Increasing power output to handle accessory overload

[burkbuilds]

Thought I'd throw this into the ring and see what information you all may have about potential increases in power output from the alternator by installation of an aftermarket Stator that professes to increase power output by 20%. Following is my "story".

I'm trying to find a way to increase my alternator output to run accessories on my bike. Found out that my Vulcan 500 only puts out around 34 Amps @ 12 V which is about 408 watts of total power and only about 10Amps of that is available for accessories, which means I only have about 120 Watts total to run my accessories on. Now that is plenty for most of the year, but in the Winter I planned to run a heated vest and gloves and heated grips. If everything was on high, that would put me somewhere around 160 Watts for accessories which is about 40 Watts or 3 ½ Amps over capacity. Started searching for options to see what I could do about that and finally stumbled on this.

I found out that Denniskirk.com has a replacement Stator for my bike that is supposed to increase the power output significantly both at idle and at cruising speed, they also have a better Regulator/Rectifier that fits my bike. Anybody have any hard numbers on this, the Denniskirk site just lists this as a significant increase over OEM and better quality all around over the OEM, which does seem to have some maintenance issues from what I've read for the Stator and the Regulator. Together both items and shipping is gonna be in the $225 range. Even if it's just a 10% increase in total alternator output (OEM about 33-35 amps= about 400 watts) that would amount to about 40+Watts of available additional power which is significant to me, plus, it's a pretty easy swap to do.

I sent e-mails to two companies that supply replacement Stator's for my Vulcan 500. RicksMotorsportElectrics.com said they make a stator for my bike but it is OEM spec, not additional output. Electrosport.com said they make a replacement for my Stator and it gives an overall increase of 20% compared to the OEM stator. That would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90 watts (roughly 7 amps) of additional power output at 4000 rpms. That is pretty impressive and will help tremendously with my winter accessory loads. I hope this will actually work, I’ve ordered it now and I’ll probably have it installed on my bike before the end of October. I plan to meter the existing system @ 4000 rpms before I remove it to see what the actual output is, and then install the new Stator and regulator and see what it reads at 4000rpms. I’ll post my results when I get done and have some figures.

Anybody out there ever done anything like this to their bike and if so, what results did you get?

[Water Warrior 2]

Some members on the Vstrom forum have tried aftermarket stators with varying results. Some acceptable but mostly a disappointment due to early failure. You would be best with upgraded stator, rectifier and voltage regulator for best results. Also I wonder if just running OEM equipment and not having your heated gear at maximum might be a better solution. What kind and make of heated gear are you looking at and what do you expect for temps come winter ??

[burkbuilds]

My vest and gloves are Venture brand and they draw about 120 watts together on high. The heated grips are Oxford brand and I don't remember the exact specs on those but they were a lot less than the vest and gloves. I also have a tach that I've installed but the only draw there is the light on the dial and I have some LED "accent" lighting, but again it's extremely small draw on those. It's very possible that I won't need to run any of this on high, the temps around North Georgia get down into the teens (Farenheit) early in the mornings for maybe 7-14 days at the most and usually back into the above freezing range by afternoon. The coldest I've ever seen it here was about 5 below zero (F) and I'm 45 and I've only seen that one winter. Every couple of Winters' we will get into single digits above zero (F) for a couple of mornings and every once in a while it stays so mild that it never even gets below 20 degrees F.
I did order the Stator and the rectifier/regulator that "matches" it from the same company. I've read a couple of statements about the stock Stator and rectifier going bad on the Vulcan 500's in the first couple of years and if I'm pushing them to their limits that might be a factor in early "death" anyway. Hopefully the items I ordered from electrosport will do what they say and hold up well in the long run.

[Water Warrior 2]

Not familiar with the Venture brand but I well imagine it is a quality product. How soon do you hope to be up and running with the new electrical system and everything plugged in ?

[mrlmd1]

Do they give you a refund if they're not up to the performance specs they claim? If you get no increased output over OEM?

[Easy Rider]

You would be best with upgraded stator, rectifier and voltage regulator for best results.

Also I wonder if just running OEM equipment and not having your heated gear at maximum might be a better solution.

What kind and make of heated gear are you looking at and what do you expect for temps come winter ??

:plus1:

:plus1:

Those who live in Georgia don't know what REAL winter IS !!! :poke2: :biggrin:
(Yes, I am wildly jealous!) :roll:

Except for that one week in January, I suspect that you will find no need for the HIGH setting on anything. Don't overlook long-johns; cold air blowing up your pants legs can make a BIG difference.

[burkbuilds]

Yeah Easy, I have found that long johns are all my legs need here in the Winter, my insulated jacket was really fine last year without being heated, now my gloves, that was the wrench in the machinery. Once it got down to 18 degrees F, I just couldn't take the pain anymore even with heated grips on high, the fingertips just felt like they were being crushed in a vice after about 15 minutes of riding. Hopefully that will be taken care of with the heated gloves! We southerners really don't know much about Winter compared to anything North of the Mason Dixon Line, and we like it that way!
Mrlmd1, I don't know what their policy is if I challenge the output specs they quoted, I do have their representatives e-mail to verify what he told me, but I'm not sure about their refund policy. They did give a one year warranty, so that should help although they may just want to send me a new Stator to replace the first with if I am not satisfied.

WW, I won't even be back in town to put the stuff on for about three weeks, so it's just going to have to wait till then and hope I have time to do it that weekend. In about a week and a half I'm taking my first "road trip" of any length when my daughter and son in law and I plan to ride down to the Gulf coast for a weekend in Panama City Florida! That's about a 6 1/2 hour drive each way, nothing major but way more than the 2 1/2 hour trip I make back and forth to the Atlanta area most weeks. We plan to stop about every hour and a half and stop for dinner on the road too so it will probably take us about 8 hours or so to cover the distance.

[Water Warrior 2]

A weekend in Panama City sounds Oh So Good. Have a good time and ride safe.

[mrlmd1]

C'mon over this way on the way home, It's about a 2 hour ride East, then you can go home through Tallahassee up 319 & I-75.
Maybe I could find old Bad Bob to join us.

[burkbuilds]

That sounds nice, and I'd really like to meet you and Bad Bob, his GZ seat mods inspired mine; however, I think I'm gonna try to spend as much time with my beautiful bride of over 25 years as I can that weekend, not getting to see her very often while I am away in school. But thanks for the invitation!

[Easy Rider]

Once it got down to 18 degrees F, I just couldn't take the pain anymore

Would it be too bold for me to suggest that, regardless of where you live, that might be a clue that it is time to take the cage.....just for a day or two ??? :poke2: :biggrin:

[Water Warrior 2]

Gotta agree with Easy on his comment. I am sure I have more cold weather gear than you but my Ranger has a heater and is pain free. It is one thing if necessity forces you to ride but another if you have an option to be warm and overall safer and comfy.

[burkbuilds]

I agree and yet, that option just isn't available to me right now, I'm in living in Marietta while I'm at school and not home so this is the only option I have other than walking. Just trying to make it as bearable as possible on those few really cold mornings we have around here.

Hey, my son in law and I did a nice 250 mile ride together this afternoon, sort of a warm up for our upcoming ride to Panama City Beach in about a week. It was really the first time I've ever ridden any distance with another rider and it was nice, we had a good ride and even got to enjoy dinner with my wife and youngest daughter at the mid way point before heading back. Both our bikes performed well, he's riding a 2002 Honda Vulcan 750, really nice looking bike!

[Easy Rider]

he's riding a 2002 Honda Vulcan 750,

No he isn't !! :shocked:
A Shadow 750 maybe ??? :biggrin:

[primal]

No he isn't !! :shocked:
A Shadow 750 maybe ??? :biggrin:

? :skeptical:

[Water Warrior 2]

No he isn't !! :shocked:
A Shadow 750 maybe ??? :biggrin:

? :skeptical:


Re-read BB's last post. No such animal(bike).

[primal]

Whoops! I didn't see where he said Honda Vulcan. ;)

[Water Warrior 2]

Whoops! I didn't see where he said Honda Vulcan. ;)


Your punishment will be buying coffee and donuts for all members passing through WV. LOL.

[primal]

Fair 'nuff!

[burkbuilds]

I stand corrected, you are right Honda Shadow no such thing as a Honda Vulcan!

[burkbuilds]

Okay, so last night I finally got a chance to install the new stator and rectifier and before I did, I ran the bike up to 4000 rpms (I have a tach) and checked the OEM stator output, and it was dead on 60 volts which is book specs for this bike. (Vulcan 500). I then installed the new stator and rectifier, ran it up to 4000 rpms, and it was only putting out 52 volts! I made several attempts and checked really good but that was it at 4000 rpms, so off she came and back on with the original unit and rectifier. I guess I will be finding out how good the "guarantee" from Electro Sport really is. I will be requesting a full refund for both stator and rectifier and shipping charges since they failed to even meet OEM specs much less exceed them by their written (to me in an e-mail which I kept) guarantee that it would produce 20% more power than the OEM unit specs.

The "good news" is that I went back and checked all my paperwork from my heated grips, gloves and vest and found out that the total draw on all three on high was 10 AMPS, so I can run them at medium or low no problem or even a combination of low/med/high without a problem just not all on high together. The other thing I learned was that my OEM unit puts out about 72 volts at 5,000 rpms which is where I run at 70 mph on the highway so I have a little cushion there at highway speeds as well.

I know this is gonna make all you "northerners" laugh at me, but when I came home Friday from Atlanta it was 53 degrees and cloudy and my legs were fine for the first 30 minutes in just thermal underwear and jeans, a little cool for the next 30 minutes and by the time I rolled in to the big city of Rossville, I went straight to the Suzuki dealer (RT Cycles) in town, they have a pretty good selection of riding gear, and bought some Gortex insulated riding pants! My knees were so cold I didn't think I was going to be able to walk!

Well, I'm going to try out the heated gear in the morning. I'll be heading back to school early and the temp is supposed to be 37 degrees F. when I leave here for my 2 hour ride. I usually go back Sunday afternoon, but the Falcon's are playing the Bears tonight at the Georgia Dome and traffic will probably be heavier than I want to deal with later today. I'll let you know how the gear did tomorrow night.

[dhgeyer]

I have an electric jacket liner and gloves, but no electric clothes for the bottom half of me. My riding pants are more waterproof than any rain suit I ever tried, and have a removable, fairly heavily insulated liner. They also have armor in the knees. With those, long johns, double wool socks, and good boots, my legs/feet don't get cold at highway speeds down into the 20's Fahrenheit. The heated jacket liner keeping the core warm makes a big difference, even in the extremities.

I got all my serious riding gear, after having done without it for years, at MAX's BMW dealership in North Hampton, NH. BMW sells itself as the brand for serious riders, and their dealerships are the best source I have found for serious riding gear. They not only have the stuff you need, but also people who have used it and can help you make intelligent choices, and sell you stuff that fits properly. They will not put you down if you ride in on something other than a BMW. They see their market as consisting of people, like you, who want to ride a lot in whatever conditions are. Their strategy is to get people hooked on that attitude toward riding, and then figure they will want the bikes after a while. Unfortunately BMW is (deservedly) losing its reputation for reliability and quality. If they don't clean up their act I fear they will go down. People who have been faithful to the marque for decades are abandoning it for Jap bikes. But, for now, it's a great source of riding gear.

[Water Warrior 2]

BB, I'm not laughing believe me. I know what the difference between comfy and freezing is. Especially getting older you no longer are able to handle being cold and miserable for long. After getting my Tour Master heated jacket liner I am a happy camper but still want more. T.M. has just now come out with heated pant liners and I should be ordering some when funds are available. The climate here on the west coast is darn nice but winter as we know it can be really chilly on 2 wheels if you want to ride. Both Lynda and I want to have jacket liners and pant liners eventually. Heated grips are a great help and one of the first things for the bikes to get. Most bikes seem to be a bit electrically challenged and the T.M. Synergy heated clothing has an excellant wattage to heat output. Also a bargain as the heat/power controller is standard issue not an overpriced option.

[burkbuilds]

Well, I jumped on the bike about 8:30 this morning to head back to school and it was a crisp 33 degree's but at least it was clear skies and sunshine when I headed out. Plugged in my heated jacket liner hit the control switch and nothing, NOTHING! CRAP! No time to check, I've got classes in a few hours and I've got to get going, at least I was happy with the new insulated riding pants I bought Friday afternoon, my legs stayed okay over the next 2 1/2 hours of riding, and fortunately my heated grips did their job and my hands were okay if not cozy warm like I had hoped! If I have time this evening I'll check the electrical and see if the problem is in the outlet side of the mix or in the vest/control unit. Hopefully it's just a blown fuse or something simple to correct and not a bad liner or controller for which I will only be able to ask for a replacement from the manufacturer.

[Water Warrior 2]

Ouch and Cold. Hope it is an easy fix.

[burkbuilds]

Finally had a chance to check things out this weekend with the power on the heated accessories. I had power at the outlet and everything was reading good there, checked continuity in the lines of the jacket and everything looked okay. Finally found the "Controller" seemed to be the problem. If I took it out of the loop everything worked, vest, gloves, but when I put it in I couldn't get it to work. I watched as I plugged it in and it would come on for a second or two and then go off and I couldn't get it to come back on no matter how many times I pressed the power button. Spent the weekend e-mailing back and forth with the rep from the company I purchased it through. Finally left to come back to school early this morning and just took the controller off and plugged in directly. Of course this meant that the heated vest and gloves were on high the entire time and I did turn the heated grips on low because my palms were getting a little cool. Everything seems to be working okay, my hands stayed warm and the vest was actually getting a little to warm for me near the end of the ride. When I checked my e-mails this afternoon I had one last "tip" from the rep, it said to "hold the power button down for several seconds and it would turn on". So I went down to the bike and tried it, guess what, that worked! O_o You would think they might have mentioned that somewhere in the literature :??: Oh well, I'm glad it is working and running the gloves and vest on high with the heated grips on low didn't seem to create any problems on my 2 hour journey so that's good to know. I was running right at 5,000 rpms the entire time and when I checked my output at 5,000 rpms it was producing about 70+ volts compared to the 60V it is rated at @ 4,000 rpms. Anyway, seems to be working okay, I'll have to see how it goes if the temps drop down into the low 20's or more later this winter.
I mailed the Stator and rectifier back to the mfg, they said they'd have to test it and if it wasn't producing 20% more power at 4,000 rpms like they promised then they'd refund my money, hope that's not going to become an issue and they'll live up to that guarantee.

[Easy Rider]

I was running right at 5,000 rpms the entire time and when I checked my output at 5,000 rpms it was producing about 70+ volts compared to the 60V it is rated at @ 4,000 rpms.

I think I'd still want to connect a good charger and see how long it takes to get a "fully charged" indication......or on an older low capacity charger with a meter, to see how long it is for the charging current to level off at a low level.

As long as the charging voltage stays above the nominal battery voltage (12.6) with everything on HIGH, then you should be OK......until you get caught in traffic!! Judicious use of the controller should keep you out of trouble.

[burkbuilds]

Thanks for the advice ER, I can actually check that when I have some time, and see what the numbers are. Now that I've learned how to use the controller that

should help as well. Fortunately, once I checked the literature that came with all my heated accessories I found that they draw a combined total of 10 amps when

they are all on high and less on lower settings so I should be okay at the 4000 rpm mark if I don't have them all on high at once since the Vulcan is supposed to

supply 10 amps of accessory power at 4,000 rpms and my stator measured the exact factory specs at 4000 rpms. In top gear I'm going 55mph @ 4000, so as long as

I stay above that and watch that I don't have everything on high at once I should be okay, but I will check the charging voltage at 4000 rpms with everything on

high and see if I'm staying above 12.6volts or not. If not, I can see where it reads as I drop things off of high and find out what I can and can't do with this set up.

[Easy Rider]

I will check the charging voltage at 4000 rpms with everything on
high and see if I'm staying above 12.6volts or not. If not, I can see where it reads as I drop things off of high and find out what I can and can't do with this set up.

Check. :tup:

P.S. Unless you have a really good meter, check the nominal battery voltage some morning after it sits overnight to get a good reference. I thought I was having some serious electrical problems......until I realized my old meter was a good bit out of calibration. :cry:

[Water Warrior 2]

I plan on putting voltage meters on both bikes to monitor the systems. I do not anticipate any dead batteries on either bike but it is always nice to have the option of watching what is really happening. More $ spent but worth the security factor.

[Water Warrior 2]

So we went for a drive today in the rain with the wipers doing their best to create some clear spots on the windshield. Across the border to pick up some Tour Master heated gear. Lynda got a heated jacket liner and I got my heated pants to go with my jacket liner. I already know what the liner does and the pants are more of the same. HEAT and more HEAT. The pants plug into the jacket and the jacket controller powers both items nicely. So now I also have a spare controller that came with the pants. Spares are nice. Didn't go for a ride, just stood beside the bike and plugged in. Felt great. Just had a thought, they would make awesome pajamas on a cold night. Hell, I could put a battery in a back pack and go walking at -40 C.

[dhgeyer]

Hell, I could put a battery in a back pack and go walking at -40 C.

Minus 40 you say????? As in forty below??? :jawdrop: Man, I'm glad I don't live any further North than I do!

[Water Warrior 2]

Hell, I could put a battery in a back pack and go walking at -40 C.

Minus 40 you say????? As in forty below??? :jawdrop: Man, I'm glad I don't live any further North than I do!


Never fear. I moved away from the 40 below zone in 2005 and only visit in the summer. Now Home is the West Coast with a much more temperate climate and we rarely get temps below freezing in the winter. The prairies can be brutally cold and unforgiving to people who like to temp Fate. I just got tired of the winters and found a warmer climate. This little wide spot in the road is north of Vancouver and called the Outdoor Capital of Canada for a reason. From here almost any activity is possible. That includes almost every winter activity. If I want snow and cold I just have to drive north a bit and wear thermal underwear.

[dhgeyer]

Sounds like you got it pretty good, WW!

[Water Warrior 2]

Sounds like you got it pretty good, WW!


Yup, I do have it good. Winters here are wet but no all that snowy. I can go for a 15 minute drive to a higher elevation and play in the snow. We are just a bit above sea level here with lots of mountains covered with snow. Snow will be falling and melt to become rain just a few hundred feet overhead. I can certainly live with that.

[alantf]

I can go for a 15 minute drive to a higher elevation with lots of mountains covered with snow.

:plus1: I know the feeling! I can sit on my terrace, in shorts, & look up to see the volcano covered in snow, & look down to see the tourists in Puerto de la Cruz sweltering in the heat.

I remember, a couple of years ago, taking a friend from England, up the cable car to the top of Teide. We had full hiking gear on, & we were still cold. Thing is, the tourists who had come on bus trips can't have been told how cold it was, & were on the top of the mountain in temperatures well below zero, wearing the shorts & vest tops that they were wearing when they got on the bus at sea level. :cry:

[Water Warrior 2]

LOL. The altitude change can be mighty rude. Went for a ride one nice summerish afternoon. Only needed a light mesh jacket until I started climbing uphill and discovered wind chill and slightly above freezing temps. BRRRR !

[Water Warrior 2]

Went for a ride today with temps 50-55 F. Not a lot of sunshine or wind , just dampish roads. Tried out my new heated pants. Oh so nice. The combo of a heated jacket liner and heated pants is very comfy. Oh ya, heated grips too. The heated gear fits nicely under my regular armored gear without being too bulky. Only needed a low setting to keep warm at highway speeds so the power draw was not even a concern.

[burkbuilds]

I've been riding for about a week now with my gear on. It's nice to be all warm and comfy when it's cool outside. No real big drops in temps around here yet though, down into the low 40's is about all so far and probably won't be much lower for about a month. It usually warms up at least into the mid 50's and usually into the 60's or sometimes low 70's by mid afternoon.