More Power

[Pain]

Not what you are thinking

I really love my xs (20,000 miles last year), but with my life changing, have found some limits to the ride.

mainly, my SO lives on the far north west of Wisconsin, and it gets cold. I want to add heated gear, but the poweroutput of the xs11 is so-so (I brought this up once before, and just got carharts).

The woman, though, also wants to ride, and we are again looking at heated gear (she can't bring herself to wear carharts. Style over substance, you know). I found this link -

http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Alt...alternator.htm

showing how to install a GM alternator to a Goldwing.

Now, is there a way to put this on an XS?

Thanks in advance

Pain

[Jerry]

First, a couple observations. A Vetter with lowers (lowers are removeable for summer riding) will make the bike a lot more comfortable to ride in cold weather. 2nd, a riding suit, like Tour Master, also adds to both comfort and protection. The Tour Master jacket has a zip-in lining for cold weather riding. (Other brands will have similar features.) I run a 2-piece outfit, separate pants and jacket.

My typical riding outfit consists of the above items (Vetter, lowers, Tour Master suit), plus a pair of heavy and lined leather gloves, high (9 inch) lace up black riding boots, and heavy sport (wicking type) socks. This is comfortable into the low 20's at freeway speeds. Hand and feet comfort are critical. If my feet start to get cold I put them on the rear pegs, as the lowers seem to channel engine heat there and the rear pegs are warmer than the front ones. If my fingers start to get cold I slip a pair of gauntleted heavy mits (thumb and no fingers) over the lined leather gloves.

I've thought of trying heated gear, but the XJ's electrical output isn't much better than the XS, and with the set up I use it doesn't seem to be an issue.

Now for really cold riding ( -10 to +20 deg F) I use my Refrigiware suit plus snowmobile boots......not easy to shift in those boots! To tell the truth, I don't much ride anymore when the temps are below 20 degrees F. Getting old, I guess, but I usually take the snowmobile out for a ride instead...

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Pain,

I've seen some major surgery done to an XS11's stator side cover, adding a pulley to drive a SuperCharger, mounted behind the head/cylinders and piped around to the carbs!

The Stator cover sticks out pretty far, it might be possible to just mount the alternator to brackets just on top of the stator cover, sitting beside the jugs? The problem I see is that the crankshaft turns counterclockwise on the Stator Side, and with an alternator facing/pulley to the right side, IT would turn clockwise, at least I think they(alternators) turn clockwise?

So....now this would require either some fancy rigging of extra pulleys to reverse the spin direction, or mount the alternator with it's pulley facing the heads, and therefore it would stick out much farther than the edge of the stator cover!?

Have fun with your modification, post pix will ya!!?
T.C.

[John]

You could always do what the Wright bros did to power one of their props. They just put a twist in the belt, like a figure 8. It worked on a plane...

[2fast]

You might be able to run one electric vest and maybe even two at higher rpm's only. Just shut em off at slow speeds. But really, the best thing is a good fairing, and the best riding suits you can afford. Lined suits. Most of the linings zip out for summer. If you get an electric vest, wear it over your t shirt, and then layer over that. Gets the most bang for the buck on the heat output. Another thing, if you get a real Heat-Troller control for the vest, it uses less juice at lower settings. The cheap controllers just use resistance and you actually draw the same amount of power, but dissipate it in the control instead of the vest.

[bkr]

Power

Hey Pain Seen a 82 Honda 900 at a bike race with a starter mounted on the swing arm for reverse. Would work for an alternator if enough room. Anything can be made to work, just have to try harder. LoL... bkr

[skids]

I don't know much about modern alternators, but if there are no brushes (like the xs11), it does not matter which direction it spins. Three phase alternating current it "rectified" with the diode bridge into DC current with the correct polarity.

QUOTE]Originally posted by TopCatGr58
The problem I see is that the crankshaft turns counterclockwise on the Stator Side, and with an alternator facing/pulley to the right side, IT would turn clockwise, at least I think they(alternators) turn clockwise?

So....now this would require either some fancy rigging of extra pulleys to reverse the spin direction, or mount the alternator with it's pulley facing the heads, and therefore it would stick out much farther than the edge of the stator cover!?

Have fun with your modification, post pix will ya!!?
T.C. [/QUOTE]

[RUSH]

I just bought an electric coat liner and have no problems running it. The xs has a 20 amp output and the jacket draws only 77 watts when heating (6.5 amps) which is not all the time. I bet with two jacket liners and suited up in thermals and rain pants you should have no problem down to about 30 for at least 3 hours of freeway speeds. I do have a large fairing and wear a full face helmet.

[Pain]

Honestly, I am not nearly as concerned about me as my pillion. I have ridden 3hours on my unfaired xs at 30 degrees in carharts and a full face helmit, and was comfy as can be.

But, with more power I can add other luxury touring items, like more lights. I am constantly amazed at how dark parts of wisconsin get at night.

I am looking at a fully faired xs right now (iwantitiwantitiwantit), and that might take care of any coldness issues. As for more electricity - well didn't someone have a sig line saying there was enough knowledge on this site to get an xs to the moon?

I guess the worst part for me is a friggin wing (meaning no disrespect) can have one, why can't I?

Pain

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Skids,

I know the alternators have angled fan blades for cooling, and if it's turning the opposite way, it won't be blowing air INTO the alternator to help cool the windings, although if it's not hidden behind a fairing it should get plenty of air when moving. They also sit inside a closed engine compartment, so not sure how much cooling affect those blades provide?? And I don't know enough about them as to whether they have brushes or not, but I thought they did, I thought that was how they provide better power generation!?
T.C.

[skids]

You have a good point about the bladed pully. Many also have built-in VR's. My guess is that if they use brushes, you can't spin them backwards (I think the contact is probably slanted but I don't know.) I always wondered if a small car alternator could fit inside the casing and cover the works. It does get hot in there! Maybe a different bike alternator would work better. My wife's Yamaha Radian has an alternator that puts out more watts... 240?

Originally posted by TopCatGr58
Hey Skids,

I know the alternators have angled fan blades for cooling, and if it's turning the opposite way, it won't be blowing air INTO the alternator to help cool the windings, although if it's not hidden behind a fairing it should get plenty of air when moving. They also sit inside a closed engine compartment, so not sure how much cooling affect those blades provide?? And I don't know enough about them as to whether they have brushes or not, but I thought they did, I thought that was how they provide better power generation!?
T.C.