GS bikes' electrical capacity for auxiliary lights, etc.?

[bgk]

OK, so I'm the sap that took in an old, neglected, leaking, crashed, faded 1979 GS1000L in trade for an equally poor condition plow truck last summer. Since that time, through the GS Resources and the good graces and charity of members, I have been slowly improving the bike. I've focussed mostly on safety and function, rather than appearance.

Through all of this, my wife has been getting worried that "your really getting serious about this motorcycle thing, aren't you?". She's figured out that I'm going to keep it, and has figured out that if I'm going to keep it, I might as well be safe (is it love for me, or my pay check?!).

Anyway, I've started reading internet articles about safety and motorcycle safety classes (which I'm thinking about taking when/if I choose to spare the dough) and about motorcycle visibility to other motorists. The visibility issue leads me to this post.

I saw some small (about 2-inch by 3-inch teardrop shape) auxiliary lights at the local AutoZone for less than 50 bucks. The interesting thing is that they have a little "blue-tint" light element in the narrow section of the tear drop and a regular white light element in the large section. The box containing two combination teardrops says 55W, but I can't tell if that is the total draw for both lights, including all four elements, or just the two large white elements, or whatever.

It's important to note that I've got a used stator for a GS 1100 (I think its 1982) in my bike, and I'm picking up a used Electrex RR10 Regulator/Rectifier this weekend. I believe that these are both significant improvements over my stock bike setup, but I have no idea how much electrical "capacity" the stock bike had, or whatever increased capacity I'll with the 1100 stator and Electrex RR unit( I recognise that none of the wires got any better!).

Questions:

Will my upgraded charging system set-up support the auxiliary lights (assuming I wire directly to the battery)?

What do people on this Forum think about headlight modulators, brakelight modulators, extra brake lights flanking the stock brake/tail light, marker lights, running lights, etc. in general, and in particular, what do you think about these items with regard to the notoriously fragile GS electrical/charging systems?

I'm not trying to look like a christmas tree Gold Wing, and I'm not primarily trying to light up the road in front of me to turn night into day (although more night lighting to improve my view of the road ahead would certainly be welcome). I just want to inexpensively improve my visibility to other motorists, from front and back.

Thanks in advance for reading my long post and for any responses.

Brion

[Hap Call]

Brion,

Here is where the GS is really weak. The Electrex R/R is a great improvement. The '82 stator is a step up but still the weak link in your system. The 55 W lights would pull about 4.6 amps at 12V. It may not sound like much but it could be the final straw that burns up the stator. You may be able to free up some current capacity by replacing some other lights with LED?s to reduce current pull. I would also spend a day cleaning all of your electrical connections (especially those between the stator and the R/R), cleaning all your grounds, and even adding a couple of new grounds. I added one between the negative side of the fuse box and the negative post of the battery, one to the frame, and one to the motor.

Basically, clean up your electric system, reduce the load you presently have on the system in any way you can, then add the accessories that equal to the load you pulled off.

Hap

[focus frenzy]

Hello brion, I have a tail light integrator, LED auxiliary brake light, and side marker lights on my 80 1000g and my system which has been modified, handles it with ease.
do what Hap has suggested, putting a ground from the regulator case to the battery ground helps allot, clean and or replace the stator connections.
and the thing that made the biggest difference for me, was to take the load off the ignition switch and use a relay to control power to the electrical system, instead of it all having to pass through the ignition switch.

[jay]

GS bikes' electrical capacity for auxiliary lights, etc?

Don't do it unless you like to sit by the side of the road everyone in awhile. Seriously.

If you do end up putting the aux. lights on your bike follow the previous responses to your message.

Jay

[Anonymous]

I agree. Don't alter anything electrical on a GS. I run nothing on my GK that is not stock, except a horn. A friend of mine has a GK with auxiliary brake lights, and that hasn't brought negative results; that's the only extra he runs.

The stator and reg/rect on my GK are stock, on a bike I've been riding for 3 years and now has a total of 64,000 miles, all but 25,000 are mine. I attribute that to clean connections, a fully-charged battery 100% of the time, no extra load on the charging system, and frequent use of the bike. Only one stator failure in 17 years and 200,000 miles of GS ownership; this happened back in 1988, and I've learned my lesson.

Nick

[Clone]

You guys are forgetting the lights draw 55W each 8O , so total 110 which brings us to about 10 amps. This is a lot of power for a - What :? - 280W or 320W stator? I don't remember the exact number. but add up your headlight, signals, brake, instruments, ignition and factor in a loss of 5% then see if you can handle another 110W? A better idea if you really want to add some lights would be to get those lights and then put 35W Xeon or krypton bulbs in them.

[Anonymous]

You guys are forgetting the lights draw 55W each 8O , so total 110 which brings us to about 10 amps. This is a lot of power for a - What :? - 280W or 320W stator? I don't remember the exact number. but add up your headlight, signals, brake, instruments, ignition and factor in a loss of 5% then see if you can handle another 110W? A better idea if you really want to add some lights would be to get those lights and then put 35W Xeon or krypton bulbs in them.

do the xennon or krypton bulbs draw lees amperes for their ability to throw out the same amount of light and just put out more light than bulbs with a similar wattage rating??

[earlfor]

I bought a set of those little teardrop high intensity driving lights for my truck. No where in the information could I find the amperage draw, but they do include a 20 amp fuse in the installation kit along with a high amperage switch.

Earl

[quote="slopoke"][quote="Clone"]You guys are forgetting the lights draw 55W each 8O , so total 110 which brings us to about 10 amps.

[Clone]

I have read in car mags that xeon(?) bulbs have a higher lumen output than a similar wattage halogen. I notice myself that the krypton bulbs I have used are brighter than a regular bulb or the same wattage. 35watt krypton bulbs in driving lamps throw a good amount of light, well beyond my highbeam.

Earl I saw in an earlier post that you divide the watts by the volts and that gives you amps.

[kz]

I have read in car mags that xeon(?) bulbs have a higher lumen output than a similar wattage halogen. I notice myself that the krypton bulbs I have used are brighter than a regular bulb or the same wattage. 35watt krypton bulbs in driving lamps throw a good amount of light, well beyond my highbeam.

Earl I saw in an earlier post that you divide the watts by the volts and that gives you amps.

I agree with Earl,

P (watts) = U (Volts) * I (Amps)

This goes for DC-Current, but only for some AC-current.

If you transform the formula you can get:

P/U equals I.

The misstake often made then bulbs are involved is that U=I*R, and somebody measures the resistance with an Ohm-meter and start to calculate.

The important thing is that the thread in the bulb gets very warm and the resistance increases a lot if you put the 12V on it and the Ohm meter has a lot less voltage.

[bgk]

Thanks for your responses. I was gone for the weekend and just got back.

I've already inspected and cleaned all the connections that I could find, and added an extra ground from fuse box to battery. One of your response posts was guessing that GS Stator output is in the range of 280 to 320 watts. I'm vaguely aware that there is a way to calculate watts from amps/volts/ohms in some combination. Could someone tell me how to do this with a multimeter and a calculator and can anyone confirm the max wattage my GS could handle (82 stock stator plus Electrex R/R)?

Bottom line is, I'd like to increase visibility without risking being stranded on the side of the road some day. Also, I'm all for swapping out the 55W lightbulbs with 35W lightbulbs, but where would I find them? Not Home Depot or the local hardware store. Radio Shack maybe? Anybody know an internet source?

Thanks

[bgk]

I just re-read my previous post and now realize I wasn't too clear about my question about the volts/ohms/amps calculation (which had already been briefly discussed in couple of your previous responses). I guess what I'm asking is:

Where do I put the multimeter probes, and what do I set the multimeter display for, and how high do I rev the bike, and what calculation do I do, to figure out the max output of my stator?

My OEM Suzuki shop manual tells me how many watts each of my lights, etc. are, but doesn't tell me the overall watts capacity of the bike.
Thanks for putting up with my ignorance. I'm honestly trying to learn this stuff, its just that electricity is invisible, its mysterious to me, and I'm thick as a brick with this stuff!

Thanks again.