Rectifier?

[mlipnickwc]

Is there any way that i can hook up the rectifier and battery from an old craftsman lawn tractor with a B&S engine to my gocarts 5hp B&S engine?
If not, is there any way i can make it so my engine would charge a battery?

 

[kibble]

Unfortunately the voltage coming out of the cable going to the spark plug is way too high to just use a rectifier for the battery. It would require some voltage regulation to bring it down to something usable. I wanted to do the same thing but I was thinking of modifying a small transformer and placing it on the engine by the flywheel where the magnet spins and then from that charging the battery. I may be wrong but I'm guessing the old lawn tractor maybe had another cable coming out of the ignition coil that went to the rectifier or something similar?

 

[mikeandike]

what do you want to hook the rectifier to? because if its hooked up to the spark plug, the spark plug is pulsed and its not a continuous electrical current so it might not be good for the battery unless theres special circuitry or a capacitor to smooth it out or sumthing of that sort... if it was meant to hook up to the spark plug it will probably work. Otherwise i suggest getting an alternator. I think people sell alternators for that size of motor but im not sure.

 

[AdrianH]

Just a thought, if you try the B&S website
http://www.briggsandstratton.com/display/router.asp?docid=78484

Hope the link works they seem to list owners manuals and electrical diagrammes for their engines. There is a search option to put the model number in and try and find information relevant.

If the engine is an older model the info may not be listed but you may be able to find a variant of your own engine with the charging circuit and purchase the bits from the store.

Cheers

Adrian