Amps

[pgnz]

Usually plenty of  handlebar type fairings hanging on the walls of most bike wrecker yards,  this one off an old 80's road bike,  think it may have been an XJ yamaha,   they're easy to cut to suitable shape with a hacksaw,  I mounted this one with alloy brackets, rubber mounted for no vibes,  one on each upper triple clamp bolt and a wide flat bracket bolted at the lower triple clamps,  a screen makes the ride heaps more comfy on trips that's for sure

[Fred]

Hey Guys

I got even closer to the horns by putting the relay on the top of the cross stay for the horns. I haven't finished yet but I think it will be out of sight there.

I run an aftermarket windscreen ($40 on ebay), on the really shitty days and the wind is actually deflected away from my hands as well but I run a very narrow drag handlebar.

The mounts attatch to the bar risers and stay there all year. It's just a matter of pushing the screen mounting rods into the mounts on the bar and tighten the two knerlled nobs, 40 seconds and I'm away.

[Eveready1100]

Hey Aussie. There's a heap of black lookin motybikes on this here website. Maybe one of their owners would have a fairing that they would be willin to part with. They don't offer any protection for your hands, though

[AussiXS11G]

mates....
just back from the south and the two things I reckon I need are
1 heated grips
2 small fairing

[Eveready1100]

There's a nifty spot to stick the relay under the tank between the frame rails right behind the steering stem. Out of the way but nice and close to the horns.
I didn't realise you'd been already running your grips.
HMMMMMM...... looks like they could be a goer for a few others that suffer from the cold.

[Fred]

thanks guys,

I've been running my heated grips for about 14 winters now and from memory they draw about 5amps. I wire them through the accessory fuse in the standard box and have no issues with drawdown.
they are a two position switch and even on high at idle I can't see a dimming effect on the headlight when I switch them on and off.

The horns are going in today with new 15amp wiring, fused at 20amp and running through a 30amp relay. wish me luck with the "Black Arts"

I am really trying to establish what I've got left to run a set of driving lights so that I don't get too ambitious with their output on purchase.
The battery condition indicator looks promising, I'll look for one during the week.
As for your wiring diagram: #%$* OFF I haven't had a drink yet.

[Eveready1100]

Here's a links to alternator swap discussion on the UK site. http://www.benefiscal.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8139.0

Does anyone know how similar the FJ 11/1200's are to the XJ's??

[B.Walker]

This is what I have.



The brand is Daytona, and they have two heat positions, start and run. Start draws 57.7 watts and run draws 14.4, or 4.8 and 1.2 amps. Trouble is that in our southern winters 14.4 watts just aint enough so they need to run on high to do the job.

I like your idea of a voltage controlled relay, and it would actually be quite easy to do. Low voltage disconnecting relays are readily available, and would be perfect for the job.

These ones are would do it but are a little large



or you could make your own with this..

[Eveready1100]

I've been doing some research for ya! I learnt a couple of things while I was out there, too.
Depending on what brand of grips they are, current required is somewhere between 4 and 7 amps, or roughly between 36 - 84 watts, which puts a sizeable dent in usable power.
        Running the grips plus driving lights would be a non event though running with a standard wattage headlight should be possible so long as you were on the move and the alternator was charging properly.
      Here's an idea, though. A few years back when I was having all sorts of battery dramas. I picked up a "battery condition indicator" from Super cheap or thereabouts for about 20 bucks. I hooked this thing up to the battery and it would continuously indicate the state of current going to or from the battery by a series of LEDS.

A brief rundown on my way of thinking would be to connect a relay to the max charge LED in the unit and connect the relay to your grips. This way the grips would only be powered up when the battery is receiving maximum charge from the alternator and would shut down when you stopped at the lights etc. and the bike was idling.
Now I don't know if this idea would actually work using this particular device but maybe something along this line of thinking could be concocted to handle the switching setup.
   I dunno for sure but it's an idea.

[B.Walker]

The handgrips are a real worry as I've heard that they draw significant numbers and are drawing whenever they're switched on which is the main problem while you're idling at the lights etc. Just not enough juice for these unless you go HID, LED etc. throughout the bike to minimise other current usage.

Yep, be careful with the handgrips. I fried an alternator with mine once, but then I was using them on high at the time and had been for about 2 hours while I rode through Central Otago in the middle of winter on a cold frosty night. I made it home on what was left in the battery, but only just and the last 50k's was done with the lights off, and only turning them on when cars approached.

[Eveready1100]

The lights shouldn't be an issue, so long as your're only using 55 watt bulbs as most of the time you only have them on once you're up and running and you haven't gotten ambitious with the headlight bulb. Horns, I wouldn't worry about them as they're only a momentary usage factor but would definitely reccommend using heavy guage wire with a relay for best effect. My Bosch's pull about 45 watts each and they weren't getting enough current through the stock (thin) wiring. The handgrips are a real worry as I've heard that they draw significant numbers and are drawing whenever they're switched on which is the main problem while you're idling at the lights etc. Just not enough juice for these unless you go HID, LED etc. throughout the bike to minimise other current usage.

[Fred]

thanks for that mate, the Cycleserve manual gives a rating of 14.5v @ 2000rpm.

The way they state that though is as a minimal test for the charging system at the battery.
This can't be the actual alternator capacity for it is regulated to the battery so as not to overcharge and boil it?
So, when under heavy load eg. all lights and ancilliaries it must generate at a greater capacity (unless the standard fixtures use all available amps), to retain the charge in the battery.

Errol mate my "Bells and Whistles" are a set of driving lights, my heated hand grips (I live in the Vic high country) and a pair of Chrome Stebel Magnum 136db horns.

[B.Walker]

The factory service manual, page 7-1, states it's maximum output as 14.5V/20A @ 5000rpm. The XJ's are a little higher with the different alternator.

[Eveready1100]

Mate,
        I've been thru both the Cycleserve and the Clymer manuals and haven't found it yet.
 I found that bit of info somewhere on dot com.

BTW what kind of bells are you thinking of putting on your ride??

[Fred]

Thanks Errol,

yeh I hear that too.
280 watts or about 21 Amps.

Thats what I'm working on but no-one can actually tell me where it's written.
Like in an OEM manual.