accessory outlet voltage regulator

[davidduarte]

I have a cigarette lighter type 12 volt outlet on my 80 GS450E. Right now it's wired straight into the battery, but I'm planning to splice it into the headlight wires at some point so that it will switch off with the ignition. I used to plug my Garmin eTrex Vista Cx into it, but it acted very squirrelly (e.g., while crossing the Connecticut River on the Bissell Bridge, it would show me as travelling through the river instead of on the bridge). Currently I've been using my Droid 2 with a waterproof handlebar box I got from Amazon. I'm concerned that too much voltage is coming through and cooking the Droid's battery, as it gets pretty warm by the end of my 21 mile one way commute, and it doesn't seem to be charging (although that maybe because Google Navigation or my GPS speedometer app is sucking up too much juice). What I'm wondering is if there is some kind of voltage regulator I can wire in that won't let more than 12 volts get through to the car charger so as not to fry the battery. IIRC the voltage at the battery can go between 12 and 14 volts depending on engine speed.

 

[Jason the terminator]

Here is one.

http://www.theledlight.com/rg12regulator.html

 

[koolaid_kid]

Rather than going into the headlight shell, I recommend using a relay mod. Most folk here call it the coil relay mod, but once implemented it can power anything on the bike. It will provide sufficient current to power anything you wish, and will not overtax the very minimal OEM wiring harness.

 

[Guest]

The first thing to do is check and see if the bike's charging system is regulating properly in the first place. The GS series of bikes has a reputation for lousy charging systems. I would not hesitate to power a GPS on my bike, because of the Compufire regulating system I changed over to, but I guarantee the stock system I had would have fried any electronics while it was boiling the fluid out of my battery. The Compufire is close to $200.00, but so are a lot of phones and GPS systems. I know where I would put my money in your situation.

 

[tom203]

Here is one.

http://www.theledlight.com/rg12regulator.html

Yeah, but it looks like it needs a minimum of 13.6 volts input to work . At low rpm's, it will be ineffective. I doubt high voltage is a problem for davidduarte's devices, since theses gizmos have to cope with car voltages as high as 16 volts. Most likely, he's just overloading his charging system and low voltage is causing grief.

 

[Steve]

Yeah, but it looks like it needs a minimum of 13.6 volts input to work .

Sort of.

It will "work" with lower input voltages, but there won't be any regulation, meaning if you put in 12 volts, you won't get anything more than that. However, if you put in more than 13.6, you will only get the regulated voltage, usually a bit less than the input.

There is also a line in the description that says "this is only for LED loads", so not sure if I would use it for a Droid, as they might need considerably more current to charge them.

If your charger has an automotive cigarette lighter-type plug on it, I would not worry about any type of regulator, but like OldVet66 said, check the output voltage of your bike.

.

 

[davidduarte]

The first thing to do is check and see if the bike's charging system is regulating properly in the first place. The GS series of bikes has a reputation for lousy charging systems. I would not hesitate to power a GPS on my bike, because of the Compufire regulating system I changed over to, but I guarantee the stock system I had would have fried any electronics while it was boiling the fluid out of my battery. The Compufire is close to $200.00, but so are a lot of phones and GPS systems. I know where I would put my money in your situation.

I replaced the R/R with an Electrex USA R/R several years ago, so unless my stator is on the way out, I think the charging system is ok. It's possible that I need to replace the Droid battery, as it went for a swim not long after I got it. I managed to resurrect it with the help of uncooked rice and a hairdryer, but there may be some hidden damage.

 

[posplayr]

Sort of.

It will "work" with lower input voltages, but there won't be any regulation, meaning if you put in 12 volts, you won't get anything more than that. However, if you put in more than 13.6, you will only get the regulated voltage, usually a bit less than the input.

There is also a line in the description that says "this is only for LED loads", so not sure if I would use it for a Droid, as they might need considerably more current to charge them.

If your charger has an automotive cigarette lighter-type plug on it, I would not worry about any type of regulator, but like OldVet66 said, check the output voltage of your bike.

.

Steve,
It might be worth checking if he had a scope . The R/R's are pretty noisy, and as I recall Katman was typing to power a Iphone on USB and having some issues. There are a few things to do depending upong how sensitive the device is.

• some filtering using a diode and a cap

then optionally a

• Low drop out voltage regulator (this one provides 500 mA)

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=161413&highlight=voltage+regulator