Electrical capacity

[Sandbagger]

I have a 2000 RSV. It is fairly standard. No LED's, riding lights.

I am planning on going to Daytona Bike week the first part of March from KC and would like to run a heated vest. I have heated grips with Hippo hands which work great. Can ride as cold and stay warm. Need more core heat though. If I am running the basic bike without intercom or radio but using GPS, heated grips and an electric vest should I be ok? If I get to riding with riding lights (mine are basically useless for seeing I believe) would that overload me?

I appreciate your help. Electric stuff always confuses me

[V7Goose]

The stock RSV with Yamahaha accessory driving lights is close to max capacity with everything else on the stock bike being powered (including carb heaters). So if you do not use the driving lights, you can safely plan on 60 watts for other accessories, such as heated clothing.

 

The carb heaters use 60 watts too, and some people either disconnect them or add a switch to cut them off when needed. It is a little hard to tell when the carb heaters will be on, but a general guideline is that the will NOT be on very much if the outside temperature is above 40 F (you cannot go by the spec for when the carb heater thermo switch is triggered because the heat from the rear exhaust header shuts them off pretty quick unless it is extra cold out).

 

So the bottom line is to know what wattage your accessories draw. If it is not more than 60 watts, you will always be fine as long as you do not run the driving lights. If it is between 60 and 120 watts, you will be fine if the outside temperatures are above 45 F (and you are still not using the driving lights).

Goose

[Seaking]

Without highway lights you should be more than fine with a heated vest (wussie).. minus the 35 watts x 2 for the highway lights will give back ample abilities to run your vest..

 

March.. we still got ice on the lakes and snow in the fields here.. and still crazy enough to try and get a ride in when possible

[Jactana]

I have an '06 Venture, with passing lamps, heated grips, and I also have a heated vest. I installed a Kuryakin voltage sensing LED gauge due to the same concerns regarding wattage you have expressed. I turned everything on last fall during the cool weather, the LED stayed green showing positive voltage. I ran the cruise, had the stereo on, passing lamps, everything. The gauge is a great thing to put your mind at rest knowing you're not discharging your battery as you're going down the road. Ron:thumbsup2:

[bongobobny]

Rick at Buckeye Performance sells a high output stator that I plan on investing in which should help out as I just bought a heated liner for the wife, and I run a lot of accseeories as well. There should be a link in the vendor's section. I'm also going to do a little research on a better than stock voltage regulator as well...

[BradT]

Personally I think it should work okay. But the biggest concern is that you are shortening the life of most of the electrical components, so be prepared to replace these parts when they fail.

 

Brad

[Chinto]

I have an '06 Venture, with passing lamps, heated grips, and I also have a heated vest. I installed a Kuryakin voltage sensing LED gauge due to the same concerns regarding wattage you have expressed. I turned everything on last fall during the cool weather, the LED stayed green showing positive voltage. I ran the cruise, had the stereo on, passing lamps, everything. The gauge is a great thing to put your mind at rest knowing you're not discharging your battery as you're going down the road. Ron:thumbsup2:

 

I have done the above also with a Battery Bug monitoring the battery draw and stays in positive charge so I thought everything was good. However, I would like your opinions as to whether this amount of electrical load will potentially damage the stator if run this way for extended periods? Or, is it if the stator maintains positive charge on the battery even with the load everything is operating within the operational parameters. Or, Is it if the amount of load is more than the stator can keep up with then damage would occur? The reason I ask is because I had to replace my stator last May. Tech said I had burnt wiring. All is good now but I worry about this now.

[jlh3rd]

i'm no expert, but if a stator can't maintain it's rated load without burning wires, then it is a faulty design in the system.....so...the stock stator may be undersized for additional loads we like to add, but it is not a faulty designed stator, so...no.... you won't damage your stator or wiring....if the stator is putting out its maximum, and it's not enough to supply the demand, the battery makes up for the extra...which discharges the battery.....but the stator or its wiring shouldn't fail......your wiring problem was something else, it was not the load on the stator...

 

i guess i should add that parts fail...for any number of reasons....but not because of normal operations

 

from reading a lot of posts here....these bikes have a weak point at the three wire connector from the stator that gets dirty or corroded, which reduces the current supply from the stator and builds heat (resistance)...so that could have been your real issue..

Edited January 14, 2011 by jlh3rd