Flitemdic Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 I'm very fuzzy on the whole system tie in thing. I have a 98 'bird. Now, on this system, I have the normal factory equipment, and have added some. For arguement's sake- and this isn't all mine- let's say you put in a radar detector, GPS, HID, Chatterbox hardwire, and driving lights. Five items. Except for the HID, you have between 3 and 5 amps of draw on each circuit, for a total of about 20 amps give or take. Not all of these items are on at start. Say only the lights come on with start. So, now, when I'm cruising along on the slab with everything on is the stator, R/R, and stock battery going to be up to this? And then, if I'm in traffic, when the RPM is down, will the stock system replenish the battery when back up to speed. How do you predict this? And how does the R/R and stator fit in? I understand the stator creates the juice, and I think the R/R must bring it down to a usable level to recharge the battery and operate the system. What am I missing here? Does the total amp draw matter in this case? Does anyone know what the limit may be, and is my hypothetical bike going to just die all the time? (I just used the most popular farkles on the board for the example, mine are not as numerous, and somewhat different.) There's alot of info on the net that frankly, I don't really understand. Simplified answers would be good. Thanks as always. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beondwacko Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Duane, Here's a couple of things to keep in mind when adding up your farkle totals in wattage draw. The HID's save you between 15-30 watts. That's a bonus. If you went with bright LED's in the stock tail light housing, that will save you between 32-45( approx ) more watts. Ditch the driving lights. They draw about 110 watts, and that's a big load on the system. The electronic gizmo's don't draw very much. radar detector, GPS, HID, Chatterbox hardwire What is the total draw of these guys added up? Realisticly,,,,, 40-50 watts maybe? You can gain that back with LED lamps in the tail combined with your existing headlight set up. So now, your back to stock draw. Heavy stop and go traffic with a stock bike puts a hell of a draw on the battery. When you factor in the driving lights on top of that, then your just asking for trouble. I'd suggest that you only use those aux lights at highway speed where the charging system has half a chance of maintaining the charge of the battery. Everything else should be just fine. Check these out when you can. They will give you a bunch more reserve on the charging system. Linky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shovelstrokeed Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 The radar detector and the GPS together don't draw 1 watt. Ditto the Chatterbox in standby mode. HID lights, as stated, once they start up, draw less than the stock headlight. Driving lights will draw somewhere around 110 watts as stated but that still leaves you plenty of overhead with a healthy charging system. Your alternator won't produce its full rated output till about 4K RPM or so but even there, unless you spend a good deal of time idling with the fans on, you won't draw down the battery's reserve capacity. If you are at all concerned, wire a switch into the driving lights and turn them off when stopped. Conspicuity is an illusion anyway. I have witnessed a car load of geezers down here drive right into the side of a 12' tall, 30' long flourescent green pumper truck with lights, air horns and a whooper going full blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flitemdic Posted May 22, 2006 Author Share Posted May 22, 2006 :icon_lmao: Oh, SHIT, that was a great visual. Thanks for the answers, guys. Mine is Radar, HID, Chatterbox and a Sportvue. The driving lights were already on for awhile. I think I'm going to leave the driving lights off now that I have the HID hooked up. Good idea, Adam. I just don't get how folks know when to stop. You look at Warchild's "Nighttrain", and you'd think this bike could power up an aircraft carrier. He's got EVERYTHING on his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmacza Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Someone had a linky for a group buy on HID auxiliary lights a while back... think it was about US$225 or something... that would give you the "ball of light" effect floating down the road and still come in just over the same draw as 2 x 55w halogen bulbs for 4 x 35w HID Anyone wanna look like a UFO? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beondwacko Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Duane, I just ordered a set for myself to try. After killing the battery at the track from extended idle time waiting in line, I was thinking that I needed to free up a little power myself. I'll post pics depending on the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gharknes Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 the birds alternator is good for about 35-40 amps once it exceeds this the voltage will start to reduce and the unit may even be damaged. The alternator will continue to charge the battery provided it's output voltage is greater 14.5 vers 12.5, this voltage is not achieved at idle so the battery is discharging at idle, the rate of discharge will depend on the load. If you want to work out how much current each is being drawn at any one time use this simple formula V/P = I I = current V= Voltage P= power in watts so a 12v 60w bulb will draw 6 amps The most important facter in all this is not exceeding the alternators capacity and understanding that at idle your battery is running everything and discharging, above 2000revs the alternator is running everything and the battery could actually be removed, the battery's only purpose (99%) in any motor vehicle is to start the engine after witch the alternator or generator takes over and attempts to replace the lost charge in the battery after starting, this can only be achieved if the alternator voltage is greater than the battery voltage...hence the idle problem. I don't know what the ratio is but I would guess if you ride with lights on all the time and your revs are below 1500 50% of the time = your battery will eventually go flat perhaps in less than a week. hope this all helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartonmd Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Dude, Just stop the guessing and get a Datel DVM and double-sided tape it between your guages and windscreen... When it drops below 13V, start turning shit off! Also, the DVM will allow you to see when your R/R or stator is getting funky and about to go out, or when they have gone out, you know you have several miles to run on battery until you're fucked, instead of just riding down the road, minding your business, and the guages go all funny and the bike dies... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gharknes Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Dude, Just stop the guessing and get a Datel DVM and double-sided tape it between your guages and windscreen... When it drops below 13V, start turning shit off! Also, the DVM will allow you to see when your R/R or stator is getting funky and about to go out, or when they have gone out, you know you have several miles to run on battery until you're fucked, instead of just riding down the road, minding your business, and the guages go all funny and the bike dies... Mike doesn't the bird have a charging circuit warning light ? some sample of what we could all use.................maybe a group buy ? http://www.backwoodssolar.com/Catalogpages...0Panel%20Meters also here http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/cate...rs_(Panel).html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartonmd Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Dude, Just stop the guessing and get a Datel DVM and double-sided tape it between your guages and windscreen... When it drops below 13V, start turning shit off! Also, the DVM will allow you to see when your R/R or stator is getting funky and about to go out, or when they have gone out, you know you have several miles to run on battery until you're fucked, instead of just riding down the road, minding your business, and the guages go all funny and the bike dies... Mike doesn't the bird have a charging circuit warning light ? some sample of what we could all use.................maybe a group buy ? http://www.backwoodssolar.com/Catalogpages...0Panel%20Meters also here http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/cate...rs_(Panel).html Honestly, I don't remember if it does or not (I don't think so), but an idiot light will only tell you when you're down to 12V anyway, so your charging system could have been displaying warning signs for a long time, but you wouldn't see it without a volt meter of some kind... Try here: http://store.cd4power.com/cgi-bin/cd4power...53/Catalog/1042 or search the Internet for "Datel voltmeter" I believe I have the DMS-20PC-1-DCM, but I am not absolutely sure... Either way, there's a place where forum members get a discount on them (where I got mine) and I got the same one that Warchild has... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flitemdic Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 Good link, Mike. Did you put a box around yours, or mount it as is? Duane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.