Battery capacity??

I'm starting to use my heated riding gear.  I tested it out yesterday (low to mid 30's) for about 90 miles.  I was plenty warm.

Now, here's the problem.  I stopped for gas and the battery didn't have enough juice to start it... I had to pop start it.  Now I rode last winter with my F4i and found out if I get the RPM's above 4500, I didn't have this problem.  Yesterday, I kept the 1KRR above 5-5500 rpm's and evidently that wasn't good enough.

Would a higher capacity battery help?  Do they make such a thing?  Am I hurting anything by possibly running to much electrics?

I think the battery will be a band aid fix if anyone even makes a higher capacity one. I think you have a stator problem. Not that there is something wrong with it, I just don't think Honda engineered that bike in mind of riding with "gadgets". And your heated suit probably draws alot of power. At least the Wing has heat.

What it means is your gear is using more power that the bike can produce, so its also drawing from the battery. I would guess that it can shorten the life of the alternator, because under normal use its not charging all the time. Maybe you could get a meter on the power cord and determine what the gear is drawing ? Find out how much over the bikes output you are. That should give you an idea about if you can make it work. As far as the battery, I don't think there is even another one made that will fit in the lil shorty battery box our bikes use. You might also want to have the battery tested, even if its new/newer. A bad one might act fine, but start causing problems at a higher load, such as w/ heated gear. If you like, you can stop by the shop and I can load test it for you, compare it to mine, also can test to see what your gear is pulling (amps) Shouldn't take very long.

Alot of the touring guys get the alternator rewound for more output... might be worth considering. I'd guess that the bike has everything at bare minimal for weight savings?
 
What gear do you have? How many watts?
 
I only use 34 watts for my vest - and I only turn it on when I'm running the engine well... I'll sometimes ride a gear lower to really get it cranking.
 
Do you happen to have a voltometer on the bike - it's not a bad investment if you're going to be running accessories. If you're careful you can flush mount one and it'll look nearly stock.

Well here is what the specs are on each piece...

Jacket Liner
Heat GHC High Density Heat Source 12-volts DC Current 6.4 amps Watts 77 watts Surface Temp 135°F +/- 5°F at 32°F
Pants Liner
Heat GHC High Density Heat Source 12-volts DC Current 3.6 amps Watts 44 watts Surface Temp 125°F +/- 5°F at 32°F
Gloves
Heat GHC High Density Heat Source 12-volts DC Current 2.2 amps Watts 27 watts Surface Temp 135°F +/- 5°F at 32°F
Socks
Heat GHC High Density Heat Source 12-volts DC Current 2.2 amps Watts 27 watts Surface Temp 135°F +/- 5°F at 32°F

So that's 175 watts.  The low beam which is always on is another 55 watts.  I don't know what else there would be, but that is a total of 230 watts.

The owners manual says the generator is .433 kW @5,000 rpm.  So doesn't that mean that it puts out 433 watts??  Shouldn't I have an additional 203 watts left over?  I can't imagine it takes over 200 watts to run the rest of the bike.  Am I thinking about this all wrong?

I don't think it's a watts problem. I think it's the total amps the stator is putting out to feed the total amps of the suit and powering the bike. I need to do some research.

Fatguy check this out.
http://www.cbrforum.com/m_219053/tm.htm

Yeah, I knew there were/are stator problems, but is that why I'm running down my battery now?

How many amps does the bike put out?  I couldn't find that in the manual anywhere...  anybody know that?

Amperage is wattage divided by voltage.

Solve for X

X = 433 Watts / 12.6 Volts (or really, something like 13.4 but meh)

X = 34.4 Amps

Thanks KnightSlugger...
 
So according to the numbers above, my heated gear is 14.4 amps, so I should have 20 left over.
 
I guess I just don't understand why it won't work.  I'll just have to experiment around and see how much I can connect before I cause battery draining issues.

I can certainly believe a motorcycle using 20A for operational use...

remember, starting the motorcycle takes a horrendous amount of energy to do. then couple that with an extreemly slow charge and i see where you're problem is.

if a standard battery charges @ 4A for 1 Hour, then that would leave your bike 15A to do it's business. that's not a lot really. how long are you riding? over an hour? under an hour? Idle doesn't count. the generator puts out 433 Watts @ 5000 RPM, not 1350. but at the same time the bike isn't using 15A to run. it's using may 10A. the faster the engine spins, the more often the plugs must fire. believe it or not, that's where a lot of your energy is spent.

You've got to remind yourself, this isn't a sport touring motorcycle. It's a street machine made for people who ride in fair weather.

quote:

ORIGINAL: knightslugger

Amperage is wattage divided by voltage.

Solve for X

X = 433 Watts / 12.6 Volts (or really, something like 13.4 but meh)

X = 34.4 Amps

I'm having flashbacks of fouth grade. Solve for X is sick. 
I agree with knightslugger. The bike I don't think was designed around the idea of those types of acessories. When the battery starts to drain or is drained it will put even greater stresses on the stator to keep charged or recharge the battery and keep it running. If the bike is known to have stator problems I would stop using the heated suits and have Honda look at the charging system before your warranty is up. Just don't tell them you were using the suit cause some dealers are douches.

Thanks guys....  Here's the sccop.

I went riding again today, about 130 miles with a group and several stops, so not continuous.

I contemplatied not using some of the gear, but I just like to stay warm.  So I did a little test ride of about 25 miles before the group ride.  Temps were in the mid 30's.  I kept the RPM's above 6K whenever possible. 

Guess what?  The battery held up and I couldn't tell any difference when trying to start the bike.  It spun and fired up the same as usual.

As far as starting the bike, you don't plug your heated gear in until after the bike is running.  The same when you shut down... pull the plug on the gear before turning the bike off.

And yeah, if I ever have stator problems, I'll def return everything to stock before taking it in to the dealer.

I think recharge it again.