Checking Total Output Current

[DiverRay]

Well, I just put in 4 LED lights in the gauges. They should give the bike about 1.5 amps.... They DO REALLY light up the gauges!! I'll post a photo later in the thread I've got going about the '79.
Any help with the output of the alt. is good.
Yeah, well the XJ DOES need brushes now and then, but it DOES put out a few more watts.....
Just wish I had one, sort of.....sigh

[IanDMacDonald]

I always enjoy electrical posts when 3Phase and Crazy Steve get going.
Of course I do not understand any of it but they are always funny

Ian I have a simple volt meter on mine and with it I have been able to avoid draining the battery while running aux lights. GPS uses very little.
2 x 55 watt aux lights could not be left on for more than about 20 minutes at 5000 rpm I changed to 35watts a side and it sustains them at highway rpm. but not in town.
My own quest for clean connections and 12+ volts to the headlight continues.
Phil

Phil- Are those aux. lights LED or halogen? Mine are LED, along with an LED headlight, tach, speedo, and instrument bulbs. Only thing not LED is signal bulbs. Reason being is that all four are running lights (I know, I know- rear running lights SHOULD BE RED), snd I have in higher wattage bulbs in them to be brighter. LED bulbs can't touch them.

[DiverRay]

Only thing not LED is signal bulbs. Reason being is that all four are running lights (I know, I know- rear running lights SHOULD BE RED), snd I have in higher wattage bulbs in them to be brighter. LED bulbs can't touch them.

Have you looked into the newer LED's?? One thing to remember is color the LED to the lens. If you have a red lens, red LED, not white. It gives you more lumens through the "filter" when you use the same color. I just put in "regular" power LED's for the tail lights on both the '79 and the MNS. They work well, and are at least as bright as the stock bulbs.

[IanDMacDonald]

Hey Ray- I put "regular" power LED bulbs in my car, with corresponding colors. Paid a lot of money for them instead of eBay. Only one's that were a good buy were the license plate bulbs, which I believe were "hi-power". All the other bulbs ended-up being swapped, because they were not as bright as stock bulbs.

In the event that I look into swapping-out my turn signal bulbs, I'll def look into "high power" led bulbs.

[MaximPhil]

Phil- Are those aux. lights LED or halogen? Mine are LED, along with an LED headlight, tach, speedo, and instrument bulbs. Only thing not LED is signal bulbs. Reason being is that all four are running lights (I know, I know- rear running lights SHOULD BE RED), snd I have in higher wattage bulbs in them to be brighter. LED bulbs can't touch them.

Hi Ian,
Yes halogen on my bike. LED still too expensive for me.
You have probably saved enough to be able o run your LED aux lights without a problem. I would install a volt meter to monitor your consumption when using that heated vest o save yourself from being stuck at the side of the road.
Phil

[IanDMacDonald]

Phil- In-fact, I do have a voltmeter installed on my bike since last year after my charging issues. That's how I knew the heated vest did not play nice with the aux. lights. Since then, I swapped-out just the instrument/tach/speedo bulbs for LED.

[clcorbin]

Yebbut it's not that simple, Steve, you can't measure just one leg because the three legs aren't equally loaded:
1978/'79 (Ian's bike) uses one leg for the Tachometer.
1980/'81 uses one leg for the Tachometer and another leg for the Headlight relay.

The tach and relay current draws are basically irrelevant they are so low in comparison to the current draws of the rest of the system that is pulling power and not gust a "signal". You are in the margin of error of a clamp on meter one way or the other. You are talking MILLIAMPS for these loads which means diddly when you are talking about 15 to 20 AMPS.

[3Phase]

Ian,

What type of controller do you have for the heated vest: stonkin' space heater/resistor or an integrated circuit? You should be fine with the LED driving lights, just watch the (now you mention it!) voltmeter.

You are talking MILLIAMPS for these loads which means diddly when you are talking about 15 to 20 AMPS.

Clint, it's not losing a few milliamps, it's losing a lot of milliamps. I'm not talking theory here, I've measured it on my '80G (ammeter in series with precision resistors wired in parallel with the load, not a clamp-on meter) and it's hundreds to thousands of milliamps. The bike can and will consume a full ampere or more from the alternator before the Regulator/Rectifier gets to supply current to the rest of the bike. Mine doesn't do that trick any more because I yanked out the Headlight relay.

The stock XS11 alternator won't run continuously at 20A for very long before something starts to burn and it's not going to be happy with a 15A continuous load. It can handle peak full-load amperes for a short period of time to dump electrons back in the starting battery but it's pretty well maxed out at a normal 11A to 13A continuous load.


Ray,
I put an XJ alternator on Columbo for the Colorado Rally last year and it worked great! until the engine spit a spark plug on the way home. For some reason the Tachometer needle started bouncing like a ball in a Pachinko machine and that was the straw that made me decide to spend $1500 on a U-Haul truck to bring home a $50 motorcycle. I'll have to check the charging system and the Tach after I get the engine put back together and running to see what happened....

All together now -- "Just one more thing!"

.

[IanDMacDonald]

Scott- It's a Tourmaster heated vest. The controller has a low, medium, and high setting. Now that you mention it's happy below 15a, I'm almost scared to run the vest at all, as I knpw it pulls around 5-7 amps.

[IanDMacDonald]

Correction: 4.5 amps, 52 watts.

[3Phase]

Correction: 4.5 amps, 52 watts.

Yeah, that's more than the stock system will put up with long-term but don't get cold feet -- run it! The alternator stator halo and wiring itself is pretty sturdy, it's the Alternator/Harness connector behind the fuse block and the Harness/Rectifier connector that get hot, melt and burn.

You can work around it by getting rid of the push-on connectors and putting in ring/terminal screw-type connectors but that's almost more trouble than it's worth unless you're really, really (really!) serious about raising the sustained-amp load bar on a stock bike. Ring/terminal works great but makes testing/troubleshooting and changing parts, erm, complicated.

.

[IanDMacDonald]

Yeah, that's more than the stock system will put up with long-term but don't get cold feet -- run it! The alternator stator halo and wiring itself is pretty sturdy, it's the Alternator/Harness connector behind the fuse block and the Harness/Rectifier connector that get hot, melt and burn.

You can work around it by getting rid of the push-on connectors and putting in ring/terminal screw-type connectors but that's almost more trouble than it's worth unless you're really, really (really!) serious about raising the sustained-amp load bar on a stock bike. Ring/terminal works great but makes testing/troubleshooting and changing parts, erm, complicated.

.

I have access to many types of electrical connectors from simple spades, rings, and other terminals, ferrules, amphenol connectors, Brad Harrison, Harting, etc. I was thinking about just deleting the Molex connectors, and going with spades, and putting some Brady labels on them. I don't really know what to do. I wanted to try Weatherpak connectors. My alternator to R/R connector is melted, so it will have to be replaced.

[CaptonZap]

If you are a high roller, you could try a bit of this
http://http://cool-amp.com/

CZ

[IanDMacDonald]

It's cool, but I see it as not much more of a problem solver than dilectric grease. I'm more interested in a means of termination.

[3Phase]

Ian,

Whatever you decide to use for terminals/connectors, take the power for the vest and the auxiliary lights off the 10A Accessory block but replace the skinny little Red and Black wires with 12 gauge wire.

Running extra power up to the ignition switch and connectors then back down to the fuse block through stock, minimalist, wiring to get switched power for the toy^Wtools is not really a good idea unless you just can't remember to turn off the vest and the lights when you shut off the bike.


Cap,

Thanks for the link to the paste! I want to try some of that when I put the wiring back together.

Cool-Amp Silver Plating Powder & Conducto-Lube Silver Lubricant


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