Vigo327
Platinum Member
So all of the small engines will have a magnet on the outside of the flywheel to trigger the ignition coil.
SOME of them will have magnets on the inside of the flywheel to excite a 'stator winding' mounted to the block under the flywheel. Depending on whether it's powering lights or a battery, there may or may not be a 'rectifier' involved. Incandescent lights can work on AC or DC. The stator itself makes AC. If it is intended for lighting only, there will be no rectifier. If it is intended for charging a battery, it must be 'rectified' to DC so there will also be a small box with diodes in it screwed to the side of the engine somewhere, that the stator wires hook through before continuing on to the battery. I think a lot of small engines have space for 2 stator windings, each roughly a 'half circle'.
That's a general introduction to it. If the engine has no stator winding on it from factory it will probably also not have magnets on the inside of the flywheel, meaning you need a new flywheel anyway.
But to keep a battery charged in this application i would just run a power wire from the truck to that battery, or run a big enough wire from the right place that you didn't need a separate starter battery. You could also just mount a small 5w solar panel permanently as a battery maintainer and forget about a charging system.
You can also just run a longer pull-rope and get it out to the side of the truck where you can reach it. If the engine has a manual clutch lever though, you might end up needing to do more than either a longer rope OR an electric starter..
SOME of them will have magnets on the inside of the flywheel to excite a 'stator winding' mounted to the block under the flywheel. Depending on whether it's powering lights or a battery, there may or may not be a 'rectifier' involved. Incandescent lights can work on AC or DC. The stator itself makes AC. If it is intended for lighting only, there will be no rectifier. If it is intended for charging a battery, it must be 'rectified' to DC so there will also be a small box with diodes in it screwed to the side of the engine somewhere, that the stator wires hook through before continuing on to the battery. I think a lot of small engines have space for 2 stator windings, each roughly a 'half circle'.
That's a general introduction to it. If the engine has no stator winding on it from factory it will probably also not have magnets on the inside of the flywheel, meaning you need a new flywheel anyway.
But to keep a battery charged in this application i would just run a power wire from the truck to that battery, or run a big enough wire from the right place that you didn't need a separate starter battery. You could also just mount a small 5w solar panel permanently as a battery maintainer and forget about a charging system.
You can also just run a longer pull-rope and get it out to the side of the truck where you can reach it. If the engine has a manual clutch lever though, you might end up needing to do more than either a longer rope OR an electric starter..