Actually, the stator we run maxes out at 38VAC@4000RPM. I saw absolutely no change by reving the motor higher and believe me, I spun'er up. [8D]

I have some update figures. Finally got my hand on an ammeter from work.

Here's a break down:


The single 50W sealed beam light was actually drawing 68W!! (4.9A@13.8V).
The Hot Grips acually draw 33W (2.4A@13.8V).
The Bike, before adding anything, draws 82W!! (5.95A@13.8V).
The Bike, with cooling fan running, draws 106W!! Holy cow!! (7.7A@13.8V).

So much for manufacturer's claimed power consumption ratings, eh! Even at 12v, the 50W sealed beam was draing 60W and the 22.5W grips were drawing 28W!! I suppose any vest that claims 50W will actually draw 60+

Anyway, enough of that rant. The totals are as follows:

1. Bike+Grips+Light: 183W, 13.25A (Battery discharging at this point)
2. Bike+Light(simulated vest): 150W, 10.85A (Bike held up well in this configuration during yesterday's test).
3. Bike+Light+Grips+Fan:... Fugetaboutit! That would take us over 15A and 200W. Don't plan on spending much time in stop and go traffic!

So, we know for sure that the bike holds well at 150W and the battery is in a discharge state at 183W, so the value in question is somewhere between those two figures. I had no intermediate load to determing exactly where the battery begins to discharge, but, as soon as I find something suitable, I'll hook-up the trusty ammeter again and this time will monitor for when it begins to read reverse current. Suffice to say that the manual's stated rating of 14V@15A (210W) is wishful thinking at best. I would love to see the fuzzy math they used to come-up with that.

This has reached more of a trivial pursuit for me at this juncture, but there's no stopping the madness once it has started! [&:][8D]

 

I don't know if stateside cops would get after you for the mere presence of the switch or not. I'm pretty sure Japanese cops and military police would after me if the saw my light turned-off though...."Gee officer, it must have burned-out while I was riding" [&:] The switch would have to be in a hidden location. [8D] This might not be a bad idea after all.

 

I definitely wouldn't recommend riding with the headlight off on purpose. People pull out in front of us bikers all the time even with the headlight on. I can't imagine what it would be like with no headlight at all. Better to be cold then dead. [&:] I'd definitely go for the HID conversion before resorting to switching the headlight off while riding. Don't do it - we'd like to keep you around.

 

No worries, it was just a passing thought that passed very quickly. Good safety advice for sure though.

 

Great news. I really think a tiny volt meter is a great idea when using high draw accessories. It only really needs two wires connected directly to the battery, and a fuse on the positive wire. Anyone have a link to a small simple, motorcycle friendly volt meter I can mount?

Sounds like the tests performed here were done in a reasonably scientific way. I wouldn't spend much more time worrying about the intermittent loads like the cooling fan and turn signals. The tiny battery in the KLX must be at least a double digit amp hour unit. As long as some sort of charging is happening when they are off it should be ok. What I would be much more worried about is city and traffic jam driving. The charging system output at low RPM and idle has to be very low. Since the KLX really doesn't do well with the clutch out below 3000 RPM, I'll assume idling is the real concern. The good news is that we won't be seeing much cooling fan cycling in weather where we need heated stuff. In addition the heated stuff can be turned off at idle after a warm up since you don't have the wind induced heat losses, as long as you don't forget.

Another note. In my experience heated stuff (grips, vest, jacket) are too warm for me in my cold riding gear. Many watts can be saved by using a heat controller that pulses the power on and off. Widder and Aerostich are two companies that have such controllers.

 

[quote]ORIGINAL: adaycj

Great news. I really think a tiny volt meter is a great idea when using high draw accessories. It only really needs two wires connected directly to the battery, and a fuse on the positive wire. Anyone have a link to a small simple, motorcycle friendly volt meter I can mount?/quote

No links yet, but I know I can find them in automotive stores here in Japan. They're small and have easily to view, lighted bar type of readout. That's definitely something I'm thinking of added. Also, I think instrumentation like the Trail Tech Vapor might have a volt readout. Another company makes a 'Veypor' that's more expensive, but looks to be more compact.

Regarding the battery, it's only rated at 6A/h! That's pretty puny so I would count on it having enough reserve to hold-up for extended rides. Ditto on turning the heated gear off at idle. No sense in leaving it on unless you're caught in pretty severe winds. Even so, I think one could kill the grips and the bike would maintain well enough.

Bringing some experience to the table helps volumes, thank you. Yes, as long as you're not dealing with a lossy, resistor type of set-up, you should be making money. A contoller that cycles on and off sounds like the ticket. A review at Web Bike World gave very high marks to the Jet Heated Vest from Australia http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/heate...y-heated-vest/. Sorry, the link button doesn't seem to be working for me so that's the best I can do. It runs off of a 14.8v battery pack and lasted them 6hrs, switching between medium and high settings. I figure if the battery pack totally dies some day, I could hook it into the bike and still run with ample heat...but won't sacrifice the freedom of being 'unwired' until that day comes.

 

Just to let you guys know there is alot of messages posted about the same thing on the yahoo group planet klx

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/PlanetKLX/

 

Yup, we were sharing ideas and info over there too. There are some pretty sharp cookies with electrical engineering backgrounds over there, so it made for some interesting, and thought provoking discussions. Much of their posts were centered around the 27VAC stator that is on the KLX250D and KLX300..both of which were not dual purpose bikes. I personally added the 250E (KLX250S) element into the discussion. KLX250S stators have 3 times the output coils and put out ten volts more. Lots of good ideas floating around in there though.

 

OK cool... just lettin ya guys know.. didnt see any names that i recognized over there...

 

yes i can rebuild your stator so that you could have more juice to play with. email me at :

postalb@***.net

plus send me a picture of what it looks like.

later,
gary