Triumphrat

rickykarate99 · 12-03-2005

The Gerbing jacket liner draws 77 amps and the gloves draw 22. Anybody have any idea how many amps the Bonnie generator/alternator puts out?

gypsy56 · 12-03-2005

Do you mean watts or amps? The Bonneville alternator puts out 27 amps which is 324 watts. I run Widder heated vest and heated grips on my Bonnie and my Sprint ST & have never had a problem in 50,000 miles.

boozefighter · 12-03-2005

I was able to get one of the old Power Ranger suits with matching helmet for winter riding. As you know these suits are insulated for space travel and are suitable for all climatic conditions. There is no need for sockets or plug ins because the suit is solar powered. It is also ideal for karate practice. Although I run into many riders who wear facsimile riding suits and helmets which may look like the Power Rangers-mine is the real deal. Joe :-D :-D

ohiorider · 12-03-2005

My old BMW R100GS alternator is rated at 280 Watts, at an RPM I don't remember. However, the Airhead Beemer alternators really don't generate much current until the engine is running above 3000RPM, and lots of folks who putt around town on the old beasts will generally plug a charger into them frequently. One of the main reasons they have those huge 20+ amphour batteries is to provide power during slow running.

On the other hand, most of my miles are either running the backroads or on the highway, and I often run a sleeveless electric vest of approx 45watts and the heated handgrips (wattage unknown to me) and have never run the battery down.

Most of the electric clothing articles will tell you somewhere how many watts they draw. This is overly-simplistic, but start adding it up. Sleeveless electric vest 50watts, headlamp 55watts, taillight, etc, etc, and see whether you end up with a debit or credit in your wattage account.

For anyone who may need the formula, I always recall it using my home state of West Virginia (W=VA, or watts=volts times amps)

OhioRider

badrufus · 12-03-2005

I have a pair of Moto-Lights that draw 70 watts total, so I too have been concerned about the draw on the system. From what I understand, the 865 cc Bonnie puts out 27 amps or 324 watts, just as gypsy56 says. The tricky part is to figure out how much of that is unused, and thus available for lights, electric clothing, etc. The really tricky part is that the power output varies with the rpm. I hooked up a digital multimeter to my battery and discovered that when just idling, the 70 watt lights would draw down the battery; while at 2000 rpm, the reading was the same with the lights on as with the lights off (14.7 V), so at 2000 rpm plus, it seems that the charging system can keep up with the draw being placed on it. My mechanic had expressed concerns about the lights, and simply suggested turning them off when idling for any length of time. Now I see why. Motorcycle batteries are not deep draw batteries--they don't like to be deeply discharged and then recharged, but rather, like to maintain a fairly steady charge. Likewise, the electrical charging system on the Bonnie isn't really designed to run a bunch of extra wattage without eventually frying some parts. My solution has been to run the lights when I'm not in stop and go traffic. If I hook up my Gerbring jacket at 77 watts, I will make sure to turn it off when idling. I'm assuming that running both the jacket and lights at the same time would be pushing my luck.

rodburner · 12-04-2005

I was lead to believe that when your engine is running,the alternator supplies ALL the electricity for your system and that the battery is just a storage device for starting and engine off electric supply. When running,your battery is just another load like gloves or lights.In my car stereo days,I competed with a 2000+ watt system with a single 1000cca battery. But needed a 240amp alt. to make it work best.