wannars125 Posted July 29, 2011 Posted July 29, 2011 I've got a 12V adaptor thingy for the bike to be able to charge up different bits and bobs whilst travelling. I've also got a separate charger cable for the sat nav too. Both have connectors on them to plug directly onto the battery with their own fuses. Once unplugged from the actual devices they are charging the battery is not in use at all.Question is, can I have the two chargers running off the battery whilst the bike is in use without affecting the battery? As I say, they are both fused individually and I'm sure don't draw too much power. Quote
Bogof Posted July 29, 2011 Posted July 29, 2011 Question is, can I have the two chargers running off the battery whilst the bike is in use without affecting the battery? As I say, they are both fused individually and I'm sure don't draw too much power. Yes. The alternator will pump out way more than is needed to top up the battery, so all the time the bike is running there should be no effect.Once the engine is stopped it's another story though. Your 2 devices WILL drain the battery, and given that bike batteries are small and have small capacity, they will do so fairly quickly. The way round this is to rewire your chargers so they are switched by the ignition, so they are only connected and charging when the ignition is switched on. The simple way is to trace an existing switched wire and tap into it. The purists and masochists amongst us will tell you that you need a relay blah blah.... Quote
Guest akey Posted July 29, 2011 Posted July 29, 2011 Having had trouble with this - all be it with much more running off the batt, there are 3 ways you can test this.No 1 - fit all the kit ride around for a while and see if the bike still starts not reccomended I have tried this method.No 2 - fit all the kit, start the bike and test the voltage accross the battery which should be above 12.5v min and below 14.v ish. You will also need to check this voltage above about 2500 rpm as most bike charging systems dont reach full output until then. (this can also be done in stages, i.e fit the first bit of kit and test, fit second bit of kit - test etc etc etc), or you can fit a voltmeter to the bike (most tiger 955i owners do this as the charging system is a bit weak on them).No 3 - do some calculations. You will need the output of the alternator/generator of the bike, the rough current or power draw of the bike itself but its usually minimal, and the max current or wattage of each device.No2 is the easiest and the most accurate way to do it, its also probably the quickest especially if all the kit is already fitted. Most bikes should cope with a sat nav and single charging device (ipod, phone whatever) its only when you start adding extra spot lights, heated grips, heated clothing and other devices that you really need to worry about it.I run tomtom, phone charger and spot lights with the super tenere and its fine, but then it does have a pretty powerfull charging system Quote
wannars125 Posted August 1, 2011 Author Posted August 1, 2011 Cheers Akey, No.2 makes sense! I'll nip round to the father in laws as I don't have a voltmeter! Quote
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