Battery & Headlights

[Ercouper]

I have two Rockets and I have noticed that the batteries (both new) seem a little on the small size and don't seem to spin the engines very fast or long, compared to my Goldwing & my previous Yamaha XS1100. Their motors are smaller but they have bigger batteries. I plan to order a 12V, 10 second delay relay to wire in series with the headlights to allow a little extra current for the starter motor. I contemplated adding a headlight switch to the handlebar but really don't want extra visible wires. The relay will be under the tank, of course, out of sight and 10 sec should be plenty of time to start the bike before turning the headlights on. What are your thoughts of my plan? Here is the relay that I ordered............ Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[TURBO200R4]

I have two Rockets and I have noticed that the batteries (both new) seem a little on the small size and don't seem to spin the engines very fast or long, compared to my Goldwing & my previous Yamaha XS1100. Their motors are smaller but they have bigger batteries. I plan to order a 12V, 10 second delay relay to wire in series with the headlights to allow a little extra current for the starter motor. I contemplated adding a headlight switch to the handlebar but really don't want extra visible wires. The relay will be under the tank, of course, out of sight and 10 sec should be plenty of time to start the bike before turning the headlights on. What are your thoughts of my plan? Here is the relay that I ordered............ Pardon Our Interruption...

The way they work normal is on a 5 terminal so the lights will go out when the starter relay is energised.
a lot of the early rocket guys have installed two relays for the lights and wired from battery so as to take the load out of ignition switch because there has been a lot go bad
i fixed mine a long time ago an the ign switch still works great.
they also have a system that is called the eastern beaver that you can install.
your bikes may have a system already installed.
.hth

 

[Ercouper]

The way they work normal is on a 5 terminal so the lights will go out when the starter relay is energised.
a lot of the early rocket guys have installed two relays for the lights and wired from battery so as to take the load out of ignition switch because there has been a lot go bad
i fixed mine a long time ago an the ign switch still works great.
they also have a system that is called the eastern beaver that you can install.
your bikes may have a system already installed.
.hth

I don't believe my '05 & '07 have a system as you described, but will check a little closer. I have also never heard of the eastern beaver system but will see what I cam find on that as well. I'm a retired electronics tech and have some abilities along those lines. I much appreciate the info.. Thanks!

 

[TURBO200R4]

I don't believe my '05 & '07 have a system as you described, but will check a little closer. I have also never heard of the eastern beaver system but will see what I cam find on that as well. I'm a retired electronics tech and have some abilities along those lines. I much appreciate the info.. Thanks!

it has been a long time since i heard of someone buying an eastern beaver
i can help if you want to do relays

 

[Ercouper]

it has been a long time since i heard of someone buying an eastern beaver
i can help if you want to do relays

I looked up the eastern beaver mod, but @ $100, I think I will research other options.....being the cheap & po guy that I am.
Yes, I would appreciate any info you can give me concerning your relay mod.. I can for sure see the logic in not running headlight current through the ignition switch. I didn't realize that there have been failures due to this. Thanks again for any help.

 

[atomsplitter]

On the pre 2010 models the ignition barrel carried the headlight 55W draw and this load proved too much for the solder joints in the barrel causing a lot of failures. The Eastern Beaver relay mod takes power directly from the battery and puts it to the headlights through the normal starting circuit so the headlight still drops out when the start button is depressed. They also had an option for a switched headlight that allows the rider to toggle the headlight on or off, handy since pulling fuses can be a chore. How you install the Eastern Beaver unit is to cut the wiring and install the harness plug from the headlights into the relay wiring and then to the battery. There should be online instructions detailing the installation. I had the Eastern Beaver setup with cut-out on my 2005 Standard and the headlights were much brighter and tuning the ECU was a lot easier when you can turn the ignition switch on and toggle the headlights off.

 

[Ercouper]

On the pre 2010 models the ignition barrel carried the headlight 55W draw and this load proved too much for the solder joints in the barrel causing a lot of failures. The Eastern Beaver relay mod takes power directly from the battery and puts it to the headlights through the normal starting circuit so the headlight still drops out when the start button is depressed. They also had an option for a switched headlight that allows the rider to toggle the headlight on or off, handy since pulling fuses can be a chore. How you install the Eastern Beaver unit is to cut the wiring and install the harness plug from the headlights into the relay wiring and then to the battery. There should be online instructions detailing the installation. I had the Eastern Beaver setup with cut-out on my 2005 Standard and the headlights were much brighter and tuning the ECU was a lot easier when you can turn the ignition switch on and toggle the headlights off.

First, let me say that I was wrong in my assumption that my Rockets didn't have the headlight cutoff feature because of the starter relay. I don't know why I was thinking they didn't. DUH! So.....half the problem doesn't exist. It would be nice to have on/off control though, like you said, for when messing with tune ECU for instance. How about doing a cheap mod of just using a handlebar mounted on/off switch, like the one Eastern Beaver sells (Ebay $10) , and just disconnect the blue/yellow 12v feed wire from the input side of F9 and connecting the switch between there (fuse) and the brown "N" wire at fuse block (rect/reg side)? That way the ignition switch doesn't have to carry the headlight current, F9 is still used, and the cutoff functionality of starter relay cutoff is still used (if switch was on)? The only down side would be that with ignition off and handlebar switch on the lights would remain on and must remember to turn it off. What do you think?

 

[rick danger]

I have two Rockets and I have noticed that the batteries (both new) seem a little on the small size and don't seem to spin the engines very fast or long, compared to my Goldwing & my previous Yamaha XS1100.

I bought an Antigravity battery for my gen. 2 rocket, and it spins the starter a lot faster. The first gen. rockets have room for an even bigger battery. The one I got is 720 amps. But I think you can fit a 900 amp one on the older bikes.....something to consider.

New AntiGravity Restart Battery

It looks like AntiGravity has a new type of battery that will keep you from accidentally discharging it. They have a feature called Restart which puts the battery to sleep before it is completely discharged keeping enough power in place to allow you to start your vehicle. A lot of automotive...

www.r3owners.net

 

[Ercouper]

I bought an Antigravity battery for my gen. 2 rocket, and it spins the starter a lot faster. The first gen. rockets have room for an even bigger battery. The one I got is 720 amps. But I think you can fit a 900 amp one on the older bikes.....something to consider.

New AntiGravity Restart Battery

It looks like AntiGravity has a new type of battery that will keep you from accidentally discharging it. They have a feature called Restart which puts the battery to sleep before it is completely discharged keeping enough power in place to allow you to start your vehicle. A lot of automotive...

www.r3owners.net

Thanks. I will consider this as a possible future upgrade. Right now $400 isn't in my budget. I may have to wait till I sell one of my "extra" bikes.

 

[atomsplitter]

You can do whatever you like, it's your bike. Remember you can always 'undo' a change back to OEM if it's not right. The Eastern Beaver is already tried and true so that's why I went that direction, but your budget isn't my budget unless your garage looks like this: