Streetfighter headlight

[Jethro]

Or maybe tow along one of those portable jobsite generators and wire it to the lights. That sounds convienient!

 

[Hap Call]

There are some more options on squeezing out capacity.

1. Convert your tail light, turn signals and running lights to LED. This will open a considerable amount of power capacity, around 25 or more watts.

2. Get an oil cooler. This may seem like a strange way to increase your capacity but the stator is cooled by engine oil and the cooler the oil the higher the output of the stator. The insulation on the stator reduces it's life by half for every 18 degree F increase over the standard operating temperature of the stator. That is if your stator would last 10 years at 180 degrees F, at 198 it would last 5 years, at 216 F it would last 2.5 years, and at 234 F it would last 1.25 years. Any imperfection in the insulation would accelerate this rate.

3. Move the regulator/rectifier to a location where cooling air is plentiful or install a small computer chip cooling fan. Like the stator, its' capacity is dependant on cooling.

4. Clean all connections and coat them in electrical contact grease to protect them.

By doing these things I believe you will loosen enough capacity to add approximately 30 to 50 watts of load power. With the addition of a Electrex stator you can run additional lighting with little worry.

I'm going to disagree with Earl on one point and that is the capacity of the battery. A fully charged battery will hold 13.8 V potential, not 12.8 volts. Each cell is rated at 2.3 volts and since they are in series, that comes out to 13.8 volts. There is surface voltage but if you are dropping down to 12.8V then you may have some problem with either the battery or a small short. Your system should charge at 14 to 15.5 volts at 5000 rpm with the sweet spot around 14.7 to 14.9 volts.

Hap

 

[KennyJ]

I'll go back to the switch dilema.

None of you mentioned using relays to power the additional and headlights. This would be the easiest solution, have the brightest lighting, and let you control it with the stock switches.

I would get 2 Bosch Automotive relays (pick-n-pull yard) and mount them near the headlight. I would run an 8 or 10 guage wire from the battery to the relays for power and the same size wire for the ground lug of the relay. Then I would splice the headlight power leads to relays (low to one, high to the other). Then run the relayed power lead back to the headlight (both high and low) and the auxillary lights (high only).

No hokey additional switches, and brighter lighting....a common change on the FJ Yamaha series.

Kenny

 

[earlfor]

I believe Goldwings have the new school super Godzilla alternator.
(which cannot be retrofitted to a GS )

Earl

Of course, maybe those VoltWing's are using a nuclear reactor. Hey! So that's what they got in all those cases!

 

[earlfor]

Hmmm Hap, this is fun. Gonna spot my replies after your suggestions. Easier that way.

There are some more options on squeezing out capacity.

1. Convert your tail light, turn signals and running lights to LED. This will open a considerable amount of power capacity, around 25 or more watts.
****************** I believe turn signals and brake light consume 23 watts, but tail light consumes 8 watts. Turn signals and brake lights are only used briefly, so I question how worthwhile converting them would be relative to energy conservation.



2. Get an oil cooler. This may seem like a strange way to increase your capacity but the stator is cooled by engine oil and the cooler the oil the higher the output of the stator. The insulation on the stator reduces it's life by half for every 18 degree F increase over the standard operating temperature of the stator. That is if your stator would last 10 years at 180 degrees F, at 198 it would last 5 years, at 216 F it would last 2.5 years, and at 234 F it would last 1.25 years. Any imperfection in the insulation would accelerate this rate.
*************** I agree with this one absolutely. Probably the best conservation measure you can take.


3. Move the regulator/rectifier to a location where cooling air is plentiful or install a small computer chip cooling fan. Like the stator, its' capacity is dependant on cooling
*********************Yep, gotta go with this one too.


4. Clean all connections and coat them in electrical contact grease to protect them.
*******************Yep and double yep.

By doing these things I believe you will loosen enough capacity to add approximately 30 to 50 watts of load power. With the addition of a Electrex stator you can run additional lighting with little worry.
********************Uhhh, no, I think you will save about 6 watts.


I'm going to disagree with Earl on one point and that is the capacity of the battery. A fully charged battery will hold 13.8 V potential, not 12.8 volts. Each cell is rated at 2.3 volts and since they are in series, that comes out to 13.8 volts. There is surface voltage but if you are dropping down to 12.8V then you may have some problem with either the battery or a small short. Your system should charge at 14 to 15.5 volts at 5000 rpm with the sweet spot around 14.7 to 14.9 volts.
***************Theoretically, I agree. There is a 13.8 potential.
When a battery is freshly removed from a charger, you will see 13.5 to 13.8 volts. However, If you take this new battery and let it sit on the shelf for 2-3 hours and then check the voltage level, it will "rest" at around 12.8 volts. In real world in use averages, and considering most batteries are not in new condition, I stand by my 12.8 volts as reasonably accurate of what to expect.

My 1150 after sitting overnight shows about 12.65-12.8 volts. There are no faulty connections, corrosion, poor grounds or malfunctioning charging
devices on the bike. I check those things as part of normal maintenance.

I spoke with (If I remember correctly) Ricco at Electrex some time ago about charging voltages. Electrex designs their R/R's to output 14.7 volts.
One of their R/R's I ordered directly from them, when received and installed on the bike, had an output of 14.9 volts at 5K rpm. They agreed that was faulty. No questions asked, no hassle, they replaced it with a new one. They would not do that if a charging voltage from 14.9 up to the 15.5 you suggest was acceptable. I disagree with you on that. 15+ volts will shorten electronic life just as quickly as too high an operating temperate will.

Earl













Hap

 

[Hap Call]

There are some more options on squeezing out capacity.

1. Convert your tail light, turn signals and running lights to LED. This will open a considerable amount of power capacity, around 25 or more watts.

****************** I believe turn signals and brake light consume 23 watts, but tail light consumes 8 watts. Turn signals and brake lights are only used briefly, so I question how worthwhile converting them would be relative to energy conservation.

You are quite correct here; the brake and turn signals are used only momentarily. I brain farted with that. But LED use about 1/4 to 1/5 the wattage that incandescent bulbs use so switching to the tail light would save 6 watts, same thing for the license plate bulb, switching the 5 instrument cluster lighting bulbs would save a combined 10 watts (that is the case with my 1100E - others may vary with the number of bulbs)...that totals up to 22 watts. If you have running lights (I don't) you can add another 6 watts saved for each of the four bulbs. They also have low energy headlight bulbs but I don't recommend these...they are more fragile and have a shorter life span.

By doing these things I believe you will loosen enough capacity to add approximately 30 to 50 watts of load power. With the addition of a Electrex stator you can run additional lighting with little worry.

********************Uhhh, no, I think you will save about 6 watts.

Still gotta stick with at least 30 watts...bulbs alone saved 22 watts.

I'm going to disagree with Earl on one point and that is the capacity of the battery. A fully charged battery will hold 13.8 V potential, not 12.8 volts. Each cell is rated at 2.3 volts and since they are in series, that comes out to 13.8 volts. There is surface voltage but if you are dropping down to 12.8V then you may have some problem with either the battery or a small short. Your system should charge at 14 to 15.5 volts at 5000 rpm with the sweet spot around 14.7 to 14.9 volts.

***************Theoretically, I agree. There is a 13.8 potential.
When a battery is freshly removed from a charger, you will see 13.5 to 13.8 volts. However, If you take this new battery and let it sit on the shelf for 2-3 hours and then check the voltage level, it will "rest" at around 12.8 volts. In real world in use averages, and considering most batteries are not in new condition, I stand by my 12.8 volts as reasonably accurate of what to expect.

My 1150 after sitting overnight shows about 12.65-12.8 volts. There are no faulty connections, corrosion, poor grounds or malfunctioning charging
devices on the bike. I check those things as part of normal maintenance.

I'm sticking with my numbers...I see 13.2 with my Fluke and that is after a couple of days, not just a couple of hours. I will say the humidity and general atmospheric conditions can have an effect on this so that may be the reason for the differences in our observations.

I spoke with (If I remember correctly) Ricco at Electrex some time ago about charging voltages. Electrex designs their R/R's to output 14.7 volts.
One of their R/R's I ordered directly from them, when received and installed on the bike, had an output of 14.9 volts at 5K rpm. They agreed that was faulty. No questions asked, no hassle, they replaced it with a new one. They would not do that if a charging voltage from 14.9 up to the 15.5 you suggest was acceptable. I disagree with you on that. 15+ volts will shorten electronic life just as quickly as too high an operating temperate will.

I agree that 15.5 is excessive but I was referencing the Suzuki shop manual and it states that the normal regulated voltage is 14V to 15.5V (of course, Suzuki has not had much success with the electronics stuff...I admit, it is a poor reference ). I do not think that 14.9 is excessive. I believe that Electrex supported a knowledgeable but concerned customer and did the right thing to alleviate his worries. As far as the voltage harming the R/R is concerned, it is standard for electronic to be designed to handle 20% over voltage without insulation or element failure. The delta between 14.7 and 15.5 is .8 volts which is less than 6% over voltage...not much in the big picture. Now, the higher voltage will harm the battery if the regulator does not isolate the charging current, as it should.




Hap

 

[earlfor]

The way I see it, we are between 12.8 and 13.2 of agreement. I dont know how to integrate temperature and humidity to battery voltage retention, so so my conclusion is close enough.

Thank you Hap, you're a pleasure to hassle.

Earl

 

[Hap Call]

Thank you Hap, you're a pleasure to hassle.

Earl

Glad I could be of service! :wink:

Hap