Reduce current draw, Increase capacity for heated gear

I purchased my 1st VFR 800 a few months back. It is a 2002, 6th gen. model. This is my 3rd bike in the garage and decided to make it into a touring machine. I am looking at all options to reduce the current draw of the bike to make overhead power available for the Powerlet heated gloves, heated jacket liner, heated pants liner and heated socks. The total wattage of the items at full pull should be about 220 watts. I know the output of the current alternator is 497 watts at 5000 RPM. My idea is to find lighting options that draw far less than the factory bulbs and to possibly add an additional battery wired in parallel (mounted in the Givi's) and keep a trickle charger on when not riding to give the system a fall back and additional draw time. Not sure if this will work as I know the alternator will still have to charge 2 batteries but thinking that I will not always have the gear on high settings and the charging system can catch up during these times? After all of my rambling explanation, what I would like to know is; what is my ultimate best lighting option or options, is there anything else I haven't thought of to achieve my goal and are any of my ideas bad ones so I don't try and fail as that will be wasted $. Thanks in advance

 

arent there higher output alternators avail? maybe something from an ST1300 or GoldWing?

 

Good thought It had breezed across my mind but I immediately assumed that they wouldn't fit. I will check on that, Thanks for the push.

 

I also found Lithium Ion batteries that are smaller, lighter, have far more capacity, and recharge much more efficiently. Unfortunately, the least expensive Lithium Ion batt is over $800.00. Just wanted to add this for anyone who has the same needs or issues. I want to avoid buying an $850.00 battery but if in the end its the only solution, I may take the plunge.

 

Obviously HID's and LED turn signals and brake lights are in your future. You can free up 20W per low beam and 25W per hi for a total of 90W right there. I'm sure that changing brake and turn signals will free up at least another 25W but I don't have the bulb specs to confirm that.

I don't know if you would have to do more than that. There are others on here with heated gear and grips that I don't think have done any modifications to increase what is available to them. If they can do that, then freeing up the 115W from lights should give you call you need. The batteries in the cases might not even be necessary but would give you something to fall back on.

Concerning the Li-ion batteries.... consider some laptop batteries for your needs. You can pick up high capacity 12-cell's for under $200. Take em apart, custom wire them, and you should have quite a bit of power for things like your GPS, phone, etc. I'm sure that heated suits would be a little much for it, but I think you'd be ok.

 

And here are some links for your viewing pleasure. I did some tracking down of the turn signals and brake lights one day and found that the brake lights at least are the same as car lights... can't remember the model off the top of my head though. I think the turns are the same.

SUPER BRIGHT LEDS - LED Lights & Accessories

I've also done some searching for HID's and found the DDM kits highly recommended on many many different forums.

DDM 35W & 55W Single Motorcycle HID System: DDM Tuning - HID Kits, DEPO Lights, BMW & Porsche Lighting & Bumpers

 

Wanna:

Buy Tracey's book here:

Amazon.com: Motorcycle Electrical Systems: Troubleshooting and Repair (Motorbooks Workshop) (9780760327166): Tracy Martin: Books

Mr. Martin has a special chapter dedicated to your query and tells you how to do it correctly if it can be done at all.

Great book.

BZ

 

Thanks, I really appreciate it, As a reference I think that the current headlights are 55 each for a total of 110 watts total. I'm also assuming that the when the High beams are on that number doubles to 220. Am I correct?

 

^^^^

Not sure brother, don't have the book in front of me and can't rememebr how to figure your problem and if it is that straight forward.

 

Wanna - See if you can talk a member here: Knife. He's got a pretty good set up for his clothing, plus GPS and various other things.

He might be able to help you out.

 

The problem with charging a battery, is that it's not a constant load. If the battery is fully charged it will demand very little current to maintain, it has a very high resistance. As the battery's state of charge decreases, the resistance decreases also. On the bike, if the battery is low, it will try and take all the current it can, there is nothing to limit it other than the limits of the alternator, fried R/R will soon be a problem. How many times have you seen a car battery go dead, it gets jump started, only to have it happen again? You later find the alternator is bad. Well the alternator was probably OK until someone left the lights on and killed the battery. It was jump starting the car and trying to charge the dead battery with the alternator that killed the alternator. I would not attach another battery to the bike's electrical system, you're asking for trouble.

I would-

1. Replace all bulbs with LEDs.
2. Replace low beams with HIDs.
3. Don't use high beams with your gear on.
4. Evap and PAIR soliniods use 15 watts total.
5. If you used O2 eliminators with your PCIII, you're saving because you're not powering the O2 heaters, I seem to remember 20 watts for the pair but I need to double check that.
6. don't run your gear for the first 15 minutes so your battery has a chance to recover from using the starter.
7. And last, but most important, always plug the bike into some kind tender whenever you can!

 

Stator for Honda VFR 800 - Motorcycles - RMSTATOR.COM

purports to be "high output"

 

I am grateful to everyone giving me this info. I hope I can return the favor sometime in the future.

 

Double checked, O2 sensors are 25.5 watts for the pair cold but go down to 16 watts hot.

 

Thanks to everyone, I have completed a test run with heated Garments. I left with a fully charged battery and ran the bike in 24 degree weather for about 80 miles of combined back road and highway riding. I did make an effort to try to keep the bike revving above 4500 RPM for most of the ride. I ran heated gloves, Jacket Liner, Pants Liner and Heated socks on high setting for the entirety of the ride with one 10 minute stop (bike not running and gear off). I kept the headlights on low beam and returned after about 2.5 hrs of riding roughly 80 miles. When I got to the garage I plugged in the battery tender and within 1 minute the green blinking light was active indicating that the battery was at least 85% charged and in less than 5 minutes the battery had a full charge. I am confident that the charging system was operating and handling the load put upon it with little trouble. Not sure what the outcome would be if I were sitting in traffic and riding slow with the revs down but hopefully that never happens to anyone! I plan only to add to that load a garmin zumo. That should complete the package for now. I will report down the road should any weaknesses or failures occur but for now all is good.

 

As of now no changes have been made to the bike. I still may order a high output alternator and a few other items listed above but for now it works. I think the changes would be a safety net especially on the longer trips.