Anyone use heated gear?

The manual says the Superhawk only puts out 280 watts. That's low- but then again there is no fuel injection or dual headlights to suck it up.

 

You would need to find a bigger stator as the SH charging system can barely keep the lights going......

No really, it might work, for a while but the system is too weak to reliable run heated gear without upgrading both the stator and R\R IMHO

 

Well we all know the R6 R/R is the appropriate upgrade- So what is the upgrade /bigger the stator??

 

Yeah you need one with more output..... which takes power away from the rear wheel but nothing is free....

So you would need to find someone that makes a higher output stator or a larger one that would fit in there.

 

I've used a Widder heated vest for about the last 8 years. It draws about 35 watts. I haven't noticed any problems. The only other change to the stock electrical system is an Eastern Beaver relay for the headlights. The reg/rec was the original finned unit until this year when I changed it for a Mosfet FH008. YMMV

 

Hey - 8541 , if Tweety was to read this- I would bet that Tweety could figure the needed cells in one of his custom batteries, that could be connected to the factory battery and still be showing 12 volts.. And I would think as creative as he seems to be... there could be an arrange of shapes to make it adaptable to the storage space / under the seat...

 

I run with heated grips. The stator has been upgraded.

Miguel

 

mind telling us what you upgraded it to?

 

An HID mod would free up about 20 watts.
Those are 35w instead of the stock 55w.

 

Oh, I'm reading...

I'm not sure what you are after here... The stock battery is resting fully charged at ~13V and is "nominally" 12V... The A123 cells, while nominally also 12V rest at ~14.4V, so mixing them isn't a great idea, since the A123 would then be "quick charging" the stock battery, which is incapabable of soaking up that charge... Plus you would be lugging around a lead weight, since the stock battery isn't especially light weight... It would be far better to just bin the stock battery altogether...

The A123's are very good as a starting battery, since they can pump out large amounts of energy in a very short span, and charge back equally quick... They are also equally ideal as "storage batteries", as they hold a very large amount of energy for their size & weight...

The 8 cell packs I have been using is configured for starting, not storage and contains 4.7 Ah...Which is roughly equivalent to the 10/12 Ah lead battery that's stock... But it is entirely possible to make a larger pack, a 20 cell pack holds 11.5 Ah, which in practice is then twice the "size" energy wise as the stock battery, and roughly the same size physically... And still only half the weight... Might even be possible to squeeze a 24 cell pack into the battery box...

This, in combination with HID and LED upgrades, reducing power consumption of the rest of the bike, and a Mosfet R/R to cope with the overproduction when not powering heated gear means that by my rough calculation the stock stator will be capable of relieably giving you ~40W of power for heated gear... Probably more, I'm being rather conservative...

The reason for the combo is simple... The larger battery (twice stock) has the "reserve" if your gear is at some RPM's using more than the stator puts out for a brief period... The Mosfet R/R can cope with bleeding of excess... And the A123's will soak up any excess first to charge back to full capacity at a high rate... Ie, add a voltage warning like the small one's I have built, and with that in place, you will not get stranded unable to start the bike no matter what... You will possibly in the worst case scenario need to switch off the gear to get home, if you are lugging the bike...

 

i ran heated gloves & jacket for two years no problem, although my bike now has a burnt out r/r (did not smoke up with the gear on tho). not sure on the draw, but its first gear stuff, and i have an upgraded odyessy battery

 

Markus,

What's your thread address again on your DIY A123 battery again? I may build one over the winter. Do you have suggestions on an off-the-shelf LFP battery like a Shorai? (see Shorai Motorcycle Battery vs. Ballistic Motorcycle Battery Comparison - webBikeWorld) I think U said a LFP "home charger" is not necessary though a Battery Tender type charger will not work.

Can't remember but did U do a HID conversion?

 

Interesting battery test article:

Shorai Motorcycle Battery vs. Ballistic Motorcycle Battery Comparison - webBikeWorld

-Matt

 

Sorry Tweety for the PM /on this topic.. Didn't read your responce completely..
I knew you would have a logical answer to this topic.

 

Just a sidenote... About half the information in that review is either wrong, or irrelevant, or plain stupid... If you read that, treat it like your grandma's review of the new Ferrari vs Porsche... The test they did, tells nothing except that the old lead battery needed replacing...

 

Yep, i was one of the first to swap to a HID... And LED's... I'm plum out of things to change now, so I'm going back around and re-doing old mods...

Most of it is in mikstr's thread here... https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...hlight=battery but it's scattered over a few threads, never made an own thread about it, just answered questions...

If you are doing a DIY pack, the main pointers are simple...

Tip 1, the wiring to the battery, and between each cell should be the same size as the wiring in the bike attaching to the battery poles... (I could give specifics, but that's a simpler way), they should be copper... If not, you are wasting energy...

Tip 2, put the cells in pairs... Take two cells, attach them + to +, - to -, and then string four of the pairs together... That makes them happy for a long time...

Tip 3, use a quick disconnect... The LFP cells doesn't like deep discharge over time, so if you park the bike for 3-4 weeks, just pop the seat and pull the plug...

Tip 4, don't charge... Not with a battery tender, not with any charger if you can avoid it... If you have to, use the dumbest, oldest lead type charger supplying a straight 14-15V 0.5-1A with no "charge curve" crap... But better yet, just bump the bike in high gear and keep riding a mile or two and the pack is back to full charge...

Tip 5, shrink wrap is your friend... Thick shrinkwrap with hotglue makes a perfect casing, that makes it safe from shorting out on metal parts... doesn't rub through like gaffa tape and such... Not waterproof, but splashproof...

And like I said, that review is crap... Wrong on so many points it's not even funny... And the comments below isn't much better... No, the LFP's do not need any BMS, they work perfectly fine without it... The SLA type batteries are also cell based, and they don't need a BMS, so why would LFP's need one?

The do need a PMS/SMS though, as in People Management System or Stupid Management System...

A month or two with a battery tender, and it's time to throw away the expensive LFP battery... Dumb... Sorry, just a rant...

If you decide to not go the DIY route, go check Jamie D's web, I'd rather buy those packs than spend money on a Shorai/Ballistic... Or let me know, and I'll make you a pack...

 

I got the tourmaster jacket and gloves. Used them most all last week going to work when it was in the mid 30's. I've had them for over two years now with no problems.

 

I didn't say you couldn't use heated gear on bone stock bike... You most certainly can... The charging system is actually better off if you do to some extent, since you are reducing the amount of work the R/R need to do bleeding of energy as heat while using it, and prolonging it's life... But you are infact pushing the limits in another way...

If your battery is marginal, you could end up not charging the battery enough, and then the bike simply quits running and you get to walk home... So if you do it after upgrades or not, my advice remains the same... Monitor the charging voltage when doing it... A simple DIY monitor works, or a fancy motorcycle voltmeter from a catalog... It's all the same...

As long as you are charging the battery correctly, it all fine... But when you are loading the system too much, and the voltage starts dropping, you need to either shut stuff off, or reduce the load... Or make more power available for heating...

It works for you, with your particular gear... But that doesn't mean it will for others, since different gear needs different power... And you are most certainly on the limit, in terms of what the stock bike provides, vs what heated gear uses... So even in your case, it's probably not a bad idea to now your voltage when running... It beats walking...

 

My First Gear heated jacket is 90 watts if I run it on the maximum setting-which I never do. I usually run around a 60 watt draw when it's really cold.

So, The Ballistic 12 cell pack lists at 20 ah.
Batteries - Ballistic Performance Components
The stock battery is 12ah.

This means I have an extra 8 ah to take- before I am down to the stock 12ah.

60w of heat divided by 14v= 4.3 amp draw.
8 ah divided by 4.3 = 1.86 hrs of run time.
This means I would get a little less than 2 hours of heat before my Ballistic battery was down to 12ah....I think?

 

Actually, a little better than that... And worse...

12 Ah isn't always just 12 Ah...

With a 12 Ah SLA battery, you will be able to use roughly half that for starting... When the battery get's below half, it will not have the energy to kick a big V-twin into life with authority... It will work a few times more, if you are lucky, and the weather is nice and warm... And since you are using heated gear... eh... Nope... Walking time...

The ballistic however, like all it's LiFePO4 brethren will still turn the engine over with it's last dying breath... Ie, in that case you do indeed get the full 20 Ah for starting... And it couldn't care less about the weather, unless you let the engine oil get half frozen... So while you will be walking if you drain the stock battery to about half or more, and then stop the engine, the ballistic takes you home unless you run it dead flat...

So, that means that if you leave yourself say 4 Ah of "reserve" on the ballistic, it's plenty... Ie, you get at least 4 hours without actually charging back the heat into the battery before you need to worry... As long as the bike can keep up with it's own usage, the ballistic can supply the heating... And that's a worst case scenario...

On the stock battery though, with roughly 6 Ah out of 12 for starting, you have 1-1.5 hour at best of heating before you are in trouble if the bike stops... And since the bike will keep running long after that, you really get no warning, before you turn the bike off and can't get it started again... Again, like I said, worst case scenario, since in most cases the charging system can actually cope with your heated gear...

Whatever choiche you make, in my humble opinion, running heated gear and not having a voltmeter or low charge voltage warning of some kind is taking a risk... The difference is in knowing if you are draining your battery or not...

 

Yep.
I will put a 20 cell pack and a small voltmeter stuck to the dash.
I should be able to run heated grips and a jacket as much as I want.
Possibly ease the load on the R/R too while I am doing it....which by the way will be a mosfet by the end of the week.
thanks.

EDIT: This is the one I am getting. It looks trick.
http://www.bikemeters.com/cgi-bin/we...nfig=ent-datel

 

Well personally I prefer the simple stuff... No-light = OK... Red light = Bad (low voltage), Yellow light = Really bad (high voltage)... That way nothing that distrcts me on night riding... And for $50 I can make 10 of those... That's friggin expensive...

 

Hey again,

I posted many years ago about the loss of battery power due to my heated vest connection. I had wired a switch in between the battery and vest to give me the option of turning it off/on while riding. Well, that drained the battery, there are options to eliminate the drain, I know.

Here's my question: Pics below, I have my battery tender cable(the hard wired one, in picture) and my vest have the same coax connection, with a 7.5w fuse. I was thinking of hardwiring the battery tender cable onto my battery, and directly connecting to my vest. I'm suspecting it might be too much power for the fuse? and I'm a bit confused if it's really this simple to get my heated vest going again.

Thanks for any replys.

 

I may be doing a HL HID & TS-RL LED upgrade this winter & already have a HL relay harness & mosfet vr-r wired directly to the battery & monitor the system with an LED voltmeter mounted on the horizontal flat area of the left fairing. However, for 10+ years I've utilized the Battery Tender "smart charger" (BTSC) battery harness to power my heated vests & run other accessories (i.e., heated grips, radar detector, GPS, twin 55-watt halogen driving lights) without issues but with judicious use of the OEM electrical charging system. My original OEM Yuasa battery also lasted 9 years. I did replace the less efficient BTSC harness SAE polarized QD plug with the more efficient "D" coaxial plug and did the same to my Widder vest & Warm N' Safe digital thermostat; which I replaced 3 years ago with the Tour Master Synergy collared, carbon element vest with built-in (but detachable) digital thermostat that also uses coaxial plugs (now superseded with newer model). As Markus also recommends, some means of monitoring battery/system voltage is essential. Also, I highly recommend use of a digital thermostat rather than just an on-off switch. We cannot say much more without knowing how many watts your vest demands, the type of battery and condition/changes made to the electrical system/lighting.

 

Heated gear Matt? Its December and its 70 degrees

It would be nice for the rare weeks when its around 30 in the mornings though.

 

Ok, I'm going to hook her up and see how it goes. I will let you know the results. If I don't respond, I caught fire. Thanks for the tips on doing the meter's, I saw one from the bmw dealer that had a voltage meter, trip meter , clock and some other goodies that attaches to the tripletree. Sounds like what your talking about, minus the thermostat of course.

 

KURYAKYN KU 4218 Kuryakyn 4218 Black LED Battery Gauge for Harley-Davidson from BKRider.com

Heat-troller Close Outs

Heat-troller Coax

Heated Electric clothing

MotoGear Outlet - All Climate Heated Gear

 

Hi guys, I'm just jumping in here after a long time away and this is just the type of info I'm needing, but I'm pretty clueless. I have a 1998 'Hawk with 15k miles on it.
We've been down to one car since September, so I'm commuting an hour each way to work the days my wife needs the car.
I've been lucky with the temperatures here in NE Kansas. I learned quickly that I need heated gloves but felt that diving into a project to wire my 'Hawk for plug-in gear was going to be as expensive as a down-payment for a new car and over my head as a DIY.
So.... I bought a pair of Venture Epic battery-powered gloves. I never really thought to look at the National Weather Service's wind-chill charts (OMG!), the gloves barely coped with evening temps in the upper 30's F, and now they've failed. The vendor is working with me to get them replaced, as it's quite obviously wiring failures and the gloves are going to need wind-chill protection even when they are 100%.
Tomorrow's DIY project is to take my big, ugly, green Army Surplus arctic guantlets and turn them into heavily-waxed canvas fabric. (Folded newspapers inside them on top of the non-working gloves blocked the wind and got me home OK on Friday night.)
My fingers have gotten chilled enough often enough that they are almost permanently tender right now. Very bad. I deal cards for a living.
I've had a higher-output headlamp put in, so I'm drawing some extra wattage there already. I estimate that I need to reliably have 75 - 80 watts EEC for good gloves and a vest and would like to eventually add driving lights and integrated rearview/turnsignals.
Probably 150 watts EEC so I have room to grow?
What's it going to cost me, parts-wise, for the neccessary alternator upgrade and a state-of-the-art R/R? (Is that the Moffsett? I read the sticky on replacement and can't remember.) I agree that this isn't worth doing without some kind of inexpensive voltage meter, I just have no idea how to install one.
I know nothing about the new battery upgrade technology you guys are discussing, but it sounds like something worth considering.
The discussions about voltage being high or low have me worried. I keep the battery (standard lead-acid from Interstate) on a charger set at 2 amps with the idea being that it'll keep the battery from freezing. It's supposed to have a "float mode." When I hoook it up each night it shows the system as drawing anywhere from 13 to 15 volts and the other night it showed 17.5, which scared the snot out of me. I unplugged it very quickly, redid all the connections and started it up again and it went back to it's "normal" 14.5 volts. Is the system slowly frying right now as it is?
What kind of money am I looking at (not even counting the cost of clothing or the nightmare of shop-rate labor) to get my 'Hawk electrically able to be as close to 100% ready, willing, and able to A: keep me healthy and B: keep itself healthy in the parking lot for about 10 hours a day at work?
I'll be springing for a new chain/sprocket set this spring and she hasn't had a valvetrain adjustment since she was brand-new.
Should I just park the 'Hawk for the winter, look for a $2000 beater Ford Fiesta, and then pray that it runs for a year or so?
Sorry for being so wordy. There's definitely no one in my day-to-day life that can help me get the info I need.
TIA for any help you can give... just use small words. ;-)

 

I know...hehe. We are spoiled.
It would be nice at night when coming home or if I have to go up the Cuesta Grade where there is a 20 degree drop.

Once you have heated grips and gear, you NEVER want to go without.
I put a Ballistic battery and LED's instead of bulbs on my bike -so I can run my heated grips. I highly recommend them.

 

Thanks for the links, I may get that: KURYAKYN KU 4218 Kuryakyn 4218 Black LED Battery Gauge for Harley-Davidson from BKRider.com

Pretty great start to the new year! 1/1/12: Got to riding at 8am, perfect morning, not to cold....hit the gas station, started bike, plugged in vest and walla, heat was on! So wonderful, no problems whatsoever. The SC mountains were cold, made it totally enjoyable. I did make sure to plug in after bike was running, and unplug before killing it, just to be safe.

Now the heated gear is a go, it was a really beautiful day not requiring the vest. And again, This am was like a summer morning, about 48 degrees. So I drove to work like a dummy.