I have the heated gloves and am thinking of getting the heated liner as well. Just got a Gen 6 VFR and am wondering about alternator output and if it is strong enough to support it? Anybody with experience chime in. Thanks!
you have 500W on the alt and of that you have 65w available, that is untill the high beams come on. you can(and many have) over burden the alternator but you risk burning up a R/R and or stator. I figure the limitation is on the R/R not the stator as I have been able on tests to pull in excess of 200w over the 500w "limit" This was for short duration and the volts did drop down to 12.8vdc when doing so. this is below batt charging level, so I was taking from the batt to get the spare power. There are no reasons to not paralell a second batt onto the first to gain available volt-amps from the system, just be sure to use the same type of battery, EG dont mix gel cells (GC) with a lead acid(LA) type as the LA will try to balence with the GC and cause the GC to go "Dead" for no reason. If your riding in day and not far from help then by all means get the liners. Information provided is on a as is basis and if used, it is used at your own descression. Zen
Thanks for the advise. I am surprised it only has an extra 65W - not much. Does it really use all of 435W during normal operations? My ride are short, but for the short rides I don't need my electric gear. It's more for the long rides.
I have a full jacket liner,pant liner, and boot insoles and run mine without any problems using my high beams a lot. Three years running now and probably over 50,000 miles. Original battery and no altinator change. And no RR changes.
Gerbings has data on your bike. They can even make you a vest or jacket liner with a pocket large enough to hold that second battery. I have seen a few guys who have used Bondo to attach same to their helmets. Most of them ride Harleys.
heres the thing, yeah the vfr electricals can be problematic, but i think a lot of it has to do with heat. being as you're obviously going to be riding in realy cold conditions you should be okay. my electrical system fried for no reason with no accessories or high beams on, but i think the florida heat plus v4 heat was the main culprit here. every summer you will literally see one "fuck my rr" thread after another pop up everyday. my bike will sit at 230 all day in orlando gridlock traffic with the fan runnings steady. the fan running is about the biggest electrical load that youre bike will ever see. my stator looked like a marshmellow pulled outa a camp fire.(heat) id say for safe measure go on wiremybike.com pick up a vfrness and a voltmeter to keep an eye on things. also run through all your grounds, electrical contacts, and connections; clean them out and pack full of dielectric grease.(to avoid resistance and heat building corrosion) you might not want to run the high beams and heaters at the same time. and i wouldnt run them during the following conditions: 1. youre standing still ( the bike only charges at 4 + grand and you dont need heat if youre not moving) 2. the engine gets above 220 degrees (the stator is oil cooled and if the coolant is 220 you know the oil is hotter; also the rr is frame mounted so if the engine is hot the frame will be hot and transfer heat into the rr) and the fan will come on at 220(really big electrical load) 3. or if voltage drops below 13 volts.
My model is 2007, so hopefully will not have the electrical issues of the pre 2006 models. It sounds like I should be OK. Thank for the advise. I will check the Gerbing's web site.
Just noticed what year your bike is...sorry! I guess I am also susceptible to that. For warm weather riding I use my Monster. For cold weather my VFR is wired and has a nice large Givi screen for better wind protection. Hopefully, all will be good.
hopefully is a pricey gamble dude. pay a couple bucks for a meter and vfrness. or maybe a buck fifty for a r/r, a buck fifty for a stator, and another 400 bucks if you want someone to put it all together for you. then more for the vfrness and volt meter cause you dont trust youre bike any more... im not trying to be a jerk or anything, just sayin play it safe...
Your alternator puts out 470W @ 5,000rpm. 2 - 55W headlights, 2 - 5W taillights, 2 - 5W front running lights, Ignition (I couldn't find the exact but I have heard about 65W) = 195W to run the bike. It will start charging at a high enough level @ 2,000rpm. You have plenty of reserve to run your heated clothes. On my ST1300 I use 2 - 55W fog lights, have similar power draw with an LED voltage indicator. When I just have the heated clothing on it doesn't drop below 13V at idle. If I turn on the fog lights I have to keep the RPM up to around 1,500 to keep the charge voltage up.
