05 F650csa electric output

Anyone have any trouble running grips at full power and having heated gear on and/or motolights? I had my battery die when using motolights with grips at 100%. I stopped for gas and it wouldn't restart.

This morning it stalled on the way into work after driving with heated Gerbing socks at 50% and the grips at 100%. I turned off everything once it stalled so not sure if it was the electrical draw or as some have mentioned an issue with running premium fuel.

I keep getting different opinions on the method of charging for the alternator. One mechanic at the dealer told me that it charges at idle while the other thought it charged at speed. I would like to be able to run some accessories especially in the cold weather.

I am working on getting back to the dealer this week with the bike to have them do a full check on the electrical system. Anyone else have any other ideas?

you may want to check the F650 web site.

Per F650.com:

What is the Capacity of the Charging System

F650 Classic: Has a 280 Watt, 20 amp charging system. Shank.
F650GS/Dakar: Has a 400 Watt Charging System. Todd#389
Unconfirmed: Just had a visit with one of the guys at my local dealer. According the last bi-annual mechanic's training he attended, they were told that, since the ABS momentarily needs about 180W, the 650's that come with ABS have 580W alternators.

You'll have to do your own math in terms of what the total draw is on your system. It would be interesting to know how long it takes to fully recharge after simply starting the bike. On the old airheads people used to say it took 20 minutes of freeway speeds to recover...

Steve

At 400W, adding lights is pushing the charging limit. I doubt the bike is charging at idle with lights and grips going. Not only is that going to drain your battery, you are also constantly stressing the charging system and could do some damage there. Once the bike has been checked out I'd ask your dealer to measure the amperage flow to the battery with various accessories. That should give you an idea of how much you can use. Good luck.

Thanks for the help guys

The dealer worked on it for a while with various accessories running as well as at various RPMs. They were saying that below 4000 RPM the battery is discharging with grips and heated coat on. Above that they said it would be ok but to not run things all the time like some of you have suggested.

Here is what I have running so far. I also have a LED brake/tail light instead of the stock one so that should pull less from the overall requirements. I do want to find out exactly what the wattage is on the bike.

30w for CDI
65w for headlight on high beam
10w for instrument panel
5w or less for the taillight
180w for ABS [would this only activate when the ABS was required to pulsate?]
??? Heated grips [need to find out how much they draw]

Added items
70w for motolights [havenÔÇÖt used since the battery died]
22w for heated socks [with Gerbing controller]
77w for heated jacket liner [with Gerbing controller]

I rode the bike in this morning and did what others along with the dealer have suggested about turning things off when coming to slow traffic or intersections and that seems to have worked.

I will write more later on this but I did order a LED to show if the system was charging or discharging. Hope to have that in sometime next week.

Another thought for you to consider...HID bulbs only run 35w versus the 55w/65w for regular beams and the lighting is much better too, and perhaps consider the alternative bulbs for the motolights, the ones that consume less power? Switching off is of course the easiest and cheapest option, just get two or three of those green light triggers so that the lights are not too long in the winter...hehehehe.

I have an 03 f650cs and run fully heated gear and grips. At first I had some problems maintaining warmth and battery charge while I had the gear connected to the accessory port. I converted the my power point directly to the battery terminal and installed the splitter thermostat (two thermostats) . This allowed me to vary the degree of heat (and ampere draw) between the pants and socks/jacket and gloves to the min. comfort level.
I, however, do turn off my grips when I envision an idle period coming up. The 03 is rated at 400 watts. With the lights and all the gear running, at idle, it should start to draw on the battery, as the output at idle is not as much as at higher revolutions. Once good and warm I turn the heated gear as low as possible, at times off, while at speed to ensure my battery is getting charged.
I have had no problems, yet.

pudgypaintguy said:

Another thought for you to consider...HID bulbs only run 35w versus the 55w/65w for regular beams and the lighting is much better too, and perhaps consider the alternative bulbs for the motolights, the ones that consume less power? Switching off is of course the easiest and cheapest option, just get two or three of those green light triggers so that the lights are not too long in the winter...hehehehe.

Click to expand...

The moto lights I run are 35w each. I think that is the smallest bulb that will fit. I am not sure how the HID conversion would go. I think the cost would be pretty high however.

DaveWenz said:

I have an 03 f650cs and run fully heated gear and grips. At first I had some problems maintaining warmth and battery charge while I had the gear connected to the accessory port. I converted the my power point directly to the battery terminal and installed the splitter thermostat (two thermostats) . This allowed me to vary the degree of heat (and ampere draw) between the pants and socks/jacket and gloves to the min. comfort level.
I, however, do turn off my grips when I envision an idle period coming up. The 03 is rated at 400 watts. With the lights and all the gear running, at idle, it should start to draw on the battery, as the output at idle is not as much as at higher revolutions. Once good and warm I turn the heated gear as low as possible, at times off, while at speed to ensure my battery is getting charged.
I have had no problems, yet.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I have the gerbing double thermostat which I too use to keep the draw down on the system. I haven't run it much with the heated gear on since I haven't needed it.

I now have the LED discharge/charge indicator light set up on my bike so will have to see how that works when I have a few other things running.

is the LED indicator hard to install?

DaveWenz said:

is the LED indicator hard to install?

Click to expand...

I had the dealer do it and it took about an hour. I had it in for some other work so just had them do that as well since they had the part.