Heated gear/current battery draw?

Booya

.020 Over
Joined
May 11, 2014
Messages
21
Location
Roswell, NM
Ride
2008 Triumph Rocket III Touring
Hello all,
Can one tell me how I can easily test how much draw I'm currently using on my battery and/or what is available, as I want to use heated gear during the colder season; however, I don't want to overload my system. I have an "unchanged from the factory" 2008 R3T, I did change my spot bulbs to 55w each from the prior 35w each. Is anyone else using heated gear? Have you have any issues? I have the complete under garments, sock, glove, pant & jacket liners, all rated @ 90w. I welcome your thoughts.

Sincere thanks in advance, Bob
 
You shouldn't have a problem. I run 2 headlights ;) 2 fog lamps, heated grips, heated jacket, heated gloves without a problem. You will only be drawing a maximum of 7.5 amps - and it is not continuous as the heated gear cycles on and off to keep you at your comfortable level.
 
There is only one real way to know - fit a voltmeter. On reason I went to LED lighting was due to seeing voltage drop at more elevated speeds with the same sort of lighting as idk mentions. As you go faster the electrical demand required for generating sparks increases and with high ancillary draw eventually can overtake the alternators capacity to provide. I started to see the drop at over 3500rpms. 2000-3000 rpms the alternator will cope - JUST.
 
I run 55 watt bulbs in my aux lights, heated grips, heated jacket and gloves. My voltage stays "in the green" except when sitting at a traffic light with my (4) brake lights on, then it shows red for a short time.
Do yourself a favor and look into one of these. It's a cheap way to tell how your charging system is doing.
Rich
upload_2014-11-7_9-20-9.png
 
Im curious about heated gear. How do you hook up pants, vest, gloves and socks all together? I see that they each have a cable, but can they all be daisychained together to make it so that you only have to plug 1 thing in? or do you have to have a seperate plug for each item?
 
The gear I have can all be daisy chained off one plug. However, it can also be split so that you can use two controllers to better suite your various body parts' requirements.
 
For the Roadster with standard lighting and heated grips, my bike stays in the 14 volt range at idle. I installed a Kuryakyn LED Voltmeter to monitor the voltage and have noted no problems with power supply at idle or high speed. Not sure how much another 7.5 amps of draw would tax your charging system. You could hook up an ammeter to the bike to monitor charge output with all accessories running. This would let you know how much you could add.

Rider Motorcycle Magazine stated that the 2014 touring model puts out 574 watts or around 45 amps max. That's a lot for a bike.
2014 Triumph Rocket III Touring
Electrical
Ignition: Digital electronic, twin plugs per cyl.
Charging Output: 574 watts max.
Battery: 12V 18AH
 
Gents, all good information, sincere thanks for your input. I'm installing the battery dongle today and will try your suggestions prior to use.

Thanks, Booya Bob
 
Word of warning, those higher watt bulbs will eventually make your wiring fail. It may take quite awhile, but they will fail. You can imagine how I know.
 
Hence the value of installing the Eastern Beaver bypass kit, or equivalent. Run whatever bulbs you want on your own wire, and leave the Triumph wire to handle the little stuff.
 
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