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Showing results for tags 'light'.
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Hello there folks and fellow riders. I have another problem with my 1988 VR. Recently my battery warning light started flashing. My volt meter reads ok, but the warning light started flashing, then turned solid red. When I am driving at low speeds the light turns from solid red to flashing, then turns off. Once I increase my cruising speed it starts flashing again and then turns solid again. I don't experience any hard starting or battery draw. Helpful advise? Don (FREEBIRD) gave me advise on the CLASS system which helped immediately. Thank you:322:
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LIGHTS LIGHTS AND MORE LIGHTS It seems that every time we buy some thing new for our venture it has a light or two attached or needs 12V power to run it, and the alternator can only give so much to keep up with our demands for more power. The alternator can produce between 20 and 24.5 amps and after taking away the 10-12 amps needed for the normal operation of the bike you have about 10 amps to work with. Now when you add a trailer you tax the system even more because most trailer lights take about 2.5 amps for running lights and 5-6 amps when the brake lights come on. That doesn't leave much left for the rest of the goodies we have installed that use power so it would seem we have a problem? NO PROBLEM, it only means we need a power manager and the simplest is to have all of the lights we have installed on one or more switches so we can turn them off when there not needed. Speaking of installing lights, trailer or a sidecar the following are some tips on the best place I have found to hook up to power. Lights For lights; any convenient brown wire will supply 12V switched on by the key, but if you also wish use a power bus to supply all of the extra lights you have added, then use the large brown wire coming from the Ignition. switch and be sure to add a 15-20A fuse because this wire comes directly from the main fuse through the Ignition. switch. Then use this source to power all of the switches to control your lights. Trailers Trailers are a different story because your brake lights and tail lights are monitored by the computer and if they are hocked up wrong they can damage the sensor board in the computer. the safest place to attach trailer lights is at the rear brake switch using the brown wire for the running lights and the yellow wire for stop lights. For turn signal lights you can connect directly to the dark green wire at the right turn light and the chocolate wire for the left turn light. For those of us that all ready have trailers and extra lights it might be a good idea to check on the wiring to see that it was done the safe way. Relays I have found all sorts of uses for relays on my Venture, the following is a setup I use on my 91. The relays are from Radio Shack and are for circuit board mounting, they will carry 10 Amps and only require 160 ma to operate the coil. The wiring is straight forward "NO" is the normally open contacts, Com its the wiper or moving contact, the coil has no polarity, #5 is Bat - Frame or black wire; #10 is bat + and I used a 15 amp fuse on this wire; and for the sake of the explanation I will give the rest of the wires a function, #1 wire is connected to the brake light and # 9 wire goes to the trailer stop lamps; # 2 wire is connected to the tail light and # 8 goes to the trailer running lights, #3 wire is connected to the right turn signal and # 7 wire goes to the trailer right turn light, # 4 wire is connected to the left turn signal and # 6 wire goes to the trailer left turn light. You my ask why go to the trouble to have a relay on the flashers; Well their are two reasons #1 when you connect your trailer flashers directly to the bike you load the system and the flashers go to fast, # 2 all of the lights on the trailer are brighter because their running on full voltage. Also if something shorts out on the trailer you don't loose a fuse on the bike. I used 18 ga wire on # 5 and # 10 and 20 ga wire on the rest. The computer monitor costs over $900.00 at a dealer. http://www.venturerider.org/pictures/4relay.gif Fred Vogt 1037
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Another nice trip in Minnesota is going to Duluth and the North Shore. This year from St. Paul we went up I-35 a bit then we cut off on some two laners and made our way to hwy 23. Another little two lane road. We took that the rest of the way to Duluth. I was nice getting off the super slab, especially since they had that down to one lane each way for construction. Once in Duluth you should go out on the point. You have to cross the Historic lift bridge to get out there. The bridge has a metal grate deck and makes for a fun crossing. Once out on the point take the nice drive until you get to the park. This is a great place to picnic. Look for the trail to the sand dunes. Cross the dune and get out onto the north beach of the point. This is a favorite swimming beach for the locals. Kick off your boots and get your feet wet and frozen. Lake Superior water never warms up. Once your back on the road head north on 61 a very short ways. Actually until you see the turn for the scenic route. This is actually old highway 61, and this way keeps you right next to the lake and lets you have wonderful views. There are many resorts, cabins and B&B's along the way. Stop in at The Castle Inn for a good bite to eat. Keep going north and you'll pull into Two Harbors. In addition to all the stuff this town offers on the main street pull off to the right and go down o the light house. There you'll see a little area history with a historic tug boat and light house. They offer tours of the light house and if you plan in advance you can spend the night at the B&B in the light house. The next great place on this rip in Gooseberry Falls State Park. This is a fun place to wade or swim in the rapids and pools of the falls. It's also a very well visited place. Further up the road is Split Rock Light House. This is a good tour to take. There is a lot of history in that light. Ask how the got the crane, that they used to haul everything up the 100+ foot cliff, up the cliff with no crane. North of there is Beaver Bay, Silver Bay and may other little towns. We need to spend more time up there. It's been a long time since we've been past Split Rock Light house. We can usually do the trip from St. Paul to Split Rock and back in a day. To go further and see more you really need to take several days.
