What do I need to make some blinkers work

[panaman]

Ok....

I am thinking about doing a minor street legal upgrade to the XR400....

I don't want to switch the headlight out... eff the high beem... just appear to be semi street legal....

So Basically what do I need to get some turn signals and a brake light to work on my XR400?

[Chuck.]

Turn signals need DC to operate which means adding a rectifier/regulatator to conver the alternator output to DC and a battery or capacitor (sold by TrailTech) to filter the output. Horns are also DC so you could use an electric horn.

[elcycrotom]

I have a 'total loss' battery system to run my turn signals. I just charge the battery whenever it starts to get low which isn't very often since it has LED signals. The 1.2Ah battery will flash the signals for 3 days solid.

[panaman]

so your saying that my head light runs of AC? .... i would have never guessed that.... i always assumed everything was DC on the bike... AC is for your house :-)

[elcycrotom]

Yep, it's AC unless there's a battery to supply DC power.

[Chuck.]

Yep, it's AC unless there's a battery to supply DC power.

And then your bike will have a rectifier/regulator to convert the AC from the alternator to 12 volt DC. Dirt bike alternators do not have internal rectifiers/regulators like autos, and for lighting the least complicated method is to use the AC.

[blue70beetle]

so your saying that my head light runs of AC? .... i would have never guessed that.... i always assumed everything was DC on the bike... AC is for your house :-)

An alternator puts out alternating current. Since alternators have been used for many, many years on street vehicles (I switched out the stock generator on my '70 Beetle for an alternator from a '73), almost every vehicle on the road is running AC that is converted to DC before it's fed into the battery and electrical system. Since your XR had no need for DC from the factory (you can run light bulbs on AC, just like you do at home), it doesn't have a rectifier, but as soon as you add one, you can run DC accessories.