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Streetfighter headlight

  • Thread starter Thread starter richardhaggarty
  • Start date Start date
R

richardhaggarty

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I am interested in putting a set of auxillary or driving lights on my 1985 gs700 and switching them on with my highbeams. I do a lot of riding out in the country where oncoming deer are more of a concern than oncoming traffic.

Some of the mini halogen systems I see on streetfighters look ideal. Does anyone know where I could find something like that? Also, are there any wiring concerns I should be aware of, like maybe that will put too much of a draw on my charging system.

Thanks
 
The most power consumption the GS's will handle for lighting is about 100 watts total. If you already have the standard 55/65 headlight, then you have about 35 watts additional capacity you can devote to lighting. The mini halogen bulbs are 50 watts each. The harness wire guage and switches are sized for the stock power draw and would be overloaded if you were to add a pair of 50 watt driving lamps. The fuses will hot support that, nor will the wiring to the fuse block, so installing a larger capacity fuse will only insure that something burns up. You could bypass the wiring harness and fuse block, however, the stator output is aproximately 225-240 watts at an engine rpm of 5K. Output is linear. If yor are cruising at say 2500 rpm, then your electrical capacity/output is 110-120 watts, which means at that rpm you barely have enough output to sustain your battery with the stock components already installed.

Earl
 
So what if you just pulled the stock hi-low and put the streetfighter dual setup in it's place?

That'd barely pass up capacity. You could always just run a 10 guage positive from the fuse block to an auxilliary switch for the new headlights then run them through the spare fuse on the fuse block at 15 amps instead of 10. That might work.

I like the setup too. It's Ducati-esque and makes the bike have a je ne sais quoi newness to it. I think it'd look badass.

If anybody knows how to find a set of duals or even a single 5" that's cheap and mountable (which you could then double up) for cheaper than that $138+ shipping set, I'd jump on this.
 
Soooooo if you replace the stock headlight with a dual 50watt combo you might be ok then?

(heheh was beaten to the punch :))
 
If I were going to do that, I would run a new wire for the dual headlight installation directly from the battery with an inline fuse on it. I would not run the power supply off the fuse block. I would also install an additional headlight switch for the lights.

As I said, it is not a good idea to increase a fuse size from 10 amps to 15 because you want to install something that draws more current. That approach does not solve wiring or switching capacities. With a little management, there is charging capacity to run a dual headlight setup if the sum consumption of both lights is not over 100 watts. The wiring harness, fuse block and switcfhes however, are not sized for that.

14 guage wire will be enough.

Earl

isaac said:
So what if you just pulled the stock hi-low and put the streetfighter dual setup in it's place?

That'd barely pass up capacity. You could always just run a 10 guage positive from the fuse block to an auxilliary switch for the new headlights then run them through the spare fuse on the fuse block at 15 amps instead of 10. That might work.

I like the setup too. It's Ducati-esque and makes the bike have a je ne sais quoi newness to it. I think it'd look badass.

If anybody knows how to find a set of duals or even a single 5" that's cheap and mountable (which you could then double up) for cheaper than that $138+ shipping set, I'd jump on this.
Click to expand...
 
Yep, as long as you run new dedicated wiring, fuses and switch for the new lights. Just dont run any of it off stock switches, harness or fuses. :-)
(It would work on stock components, but not for long. :-) :-) can you say.........where is my fire extinguisher? :-)

Earl

bgmart450 said:
Soooooo if you replace the stock headlight with a dual 50watt combo you might be ok then?

(heheh was beaten to the punch :))
Click to expand...
 
Hey, what would the output of the charging system be in amps?

I would like to know because i am going to be adding fuel injection to my bike before spring(if time and money permits),and the draw would be ~10 amps extra on the charging system.
 
One amp at one volt equals one watt. So, 10 amps at 12 volts equals 120 watts.

Or, if your charging system has a max output of 240 watts, then 240/12 equals 20 amps.

Earl

Flatline_Racing said:
Hey, what would the output of the charging system be in amps?

I would like to know because i am going to be adding fuel injection to my bike before spring(if time and money permits),and the draw would be ~10 amps extra on the charging system.
Click to expand...
 
I removed the stock airbox and I am pretty confident I could fit in a second battery.

Would this increase my output capacity enough to run both a stock headlight system as well as an independently wired and switched auxillary mini halogen system?

If an extra battery would not do it, are there any aftermarket or add-on charging systems I can use to get more output?
 
an extra battery would work for as long as the battery was charged, but it would still be a losing battle. As for increasing output, I haven't heard of anything you can buy for these bikes, but maybe you could rewind a stator differently to gain output? If you could, you would need to be careful as more watts will equal more heat, and it may cook the already fragile regulator.
 
Also, I beleive that if you increase voltage you decrease the amperage required to run a device. Since our charging systems put out more the 12v we should be able to run more items without a problem. At least I think that's how it works. So a 100w bulb will draw 8.3 amps@12v but only 7.1a@14v

Of course this may all be null and void if the rating of 240w stator output is based on 14v, vs 12v.
 
There you hit the problem. :-) The stator is rated at 80 volts AC per leg at 5K rpm and that is rectified to 14.7 volts DC output from the rectifier at that rpm. This is because charging a battery is a question of electrical pressure and voltage is pressure. You cannot charge a 12 volt battery that already has 12 volts in it with a battery charger that outputs 12 volts. A good condition, fully charged battery will store and retain between 12.5 and about 12.8 volts. Any voltage reading greater than that (as when first taken off a battery charger), is surface charge and not representative of capacity. On average, you can figure your system voltage/battery voltage at 12.5 with a good battery and everything working correctly.

Adding a 2nd battery would increase your capacity in the same way that installing a bigger gas tank would increase your range. It increases capacity, but it will not double the octane rating. :-) Electrex stators output aprox 8-10% greater than stock units, but that is about an additional 2 amp increase. Not enough to power another headlight.

another way to convert to dual headlights.

Run two 45/55 headlights with dedicated power wires. Keep the stock headlight switch but have it activate a relay. Power the two headlights from the relay. Use a relay with a 100% duty cycle and a capacity only slightly greater than the consumption of both headlights. Put an inline fuse on each headlight and a separate switch for each headlight. this way, if you loose one headlight, the other is unaffected. If youre toddling around town at 35 mph, (low output on stator and R/R) switch one headlight off. Might be a good idea to install an amperage guage so yo always know if youre charging or depleting you battery.

Earl


lhanscom said:
Of course this may all be null and void if the rating of 240w stator output is based on 14v, vs 12v.
Click to expand...
 
Ok. Earlfor and others have done an excellent job of convincing me that getting an extra 100 watts out of the OEM charging sytem is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone.

Alternatively, a new Electrex stator and rec/reg charging system will cost around $300 for only a 10% increase in output (although maybe a 96% increase in reliablility), which makes that option less than appealing.

What about those rolling homes honda makes, the ones that have a home theater system, seating for ten, a coffee maker and a snow plow? Those things are pulling enough juice to power a small village. So I am convinced that the charging technology I desire exists. And, I think, (humbling myself in the presence of the all knowing earlfor) that any stator I can fit in my engine case I can use.

Of course, maybe those VoltWing's are using a nuclear reactor. Hey! So that's what they got in all those cases!
 
n00b suggestion here: in a previous life I used to run a 55/100 watt bulb with no ill effects. (That I knew about, anyway.)
 
richardhaggarty said:
Ok. Earlfor and others have done an excellent job of convincing me that getting an extra 100 watts out of the OEM charging sytem is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone.

Alternatively, a new Electrex stator and rec/reg charging system will cost around $300 for only a 10% increase in output (although maybe a 96% increase in reliablility), which makes that option less than appealing.

What about those rolling homes honda makes, the ones that have a home theater system, seating for ten, a coffee maker and a snow plow? Those things are pulling enough juice to power a small village. So I am convinced that the charging technology I desire exists. And, I think, (humbling myself in the presence of the all knowing earlfor) that any stator I can fit in my engine case I can use.

Of course, maybe those VoltWing's are using a nuclear reactor. Hey! So that's what they got in all those cases!
Click to expand...

I think they use a car style alternator, while you could technically do this, it would be really hard, and really ugly.

Maybe you could get one of those windmill generators, I bet you could make quite a charge with one of those.
 
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