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I posted this in a separate thread but it may be useful to someone to have measured values.
Suzie is my stock 1979 GS850G which appears to have the original stator, RR & wiring excepting for the installation of an H4 headlight shell with 35 watt HID light kit. She has a set of home made bar heaters (re another thread describing the installation) which draw 3.2 amps @ 13.7 volts which is the normal charging system set point. Watts are, therefore, about 44 Watts or 22 Watts per side.
With HID headlight on, (3.2 amps rather than 5+ amps draw to standard headlight) the normal output from the alternator is 8 amps. but full load output is only 14 amps. so only around 6 amps left to recharge battery and carry intermittent loads such as brake and signal lights.
Put on the 3.2 amp load to the bar heaters and the net is only about 3 amps.
That's very close, too close for stop and go riding unless one makes good choices such as high idle speed. It's a far cry from the 60 amps availble from WhiSTler, my ST1100 Honda. Being an electrical power ****
, time will tell whether that is sufficient but otherwise there is always the option of a higher output stator.
The 200 Watt capacity isn't going to power one's home
but is more than most of us had to live with in the 1960's motorcycle world.
Thought some actual current & voltage numbers may be useful to someone. Generally people try to compare loads and capacity by adding and subtracting published figures for output Watts and load Watts. Unfortunately this is often too inaccurate to be useful.
I have seen huge variations in alternator output between two bikes of the same make, model and age because of component varibles. When one sees a difference of 4 amps. this is very significant.
How about some others posting figures?
If you have a voltmeter and 20 amp+ ammeter, I can describe how to set up to measure. One will need some additional loads such as some headlights from the junk box but it's very doable.
HIH
Norm
Suzie is my stock 1979 GS850G which appears to have the original stator, RR & wiring excepting for the installation of an H4 headlight shell with 35 watt HID light kit. She has a set of home made bar heaters (re another thread describing the installation) which draw 3.2 amps @ 13.7 volts which is the normal charging system set point. Watts are, therefore, about 44 Watts or 22 Watts per side.
With HID headlight on, (3.2 amps rather than 5+ amps draw to standard headlight) the normal output from the alternator is 8 amps. but full load output is only 14 amps. so only around 6 amps left to recharge battery and carry intermittent loads such as brake and signal lights.
Put on the 3.2 amp load to the bar heaters and the net is only about 3 amps.
That's very close, too close for stop and go riding unless one makes good choices such as high idle speed. It's a far cry from the 60 amps availble from WhiSTler, my ST1100 Honda. Being an electrical power ****
, time will tell whether that is sufficient but otherwise there is always the option of a higher output stator.The 200 Watt capacity isn't going to power one's home
but is more than most of us had to live with in the 1960's motorcycle world.Thought some actual current & voltage numbers may be useful to someone. Generally people try to compare loads and capacity by adding and subtracting published figures for output Watts and load Watts. Unfortunately this is often too inaccurate to be useful.
I have seen huge variations in alternator output between two bikes of the same make, model and age because of component varibles. When one sees a difference of 4 amps. this is very significant.
How about some others posting figures?
If you have a voltmeter and 20 amp+ ammeter, I can describe how to set up to measure. One will need some additional loads such as some headlights from the junk box but it's very doable.
HIH
Norm
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