Reliability of Chargers - Page 8

 
$12 or so at Kragen auto parts buys you a 6 LED
"alternator battery tester" that gives you a pretty
good idea of voltage. I've had one permanently installed
on the switched 12 volt circuit of my bike for years.

Are you really sure you've got a pair of 120 watt
headlights installed ? If that's really true, an HID
conversion would be a big power savings (at a
fancy price). I seriously doubt 240 watts of stock
lighting though. My bet would be under 100 watts.

 On Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:02:13 -0700 (PDT), Rob Kleinschmidt

|>
|>Are you really sure you've got a pair of 120 watt
|>headlights installed ? If that's really true, an HID
|>conversion would be a big power savings (at a
|>fancy price). I seriously doubt 240 watts of stock
|>lighting though. My bet would be under 100 watts.

    Right, 2X60 watts = 120 watts, then there's all the other lights...

    Maybe the Gorilla alarm leeches off some power, but some say it
isn't much unless you install the pilot light as well, which I
disconnected.

    But then, I'm using a Chinese AGM, not the usual GS GT9B-4 (Wet
cell vrla sla) type after I got a shorted cell with my last $215.00 GS one
month after the warranty expired.

    I do have the original 5 year old GS  GT9B-4 battery I use for jump
starts, since it can't hold much of a charge.

    HID need more volts then all halogens and without the booster kit,
they would kill most 8amp batteries at startup.

 the following in alt.scooter:



    Well, it is a tad temperature sensitive -- a cold engine WILL charge
at idle, but after it warms up, it goes into the above condition.
Unfortunately, cold weather also affects batteries.

    And I recall either reading, or maybe even some discussion with the
dealer, that some other large touring grade motorcycles have a similar
problem at idle.
--
    Wulfraed    Dennis Lee Bieber        KD6MOG
    wlfraed@ix.netcom.com        wulfraed@bestiaria.com
        HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/
    (Bestiaria Support Staff:        web-asst@bestiaria.com)
        HTTP://www.bestiaria.com/

 On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:58:04 -0700, Dennis Lee Bieber

|>    Well, it is a tad temperature sensitive -- a cold engine WILL charge
|>at idle, but after it warms up, it goes into the above condition.
|>Unfortunately, cold weather also affects batteries

    Yep I've noticed that!

|>    And I recall either reading, or maybe even some discussion with the
|>dealer, that some other large touring grade motorcycles have a similar
|>problem at idle.

    Seems common after I talked at the new M/Cycle garage.....

    Have you ever noticed, that with all those battery tender/chargers,
with the Terminal/post "O" rings cables, for your hard to access battery
terminals/posts.............then turn around in all THEIR manuals and say
to attach the (-) "O" ring cable to your chassis.

    I know it's the spark safety thing, but these MF hardly ever screw
up, unless something unusual goes wrong......

    I prefer the posts since that's what the (-) "O" ring cables were
made for, even if the manufacturers manual says otherwise.

    I know we discussed the Battery Charging Kaboom!! before with some
grisly results....