1983 GL1100/ Heayed vest/ Charging issues???

[ssweet]

I have a 19983 GL1100, I just got a heated vest but then got to thinking about charging issues that sometimes occur with these bikes. Does anyone know if useing this vest (Pluged into cig lighter)will cause premature failure of my charging system? Thanks for any info

[MJSantos]

The biggest problem with this model is the connector with the three yellow wires right in front of the battery. This plug has a high failure rate so most folks cut the plug off and solder the wires together. The electrical system on these has about a 5 amp overhead. Some folks have switched to LED bulbs to free up some current. What you might want to do is get the specs on the vest and post it so the others and chime in.

[ssweet]

From what I have been told vest requires about 35 watts which should be around 3 Amps. Again hearsay from 3rd party. Thanks

[RoadRogue]

go ahead and use the vest all you want,the stator on these bikes once the RPM is up puts out 300watts of power all the time. What ever is left over after running the bike and any add ons gets routed to ground generating heat in the voltage regulator.the watts more you use the cooler your Reg will run.use the wattage or loose them to ground. I used to run both heated grips and the vest at the same time with no problems. Just make sure the your "3 yellow wire" connection is clean and tight or soldered up.

On my 1100 I wanted more power for extra lights and the heated goodies too so I designed,based on the Poor Boy Alternator conversion for the 1200,my own version. Now I have 55 amps of electrical power,thats 750 watts. 2 1/2 times the factory power.

Short of doing the Alternator conversion you can change all the 1157 bulbs to LEDs to free up a bunch of watts,enough to run the vest and a couple of driving lights.

[detdrbuzzard]

your vest should be wired ( with a fuse ) directly to the battery

[ssweet]

Great information guys!! Thanks for the help!!

[WingAdmin]

I would be wary of plugging the vest into the cigarette lighter (which is not OEM, and could be wired who knows how by a previous owner?). Do like mentioned here, and wire it through a fused wire directly to the battery. Switching out light bulbs to LEDs will help free up some electrical capacity so that you won't be discharging your battery when idling or running at slower speeds.

[ssweet]

Thanks for the advice, Can you advise where to locate the LED lights? Thanks Again!!

[WingAdmin]

Have a look at this post - those are the LEDs that I used on my bike.

[lhelber]

I went to superbrightled.com for all of my LEDs. I have a lot of extra lighting on my bike and was able to find the correct LEDs for each need. They also have a special brake light LED that works for your tail/brake/license plate lights that the 83 has. It has the red LEDs that face out for your tail and brake lights and have white LEDs around the edges to shine on your license plate.

[ssweet]

Thats some great info, Thanks!!