How strong is this alternator?

[Incubus]

My XS1100F will have a Vetter trunk on it, with four lights across the back. The middle two lights will work as additional brake lights and the outer two will be additional turn signals. All four will be running lights. The stock tailight and blinkers will remain. On the front I am considering adding fog lights on the case protectors. My question - on my other vintage bikes, particularly my Honda CB750K, alternator output is a real concern. I could never add this many lights and still be able to charge my battery. Shoot, with six additional lights the K5 might not be able to produce spark. Will my stock alternator be able to put out the amount of juice I will need to look like a cruise ship when I roll down the road? I really like being visible, particularly at night, Really, really visible.

If my stock alternator won't run this arrangement, is there an upgrade I could look for?

Thanks

Patrick

[DiverRay]

Patrick,
I have the Vetter box on the back of my '79. I put on the 6" oval LED truck lights from Peterson. They replaced the two on each side, and work great. I do NOT use them as turn signals, just as tail and BRIGHT brake lights.
The Alt. on these bikes are weak, but if you get one of Geezers new reg/rectifiers the charge is much better at lower RPMs.
Ray

[jeffe]

I replaced my reg/rec with one from Geezer before my recent trip and it made a world of difference. I have a Vetter trunk and fairing with the front and rear running lights. I have also repalced the stock sealed beam headlight with a replacemant H4 unit. Before the new part, at idle the turn signals would not flash with the the brake light on. Now it continues to blink. I do plan to at least replace the trink lights with LED's. I am leaning towards this place. http://superbrightleds.com/index.htm
But start with the part from Geezer. Here is his webpage. http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com/index.html

[Ljay40]

You could also check out TopCat's LED lights, do a search for LED's wasn't that long ago they were talking abou it

[planedick]

280 watts...

About 22 Amps max is the charge rate, but thereisn't much left after stock lights. I got LED's for license plate bolts at JC Whitney for $10, Two 4" multi leds and a 19" long multi LED for stop lights on my trunk. Nothing was over $20 as I remember. All are very bright and for sure you won't miss them especially when I brake. LED's draw negligable power.

[webbcraft2150]

It sounds like your going to have way to many lights. Fog/driving lights on the crash bars are only good if you have the RPM up, constantly. I tried the driving light trick with poor results and ended up taking them off. If you replace most of the high draw bulbs with LED's, you stand a much better chance. Geezers unit sounds like a good start but you can only get so much outa the alternator on these rigs.

[strom]

Got a full vetter thing on 78E
4 trunk rear lights that act as brake lights too
it has 2 more side lights with 3W bulbs
side bags have 1 3W light each.
When idling, brake engaged, turn signals dont blink. Start just off idle.

LP

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Patrick,

Regrettably as has already been said, the ALT is very weak! This and the need to have brighter headlight and aux running lights is what lead me to do the LED conversion, the info is in the TECH TIPS from the MAIN FORUM PAGE, not from the links in the left hand column.

The links to superbrightleds is about the best one for prices, you will need to browse around a bit, check out the TRUCK lights, they have the running/brake combos in the 4" round that could be used to replace your trunk lights if they are round. Lots of styles and combinations. Each set of lights only draws about 0.3amps, vs. the 2.25 amps per each regular 1157 style brake light at 27watts!!! You can get lots of reserve amps by converting to LEDs so you can run those nice bright AUX driving lights!

T.C.

[newmaac]

A buddy of mine, (here in San Jose), just had the Stator on his Honda ST1100 rewound.
There is a local motor shop that charged him $290 for a complete re-wind of the original part.
The output is supposed to be 40 amps, (up from about 26 in it's stock condition).
He will install it this weekend and let me know his findings.

That makes for a pricey stator, but if it makes all of your "toys" work, it might be worth it.