radio too much for battery?

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mattyg84
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:21 pm
I ride: 05 blue vulcan 500

radio too much for battery?

Postby mattyg84 » Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:04 pm

Hello all,
I recently bought a 2005 Vulcan 500. Traded up from my 86 Honda rebel 450. I love the bike and so I put my bike radio on it and took I out for a ride today. On my Honda the generator was only strong enough to run the bike so I had to do an led conversion plus and hid headlight to be able to run the radio. Towards the end it would stall alot and what not im not sure maybe the radio was robbing poweer from the cdi, so I traded it in. I brought my kaw to work today and on the way here it started skipping thenn it died. I cranked it a few times it sounded like the started was clicking while turning but I have never run the starter for more than a second so i dunno it could be the normal sound. I had just fueled up so i know it's not gas. I let it sit for a min while i tried to get a ride when no one answered i said I'll try one last time it fired right up and ran the rest of the way to work no problem i left the radio off im wondering is it possible the radio robbed the ignition of power? Can this bike run accessories? I believe the radio has a 5a fuse i have it wired right to the battery could that be a problem? Any other ideas? I'm gunna ride home with the radio on to see if it dies I dunno what else it could be? Any ideas appreciated

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Triangles
Site Admin
Posts: 819
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:35 pm
I ride: '94 Black Cherry Vulcan 500, '06 Candyfire Red Vulcan 500 LTD
Location: Toledo Ohio
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Re: radio too much for battery?

Postby Triangles » Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:38 am

like the rebel 450 there is very little extra juice available for accessories. If I remember correctly, I think the OEM stater puts out 17A and it takes 12A to run the motor. I've read about supposed 19A aftermarket one available that some have had problems with putting out less than their original ones. YMMV.

You could temporarily hook up a voltage meter and that will tell you a lot. When running your voltage should be around 14V If you turn on the radio and it drops down to 12 or lower then you are overloading the alternator and running off the battery.
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burkbuilds
Posts: 350
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:29 pm
Location: Rome, Georgia

Re: radio too much for battery?

Postby burkbuilds » Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:48 pm

Triangles is correct. There isn't much "extra" accessory power with our bikes. I did pretty much what you did with the LED running lights and turn signals to give me a little extra juice to use with my heated gear. I can run the gear as long as I'm at highway speeds, but in town the heated gear would drain my battery even with the LED lights and such, although I never converted the headlight to LED and that would probably have given me another 50 watts to use.
I've noticed that this is the case with almost all motorcycles except for the big Touring bikes. Most bikes just have enough power to run the bikes and 5-10 amps additional output at most. I am one of those Triangles mentioned who tried an aftermarket replacement Stator that was "guaranteed" to put out 20% more power than the OEM Stator, but I metered it and it actually put out less power so I sent it back for a full refund. I'm glad I had their "guarantee" in writing or I don't think they would have given me my money back.


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