LED's and a possible elec reg shortcoming....
Howdy Tom,
I think you'll be delighted with the Vin LED tail light conversion as sold through the VOCS. It is actually made here in the U.S. by Bulbs That Last Forever for which VOCS has exclusive distribution rights so thus not listed at their site. But, here's an
example of their offering for the /2 which gives you some idea of the excellent craftsmanship on the Vin unit which is a drop-in. One need only solder the two very thin leads to each existing socket tabs.
To give you some idea of its illumination characteristics, the VOCS incorrectly sent me a 12V for my 6V system, and not having yet discovered its local origins - which I then subsequently had it modified to 6V - and in a time crunch pre-Daytona Bike Week, fitted it anyway. Though not as intensely bright as the incandescent it replaced, a broader source of light resulted in the same "visibility" as far as I was concered. Important as I live/ride in a major city. Once corrected to 6V, it was no contest. As an indication of the amperage drop, the supply wires are very thin.
PODtronic. Early regulators/voltage regulation as typified by the much maligned Miller cartridge, were the choke point to efficient output on generators that were in fact very robust. Later retro-fits of two-charge and similar mech. regs. of unknown origin did not necessarily improve output/efficiency, just reliability. But, at the end of the day, when going for that last amp or two derived with minimal heat - especially important if one is feeding a battery ignition system - there is no substitute for a good modern electronic regulator.
But, I'll mention possibly the only shortcoming of any modern electronic regulator in context with a generator based charging system. It assumes a positive system charge balance at lower rpm, thus more duty cycle during a typical operating cycle. Thus, its tendency to regulate charge just over load (ie, you won't see huge positive swings on your ammeter) means your not capturing maximum charge bang for your buck and this can pose a potential problem if you ride - lights on - in an urban setting.
Older systems - especially cutout equiped ones - operated on the feast or famine principle because they recognized generator ouput was very rpm dependent and they had to capture as much as they could when it went positive and the capacitor (battery) they're feeding this charge into was generally large (3 x max amp charge output) and lead acid which is an extremely forgiving recipient of overcharging situations compared SLA's such as AGM's.
That said, I would not trade the clicking pair of points and amperage draw of a mech reg for this nearly bullet proof tiny unit that fits in a stock reg housing. I currently have 6 POD's in service on some of my machines.