How many things can I run off battery?

[SuperMike]

Hi,

Pretty much as per title. I have a Honda 650F and I have currently got a set of oxford heated grips running off the battery. Now the weather has got really cold, I am looking to also hard wire in my Gerbing G12 (12 volt) heated gloves to keep my fingers warm. I am wary of overloading the battery though - anyone see any issues with loading up the battery like this? Can I do any damage to anything?

[WD Forte]

Its the charging system (which includes the battery) you need to be watching.
It'll probably be fine but a voltmeter would help tell you
if you're using more than the charging system can supply

Most bikes regulate around 14V, so if with all yer toys and lights running the battery is at say 12.5V, then it won't be charging.
Anything over 13.5V will probably be OK.
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bikers smell of wee

[Kickstart]

Hi

As above.

Charging systems vary in how much power they can supply. A guy on here had a VFR400 (NC30) which couldn't really support heated grips with the lights on (not sure if the bulbs were standard), etc. Long journey at night and it slowly flattened the battery.

You are probably fine with both heated grips and gloves running from the bike. I did a fair few times on a ZZR600. But if you are doing short journeys with a lot of slow speed riding / just sitting idling then you could have more problems.

All the best

Katy
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[G]

As I understand it, most bikes produce a set current and any spare current is absorbed through the reg/rec.

So unlike a car which varies the current it's producing, on a bike you actually reduce the strain on the system the more power you use.

However, if you start to use over the available current of the charging system, you will start to drain the battery, which if you keep doing it long enough will see it not having enough power to run the bike.

You should be able to find the power which your charging system produces and the power each item uses.

[SuperMike]

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess that one solution could be to either run one or the other? I wouldn't have the heated grips and the heated gloves on at the same time as it would be pointless. So, I guess I would run my heated gloves on the really cold days and then have the heated grips on for anything above 5 degrees C where they do a good enough job. That should ensure I'm not over doing anything?

[Kickstart]

Hi

I did use both at the same time.

But it totally depends on your model of bike. Gets a bit more difficult to work out with modern bikes as there are some standard components which will draw a substantial amount of power (eg, fuel pump on an injected bike). At a guess the gloves and grips combined will pull about 5~6 amps, so about 70 watts.

And the amount of power the charging system provides will vary greatly with revs.

All the best

Katy
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[ADSrox0r]

Further to that; depends on what kind of riding you're doing. For motorway miles then it's chucking plenty of power in at mid to high revs. On the other hand if you're doing lots of stop-start riding round town then it won't get the chance to put anything onto the battery.
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[SuperMike]

Ok gotcha. I do ten miles each way through London rush hour. Lots of filtering and traffic lights with some hard starts / 'fun' where safe. I think I'll give it a go. Will get the wiring kit tomorrow and then either use the gloves or the grips, but not both. Those heated grips do a great job on your palms, but not so great on the fingers!!

As an aside, anyone got any experience of running wires out of the under seat area on a Honda? My PCX had an indentation in the side of the helmet holder for that purpose I suspect, but the 650 doesn't. I am thinking of using my dremmel to hollow out a small hole and don't think I'll affect the waterproofing. If I drilled it in the middle that would be under my leg anyway to add a bit extra protection. I think that as it stands closing the seat down with the wire running out of the battery will cut the thing in half after a few rides.