Heated riding gear question.

[BigLenny]

I recently purchased my wife a Sedici heated jacket liner, and heated gloves. She loves her gloves so much, she purchased me a pair of Sedici heated gloves today.

 

All of these recent purchases have me wondering tonight. Should I be worried about the electrical system on my RSTD handling this extra load?

 

BTW, I've never had heated gear before. But, after I hooked them up and tried them today, OMG! Is this what I've been missing out on all this time?!?! Nice and toasty.

[Miles]

BigLenny, I have been using heated clothing on motorcycles for more than 25 years, almost to the beginning of Gerbing Heated Clothing. I still have some of the old original heated clothing from them, but I also have most of their latest equipment, and in some cases, two fold of their equipment. I am a very serious advocate of heated clothing on bikes, because...I would rather ride in 40 degree weather than in 80 degree weather.

 

I have to admit (maybe my head was in the sand) that I had never heared of Sedici Heated Clothing until your post. I actually had to go look them up, so that I could see what they offered.

 

I have not owned Sedici products, but...in my opinion their is no better heated clothing for use on a motorcycle than Gerbing's products.

 

Now, to answer your question...your stock bike does have a stator that puts out a max of 30 amps, or 360 watts of electrical power available. Some of that is consumed by the bike as it is running. Most riders that want to add aux. lighting, such as driving lamps, or want to run heated handgrips, or use heated clothing...or...to use all of the above stated items at the same time...end up upgrading their stator and Regulator/Rectifier. There are companies that many of us recommend that sell these upgraded stators and R/R's. One of them is Rick's Electrics, and another is Buckeye Performance.

 

At least one person on this forum will tell you that the so-called upgrade of the stator will NOT increase the max output of the electrical service. I will tell you otherwise.

I measured the OEM stator output of my bike prior to making the upgrde changes, and my OEM bike output was 29.4 amps, or 352.8 watts. After making the changes to my bike...both the larger output stator, and the high output R/R, my bike now puts out 52.6 amps, or 631.2 watts.

 

Other riders on this forum have successfully upgraded their stators and R/R's with positive results. I believe in running as much stator/alternator output as a motorcycle is safely capable of producing, so that you can run all the items you feel are necessary to the safe completion of your ride.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Miles

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Lenny, add up the total wattage of the jacket liner(s), the heated gloves, and anything you have added, such as driving lights. Dont worry about the wattage of things like a few LEDs, a GPS, or a cellphone charger, since they dont normally use much power.

 

If the total is under 100 watts, you should be fine.

 

If the total is over 100, but below 125 or so, you might have issues, especially if you try to run all of it, on a cold day, when just roaming around at slower speeds in town. In that case, either turn off the passing/driving lights if you have them, or keep the rpms up when you can. Remember in cold temps, the carb heaters will come on, and pull about 60 watts.

 

If your total is approaching or over 150 watts, you definitely need to look at either cutting back on some of it, or get yourself a new stator, as Miles suggested.

 

 

[gunboat]

i will agree with what everyone has said. in my case since i live around the houston area. i have un-pluged the carb heaters on both of my rsv's. in doing that i gained the 60 watts of usable power. i do have heated gloves & jacket but hardley ever use them.

don c.

[bongobobny]

Yah! What Miles said!! I'm using a Buckeye stator and am so far happy with it...

[BigLenny]

Thanks so much for the info.

 

I don't run anything external on my bike, such as passing/running lights. I've thought about getting them, but haven't pulled the trigger on them yet.

 

The jacket liner, and both sets of gloves are a total wattage of 127 watts. Should I have any problem since I don't run anything thing else external on the bike?

[BigLenny]

Miles, where did you get the info of what my bike stock stator puts out?

 

Is there info somewhere of what the normal operation of the bike draws?

[Shamue]

I just purchased the Cabelas battery powered fleese jacket and gloves for the wife and I.

Can't say anything bad about them. The reason I went battery powered is to be able to wear the gear around camp, to football games and other outdoor events when it's cooled. There are 4 settings, and as an example yeaterday's ride temps in the low 20's 4 of us went a couple hundred miles. I wore the heated jacket under my leather coat on level 3 one below the highest and stayed very confortable. The gloves heat up nicely and even the fingers stayed warm. Usually in riding in the 30's my fingers will nun up, but not with the gloves.

Might check them out, as Cabela's is always good at taking back returns that do not meet your personal expectations.

I would recommend these to anyone.

Shamue

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Thanks so much for the info.

 

I don't run anything external on my bike, such as passing/running lights. I've thought about getting them, but haven't pulled the trigger on them yet.

 

The jacket liner, and both sets of gloves are a total wattage of 127 watts. Should I have any problem since I don't run anything thing else external on the bike?

 

The stock stator on the newer Royal Stars is rated at 30 amps, or about 360 watts. But remember, this is at MAXIMUM, when the RPMs are around 5000 or so. I dont have the exact output curve handy, but this is a guideline. At lower speeds, cruising, and around town the output is probably somewhere around 20...maybe 25 amps...depending on RPM.

If you are running a variable controller, you will most likely be ok, since rarely will all the items be putting out maximum heat, and pulling the full 127 watts, (approx 10 amps).

 

There is no way to know for sure, but if you install a voltmeter and watch it closely, when all the heated gear is active, and the voltage stays up around 13.2 or above, while riding, then its PROBABLY going to be ok.

 

Continuous use when the voltage is below 12.5 or so, will begin to deplete the battery, and long term, it will probably shorten the life of the stator and/or regulator. Either situation could be bad, if you're 90 miles from home in bad weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2013 by tx2sturgis

[BigLenny]

Thanks Brian,

 

Great info to consider.

 

When we rode yesterday, which was the first day for us to try this stuff out, the most we could tolerate was for the gear to be on medium. So, I don't see us ever going above that setting since it was 36 outside. Won't be riding in any colder weather than that.

 

The volt meter idea is something I might do.

[RedRider]

+1 on the volt meter. Easy to do and great peace of mind.

 

RR