volt system which is much easier to understand.
Click on the image to enlarge. The C15 was not fitted with a fuse. Later 12v models were fitted with a 35
amp fuse. A 12 volt system draws a higher current, so you need to adjust the fuse to compensate for this on a 6 volt system. My electrical knowledge is not great, but and Amps = Watts / Volts Therefore, a 30-50W headlight bulb will theoretically draw 2.5A and 4.2A at
12V, However, a cold filament has a very low resistance and momentarily draws a large amount of current at switch-on, so any fuses in line with this will have to be chosen suitably to handle the surge. You could try a 15amp first and if it blows go for a 20amp. Hope you can fathom the rest for yourselves. Thanks go to Joe for his assistance on this one.
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