How-to: Install a voltmeter

[gzrider]

Ok, so i had a $19 automotive voltmeter sitting around that I never installed in my van, so I decided to put on the GZ.

I found an old black L bracket in the tool box,I never throw out unused hardware from things bought and there always is something, I end up using somewhere else later. so I drilled a 7/16 hole on one end to attach the bracket to the top fork clamp bolt, drilled 2 holes that matched the gauge mount housing,and bolted it to the bike .

I then opened up the headlight housing, that/s where the electrical connections are stuffed. I ran a hot lead to the ignition hot lead, and chose not to wire the gauges light, I am not looking to increase the bikes load on the electrical system. Also while I was there, I drilled a hole into the headlight housing and put a toggle switch in to be able to shut the headlight off for more available wattage on demand.

our bike has a 220 watt generator, and I'm trying to see just how much heated riding gear the bike will run.I went to a dealer in Spokane Wa, told them my bike model, and asked if the electrical system would accommodate 2 vests and 1 pair of gloves. the parts guy said that it would, so $400 later I had everything I wanted , now this was summer , it wasn't till recently that I decided to wire the stuff up, and in conversations people ,most were saying that the GZ couldn't do it. Now, I'm stuck with the gear, there was a 15 day return policy,I figured what would it hurt to just try run the gear.

I figured with the cost of this stuff most wouldn't dare buy what they couldn't use, and just would listen to the others saying what you cant do.Ill do the real test I figured, so in the carport I pluged in 2 vests 52 watts/4.5 amps, and a 25 watt/2.1 amps pair of heated gloves, all by synergy.

I used a multimeter, with the wife's help holding the leads,and tested the gear on all 3 settings in various settings, The readings looked like the bike would be able to run this stuff, as long as they weren't run on high. I recorded all various readings ,I then did a comfort test at night,and we found the vests to be plenty warm at low, the gloves needed to be on med to be toasty.

With this combo of settings, the readings were close to 12.2 volts, my batteries free standing voltage was 12.8, so I figured this would lead to a discharge condition, I then opened the headlight housing and disconnected the front marker lights hot lead for more juice.The turn leads were still connected , I just needed to see what this put back to the avail wattage. That seemed to be the trick, now I'm seeing 13+ volts with the headlight on,so I installed the voltmeter to be able to constantly monitor the electrical systems condition.

As I get more saddle time with the gear in use I will update this with what happened.With the headlight cut off switch and the voltmeter I can keep the battery condition regular, and start up is easy without the headlights load on start-up.I found that the voltage actually spikes to 14+ volts at idle and drops when the idle increases (without any of the gear), this is the benefit of the 3 phase configuration of the alternator design, in traffic the bikes voltage stays up because of this, It doesn't drop like most people assume, At least on my bike. This is a benefit of having a gauge to know the actual voltage at any time.You don't need to assume.

(paragraphed by Dupo for easier reading)