Proper Voltage Reading

[GolfVenture]

I recently installed a voltage meter.

It has a stock Stator.

It has a non AGM battery.

My question is what should be the approximate proper reading when:

1) At an idel of about 900 rpms

2) At running speed of say 65 mph in 5th gear

3) After a 24 hour charge with a 2 amp battery charger.

 

What mininum voltage reading should I be concerned with.

 

My 89 VR has the standard lights with the addition of a set of Wallmart Plattium Burners (55 watt). I heard many postings to swap out to 35 watts, with a couple that says that 55 watts are ok. I thought that if I knew the proper voltage reading that the reading would determine if I need to go to the 35 watts.

 

I do have several LEDs on. 4 Turn signals, 2 additional stop lights all from Custom Dynamics, but being that they are not all the time and they are LEDs thought they would have mininum inpact.

[twigg]

If you are concerned about the power consumption of the aux. lights, then you can save a lot of power by swapping out all the regular bulbs for LEDs.

 

For example ... There are about a dozen 3.4W bulbs in the instrument panel, many of them on all the time. Swap six of those for LEDs and you just saved about 18W. Do the same with the tail lights and running lights and you just recouped the difference between the 35W Burners, and the 55W Burners ... and you get the benefit of the extra light on the road.

 

The 60W/55 Headlamp offers further savings if you convert to HID. You can cut the power consumption to 42W and get a longer lasting bulb with about 3X the light output. Avoid the higher color temps and stick as close to 4300k as you can (5000 is okay).

[Keemez]

There are four that are on all the time, then 2 turnsig/1 neutral/1 high beam/1 headlamp (all intermittent). Swapping instrumentation lighting to LED has been with mixed success.

 

For example ... There are about a dozen 3.4W bulbs in the instrument panel, many of them on all the time. Swap six of those for LEDs and you just saved about 18W.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Keemez

[LilBeaver]

...

What mininum voltage reading should I be concerned with.

...

 

I would say Anything less than ~12.4V or so for Idle and as an absolute minimum when running.

 

I cannot say specifically for the 1st gen, but for what it is worth, the RSV service manual specifies that the measured voltage should be 13.6 or higher when turning 3000 RPM. I believe the specified range is 13.6-14.2 but it has been a while since I have looked.

 

By the way, I hope that your charger has an automatic cut-off for when the battery is fully charged if you are actually leaving it on 2A for 24 hours!

 

Also, what kind of voltmeter did you install [if it is analog there may be an offset in the 'printed' numbers vs the actual reading]? Have you 'calibrated' it by verifying the reading IT gives you with one done via a trusted voltmeter?

[bongobobny]

OK at idle, the stator is not kicking out enough to keep up so I would expect around 12 volts. Running 3000 to 4000 plenty of stator output so I would expect to see 14+ volts. After charging for several hours, 12.5 to 13 volts (give or take a few tenths of a volt for all readings)...

[twigg]

There are four that are on all the time, then 2 turnsig/1 neutral/1 high beam/1 headlamp (all intermittent). Swapping instrumentation lighting to LED has been with mixed success.

 

The High Beam is on a lot of the time, so let's make that five.

 

Add that 15W to the tail lights and the many other "extras" in light bars around the back, plus the running lights and that is a great deal of power wasted.

 

As for the mixed results with replacements ....

 

LEDs got a bad rep early on. They have improved enormously and it's mainly a matter of picking the correct versions.

[MiCarl]

What happened to your stock gauge?

 

Mine has the stock gauge. It reads about 14V at 3500 RPM and above whether I have the pair of 55W lights on or not. My bike also has some extra lighting on the trunk and bags.

 

Sometimes I pull a trailer (with conventional incandescent lamps). I notice no effect on the volt gauge.

 

At idle it's closer to 12V. If I apply brakes at idle it reads about 9V.

 

From idle up until about 3500 RPM the driving lights seem to pull it down less than a volt.

 

The cooling fan hasn't been on enough for me to notice its effect.

 

When I'm in stop and go traffic or on residential streets I turn off the driving lights to make sure I'm not drawing the battery down any more than necessary.

[GolfVenture]

LEDs got a bad rep early on. They have improved enormously and it's mainly a matter of picking the correct versions.

 

 

I like the idea of better lighting from LEDs inaddtion to putting less stress on the battery. So I'm concluding that some of the members have had 100% success on replacing to LEDs. If so then I'd like to do that also as long as all it means is to just swap out to LEDs: I have an Auto Zone, and O'Reilys and NAPA close by. So can someone provide the exact LED replacements for the following:

 

1) Combination Brake Lamp / Running Lamp

2) 6 Dash Lamps. I'm presuming that all 6 are equal

 

What about the actual 4 main Turn Signal bulbs.

I take it that those can't be simply swaped out. I do not want to do any rewiring.

[bkuhr]

I like the idea of better lighting from LEDs inaddtion to putting less stress on the battery. So I'm concluding that some of the members have had 100% success on replacing to LEDs. If so then I'd like to do that also as long as all it means is to just swap out to LEDs: I have an Auto Zone, and O'Reilys and NAPA close by. So can someone provide the exact LED replacements for the following:

 

1) Combination Brake Lamp / Running Lamp

2) 6 Dash Lamps. I'm presuming that all 6 are equal

 

What about the actual 4 main Turn Signal bulbs.

I take it that those can't be simply swaped out. I do not want to do any rewiring.

 

Bottom of this thread http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=58292 talks about LED dash lights from http://www.superbrightleds.com/ I replaced on my 83 dash. There are 4 backlights and 5 indicator lights. I would suggest a green led for the neutral, and leaving stock incadescent bulb in the RLU indicator. The dash bulbs are 158/194 bulbs. http://www.superbrightleds.com/ also have direct plug in LED replacement for 1156 and 1157 bulbs, which should be turn and brake/marker lights, although I have not tried them yet.

I used blue backlights, and white indicators lights, but if you want backlight bright you may want white in backlights also.

I saw a few LEDS at autoparts, not sure how well they would work, and they were very costly.

 

Likely run into problem with turn bulbs flashing properly. The normal solution is to add a load resistor (also available from superbrightleds)(this defeats any power savings) but this would involve 'wiring'. I made a custom flasher that fit in place of stock flasher, without rewiring of bike, as I could not locate an autoparts flasher that would both work with LEDS and work with the autocancel system.

Edited May 4, 2011 by bkuhr
flasher info

[twigg]

Bottom of this thread http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=58292 talks about LED dash lights from http://www.superbrightleds.com/ I replaced on my 83 dash. There are 4 backlights and 5 indicator lights. I would suggest a green led for the neutral, and leaving stock incadescent bulb in the RLU indicator. The dash bulbs are 158/194 bulbs. http://www.superbrightleds.com/ also have direct plug in LED replacement for 1156 and 1157 bulbs, which should be turn and brake/marker lights, although I have not tried them yet.

I used blue backlights, and white indicators lights, but if you want backlight bright you may want white in backlights also.

I saw a few LEDS at autoparts, not sure how well they would work, and they were very costly.

 

Likely run into problem with turn bulbs flashing properly. The normal solution is to add a load resistor (also available from superbrightleds)(this defeats any power savings) but this would involve 'wiring'. I made a custom flasher that fit in place of stock flasher, without rewiring of bike, as I could not locate an autoparts flasher that would both work with LEDS and work with the autocancel system.

 

All spot on!

 

The 1156/1157 LEDs are just fine in my Triple.

 

As for the flasher. This is only an issue with the older thermal flashers. It is not a problem for electronic flasher so don't buy load resistors, spend $10 on a flasher unit at your Autoparts store.

 

Not sure if that affects the self-canceling ... If it does, then a compatible flasher will have to be sourced.

[Prairiehammer]

Are the dash lights still dimmable when the incandescent are replaced with LED?

[Keemez]

Are the dash lights still dimmable when the incandescent are replaced with LED?

 

To a very minimal degree, yes. I found that mine weren't bright enough no matter what I did. My project got scrapped and went back to stock for the regular 4 instrument backlights.

[Condor]

With all this talk about amp consumption of the lighting you'all might consider the tape deck. For those that still like to listen to cassettes the tape deck eats amps like a horse eating oats. If you don't have a batt with a bunch of CCa's in reserve, you'll be jump starting your bike after a couple of days. The stator can not keep up.... I doubt even with all LED lighting.....