Aux lights and grips draining battery??

[T885i_Blk]

Hi,

I fitted Hella FF75 driving lights and Daytona heated grips through a relay so they only work when the ignition is on and lights are on (switch cable taken from brake light). I also fitted a new battery with higher cca. The lights have an additional handlebar switch so they are not on all the time, only as needed.

I'm not too sure how to work out if I'm drawing too much power or if I've made a mistake in my wiring, as I have been unable to start my bike after stopping a few times when using my new accessories, I have push started it with no problems. My other concern is that after it's been sitting for a few days it won't start, when before fitting it would be ok for a couple of weeks.

The only other things I have done is to add a 12v socket to the dash taken from the 12v socket on the side of the frame. I have tested it and it works ok but it's not currently in use. And changed the rear light for an LED one.

I have H7 55w bulbs  in the aux lights, and I can only asume I have the same in the bike headlights.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[akendall1966]

Simplest would be is disconnect what you have done from the place you are powering both the relay contactors and coil and see if it behaves as before. You know then if it is your modifications or a coincidental fault
A diff batery even if new is a possibility

[TripleTragic]

Assuming the FF75 are 55W like the FF50 they pull about 4A (each light) I am not familiar with the Daytona grips but I suspect they will be drawing about 3-4 amps as well.  The standard alternator is a 26A one and I can't remember how much of that is spare, but from memory you should have enough to play with if you are not running anything else (eg heated gear etc.) 

Sorry, just read the OP again, 885i not steamer.  Should be a 40A alternator (I think) and I have no idea of how much spare they have.

Disconnecting the accessories, as suggested, is probably the easy way to check. Then if that all checks out try reconnecting one at a time, including running only one of the FF75s.

[lukeman]

I have a feeling that adding two more 55watt bulbs might be too much of a draw.

You can measure the volts at the battery to see if the battery is charging or not when you have everything turned on and the bike running. 

Ideally you'd have > 14.0 volts at higher revs with all your gear turned on. 
I believe that >13.20 volts will keep the battery charged and below that you are likely draining the battery. 
I know on my bike, at idle with the fan running, the bike is not charging as the volts fall to 12.3 or so.  I just did the Sasquatch fix, might help you out as well.

I would check the volts with all your gear turned on and see what it looks like.  Rev it up to your cruising speed, 4000RPM, and see if you're charging at that revs. 

[TigerTrax]

Lukeman is correct.

You should get some HID lights and drop your
power consumption. I'd say put HID on the headlights
and forget the aux lights.

I read the power specs on the Daytona grips, that should not be a problem.
However, adding 2 55w lights 'hogs up' a lot of juice.

Do the 'Sasquatch Fix' and use heavier wiring and solder
splices.

For now:
Disconnect the aux lights and ride for a few days and see if that
solves the problem. If it does: You know what to do.
If not.... you may have a bad charging system....
new stator or rectifier or both.

[TripleTragic]

A set of 35W HID aux light will NOT save you very much over a set of 55W halogens (although they will be bucket loads brighter).  The 35W refers to just the "globe" and people conveniently forget to tell you that each ballast also draws about 10w gioving you about a 10W/~0.75A saving over the 55W halogen.

If you are close to the limit it might make a difference, but the cheaper option to get a similar (or even slighter larger) saving is to start changing every possible globe in the dash to LEDs.  You can also change you tail lights but don't bother with indicators as they are a transient load and shouldn't be included in the load calculation.

Also changing headlight globes to HID can be a mixed bag; brighter, yes, but the spread of light is often terrible compared to the original halogen because the arc in the HID is in a different position relative to the reflector the the filament of the halogen globe.

[T885i_Blk]

Thank you all for your replies.

I have done a bit of trial and error and found that it doesnt charge well under ~3k revs (12.5v), but is ok above that (13.8-14.2v), and the particular trails I was riding meant I was going a bit too slow and then could't restart.

I have bought a spark bright that I saw in the LED volt meters thread so that I can keep an eye on when I need to turn my aux lights off. Hopefully this will give me enough notice so that I don't end up with a dead battery.

I was very interested in the voltage fix, but unfortunately that doesnt apply to the 885i tigers. But I may look into replacing the larger charging wires to see if that helps.

The only thing I can't quite work out is why (even after changing the battery) the bike doesnt like to start after a few days of sitting in the garage. It never used to be a problem until recently.

[T885i_Blk]

ok, after doing nothing more than updating the wiring (replacing the wires in the charging system with new slightly heavier guage) and giving the battery a good charge I now have 14.3V at idle and remains between 14.2-14.5V while going throught th rev range.

The Sparkbright LED monitor differs by about 0.7V compared to a meter directly on the battery, but does it's job well. I connected it as close to the battery as possible using a relay, rather than off the headlights. It shows the drain the Aux light place on the battery and will remind me to turn them off to give the battery chance to recover before I turn off the bike.

The only thing that remains illusive is what is draining my battery over the course of 2-3 days so that it won't start

[metalguru]

This drain is a bit tricky, it could be anything from a small amount of corrosion bridging between a constant live, the main switch contacts worn out, alarm connectors or unit if fitted going faulty, or at worst a diode in the alternator gone down. They are easy as they are behind the alternater back cover.

As far as capacity is concerned, the output of a good alternater is 40A, this equates to 480watts, add up all your accesories and see how close you are.

A good tip on these is to remove and clean the carbon brushes and the comm with some fine wet n dry.
You will be able to see the regulator and the diode block with all the connections.