radio charging

[brock]

Hi. I'm thinking of installing a mp3 player on my bike. some small thing that mounts on the handle bars, with some speakers mounted in the trunk.

what i'm worried about is the charging system, which i hear is a little weak. I don't wanna draw too much, but I want to put at least a little bit of amp to the speakers. Has anyone done something like this? what have you done to power both the player, and the speakers? what do i have to look out for from the charging system?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Brock,

Do you mean speakers in the TRUNK compartments of your fairing, or the rear trunk?? Would be kinda hard to hear back there! Also, kinda hard to hear even up front. When you say MP3 player, do you mean like a car stereo sized/type player? Or more like a walkman?

IT's gonna depend on how many amps the player draws. Folks that are adding extra driving lights to their stock setup need to keep the RPM's above 2.5K, or turn them off during in town heavy stop and go traffic. A pair of 55watt halogens draw a bit over 9 amps, I would think a player would be less!!
T.C.

[brock]

i'm thinking more like something small, like an ipod, or one of these small jogging mp3 players.

and i wanna mount it in my trunk, not in the fairing. i figure any reasonable sized speakers should be good enough back there to keep me entertained. i dont know, tho, really i guess a readio is more usefull in stop and go, than at 75, huh?

[TopCatGr58]

Well, Brock,

Many folks use the Earbud type of speaker arrangement, with your Ipod or portable MP3 player, mounted in a tank bag works well, and you can take it off easily for theft protection. I actually preferred to have tunes on my long distance rides, but don't bother with them for in town riding! To each his own! Good luck!
T.C.

[brock]

i figure whatever i add will be fine, as long as i bring my kick starter with me. i'm especially interested in adding a system that plays while the bike is parked. but i'm really afrad of getting back on and finding i've used up all my juice.

guess i'll have to do some actual empirical work to see how much extra amps i have to play with. but first i need to get a kick starter.

[xssiveone]

Most radios, especially the smaller battery operated MP3 players only draw milli-amps, so I don't think you will have to worry too much about power consumption. Now, if you were adding a car radio, bass expander, and one of those fancy amps then I think you might have a problem.

[brock]

I'm sure that's right. in fact, the player could probably run on a AA forever. But i'm thinking of sending enough power to the speakers, i'll have to use an amp, and power that from the battery. right?

[xssiveone]

Hmm... good point. I forgot you were powering speakers, and not just the ear buds.

The amp should specify how much it draws I would think. Just have to search for the smallest draw I guess.

[rover]

I am using a 50 watt stereo radio on my 79F. I have a windjammer fairing with the radio housing mounted just under the windshield, and 4 " speakers, Jenson, capable of about 90 watts. I have no problem with current draw, and can hear it at 75 MPH, but that is the limit, just under distortion volume. I would think that if you mount your speakers behind you, it would require at least 75 watts, and 5 or 6 " speakers to be able to hear it at highway speeds. 100 watts and 6 X 9 tri-axial speakers should get you the volume that you will need.

[Pat Kelly]

I installed a 120 watt (4 x 30w) car stereo/CD player with 6" speakers in my Pacifico fairing. When it worked it was very nice, I could hear it at highway speed. I did feel self-consious around town especially at stoplights.
The problems I had in my case were:
-CD would skip with the XSive road vibration
- Inherent with a fairing, too much bounce.
-Radio quit when turnsignals used
- Too much current draw from TS circut. Turns out my repair of TS fuse was causing the problem.

I have since removed the stereo from the fairing and when I want tunes I use a personal CDplayer or pocket radio inside my jacket or tankbag.

[scalded dog]

I have an am/fm, tape on my 79 standard, I have 4in speakers, I hear it just fine, never causes any problems. Later 'Dog

[graybird78]

I have a jvc 30x4 cd receiver. kenwood 4" 2-ways in vetter cycle sound. and some optimis (radio shack) flush mounts on my trunk. sounds nice.had problems with radio cutting out at low rpm's. changed lights to l.e.d.s. now no problems. no charging system problems in 3yrs had this set up.