Triumphrat

thomb25 · 11-03-2012, 09:03 PM

With winter coming I am looking at heated gear. I have been looking at some First gear jacket liners and heated gloves and trying to decided between 90 watts and 65 watts. My concern is will the bonneville battery be able to handle the extra juice needed to run the gear? Or how much would be to much in reguards to putting to much strain on the battery?

Forchetto · 11-03-2012, 09:38 PM

No problem. Alternator has sufficient extra capacity for that. Ensure your idle speed is at at least 1000 rpm to ensure some charge at traffic stops.

Here's a couple of threads on the subject:

http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-tech...-capacity.html

http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-tech...ted-stuff.html

plasma · 11-04-2012, 04:38 AM

Yes no probs, I have been running heated gear for a long time with my T100.

Plasma.

vistavette · 11-05-2012, 07:37 PM

I have a hook up on my '06 T100 for my Gerbings stuff (jacket and gloves) and have never had an issue

marcsiry · 11-25-2012, 09:20 AM

I've never had problems with my jacket and gloves, but I was able to run my battery below starting threshold yesterday by running 165w worth of accessories (gloves, vest, pants, socks) along with my running lights and headlight.

Luckily I had anticipated possible problems so I had a full-sized 25A battery charger in one of my Givis. 20 minutes of borrowed juice and I was back on the road.

Now I'm going to look at upgrades all around:
- LED lighting to reduce current draw
- R/R upgrade to maybe pass more juice
- I already had a Motobatt upgrade for the battery, but I will revisit that as well
- Update some of the Gerbing gear- I think I might have older models that need more juice for less heat vs. modern equivalents
- Since I typically have plenty of extra Givi room, I may even look into wiring in another battery in parallel for more reserve capacity, or switch it to have an emergency start backup... I'll have to see what that will do to the overall system.

Or I could move someplace where I am not compelled to ride in 25 degree weather.

thomb25 · 11-25-2012, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcsiry

Or I could move someplace where I am not compelled to ride in 25 degree weather.

Now where is the fun in that? Thanks for the help. My hope was riding my bike as much as I could over the winter weather permitting. I can deal with the cold just not the snow and ice. So I wanted to get some heated gear, however I work nights and even on cooler days over the summer/fall, (60-70's) I would get off work at 3-4am when the temp was much colder (30-40's)and while the bike started it sounded hesitant as if the battery was just barely enough power to start. I was worried that with addition of heated gear that would draw more power from the battery leading to the bike not starting at all.

Forchetto · 11-25-2012, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomb25

I was worried that with addition of heated gear that would draw more power from the battery leading to the bike not starting at all.

The alternator provides sufficient power, but these batteries are rather small, 12Ah, for such a relatively large twin-cylinder engine. Check out comparable displacement twin-engined bikes and see that they're fitted with much larger batteries, 17 or 24 Ah.

They store enough charge for a few attempts at starting but that's about it. No reserves for such things as pottering around cities at low revs with a high accessory load, or standing around with the headlight, etc ON before being started.

triplestrength · 11-25-2012, 03:58 PM

Is there an upgrade that will fit?

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Forchetto · 11-25-2012, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by triplestrength

Is there an upgrade that will fit?

The chasis-engine-carb layout plus the need for an effective intake silencer in the shape of the airbox to comply with noise laws means there's no room for a larger lead-acid type of battery.

Good things are said about the latest Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LiFePo) technology batteries that pack a lot of energy into a small space, but I have no experience of them. They're expensive though.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcyc...le-battery.htm

schuitz · 11-26-2012, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcsiry

I've never had problems with my jacket and gloves, but I was able to run my battery below starting threshold yesterday by running 165w worth of accessories (gloves, vest, pants, socks) along with my running lights and headlight.

Luckily I had anticipated possible problems so I had a full-sized 25A battery charger in one of my Givis. 20 minutes of borrowed juice and I was back on the road.

I also have many kms with grips and jacket liner full blast, and no issues. But that is a bit less load, I thought around 100 IIRC.

I don't understand the point of a battery upgrade, if you are consistently exceeding the rated load of the alternator, there will be grief sooner or later, no?