How much draw is bad for the electrical sys?

[manofallseasons]

Hi. I know nothing about electric issues so need to know how much can be added to a cycle (1987 1200) before burning out things like the stator. If I plug in a Garmin GPS would that potentially overload the system? It would be nice to add some lights too, but I am afraid the draw would be too much. Any ideas out there that can be explained to someone who knows little about electrical stuff? Thanks. Dean

[WingAdmin]

A GPS is going to draw very, very little power, and will have little to no effect on your electrical system.

Lights on the other hand draw a lot of power. I was able to add two 35-watt driving lights to my GL1100, but I had to change most of my other lights to LEDs in order to free up enough power to do it - and if the bike was idling, it did not produce enough power to run them, so having them on with the engine below around 2,000 RPM would actually draw down the battery.

You could likely run a set of LED driving lights (there are a couple different ones reviewed in the Product Reviews Forum) with no problem however, as their current draw is much less than regular halogen/incandescent lights.

[manofallseasons]

Thanks, that's what I needed to know! Dean

[timdiver64]

I'm new and was looking for this also. Another post said the stator puts out around 35 amps max. I wouldn't go near the max due to the high cost of replacing a stator.

[manofallseasons]

I wish I could find a good repairman in my area to check my cycle and possibly add some LEDs. When you live in the country there aren't many people to fix things.