Charging system

New to the group with my new to me 2015 K1600 GT. PO put on 71k and took excellent care of the beast as far as I can tell, w/ service records and the limited # of mi. I have ridden. Since I live in Mi., I have invested in a range of heated garments to extend my riding season. I hooked up the fused 12v wiring harness directly to the battery, as I have on my airhead, to run my coat, gloves, pants and heated insoles. Everything worked fine. My only gripe is a noticeable surging of the engine at idle. I did not delve further into what the voltage readout was because, quite frankly, at that time I had not learned how to control all the new bells and whistles. Now that I have a bit more understanding of the system, I also note that charging rate (no heated garments) going down the road is around 13.7v. I am under the impression that the AGM/gel type batteries should charge at a higher rate of 14.5 - 14.7 range. If this is the case, is there a way to adjust the charging voltage? Back to the surging; this is mostly annoying and a bit embarrassing in stop and go traffic, but not something I can't live with. Thanks for reading and I appreciate any suggestions.


Rodney
1984 R100
Original owner
2015 K1600 GT
(Welcome to the 21 century)

Surging

Your heated gear is causing the surging and as they say at the dealership “they all do that”. It’s your decision to be warm or not

+1 d martin, surging is "normal" for K1600.

Duane

gunnert said:

+1 d martin, surging is "normal" for K1600.

Duane

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Wow. Progress. My K75 never surges. I would think that a 90 watt load on a 1600cc engine would be like a mosquito on the back of a Jackalope.

Agreed - the parts fiche shows it to be a 19 amp-hour battery, so I'd think that either it's weak or it's not being charged enough. A poor idle, especially if worse with an additional load, can be a sign of a degrading battery, since the battery itself is presenting a load to the alternator/regulator.
Or maybe the pants plus insoles really are too heavy a load?

I'm thinking the battery is original and have a new Odyssey ready to go in. I just never had the surging from my airhead with the same hook up to the battery and that is a mere 280 watt system. So I'll put the new battery in and check what is going on volt wise with the onboard readout. I'm still curious about the charging voltage; could this be a system that senses what type of battery is installed as I'm not sure what type battery is in there now. Thanks for the replies.

Rodney

You guys can think all you want, it is what it is, the K1600 surges when you run heated gear. BTW, I have an Odyssey battery; does not reduce/stop the surging, it's the same as stock battery. .

Duane

I would be interested in watching a (preferably sweep) voltmeter during this surging deal.
OM

Arm chairing

gunnert said:

You guys can think all you want, it is what it is, the K1600 surges when you run heated gear. BTW, I have an Odyssey battery; does not reduce/stop the surging, it's the same as stock battery. .

Duane

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That being the case, and I will take your word for it, I would never buy a K1600 because the electrical system design is faulty.

Faulty? You must be an electrical engineer that studied the K1600 charging system; duh... Absolutely NO adverse issue with the light surging at idle with heated gear on.

Duane

I put the new battery in and going down the road noticed a slight increase in the charge rate to13.8v (without the heated gear) I hooked up all my heated gear to the battery harness and still have the surging at idle. Maybe slightly less but I have no basis for comparison.

gunnert said:

Faulty? You must be an electrical engineer that studied the K1600 charging system; duh... Absolutely NO adverse issue with the light surging at idle with heated gear on.

Duane

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Nope. Don't need to be. A 90 watt load should never cause a lope in an engine as big as 1600cc. I am glad you like your bike. We all tend to overlook or excuse faults after a $20K investment.

The parts fiche also shows the alternator to be rated at 55 amps, so at 12 volts, that's 660 watts of output.
Either the rest of the bike (ignition, lighting, computer, fuel injection, navigation, CD player, refrigerator) pulls enough current to make that "somewhat marginal" - a design issue - or the extra heated gear just pulls too much current.

Also note that the factory often uses the smallest wire they can ("ziss size vire vill pass ziss much current") as a cost- and space-saving method, so installing larger or parallel wiring might help.

And yes, my last five formal job titles at a huge aerospace electronics corporation included the word "engineer".

Damn, you guys are getting cranky!

FWIW, In the great white north, (Pennsylvania) I have run heated clothing since I got the bike in November and have not noticed any surging issues. It is possible that I'm just paying attention to other things. When I fire up the bike, my voltmeter registers about 14.3 to 14.5, though I have not paid attention to the voltmeter when I turn on the electrics. Still can't figure why they put a smaller alternator in the 1600s than in the boxers. Makes no sense to me

Since someone is throwing around his job title......

I am a Psychologist. SO THERE!!!!!

will3hawks said:

FWIW, In the great white north, (Pennsylvania) I have run heated clothing since I got the bike in November and have not noticed any surging issues. It is possible that I'm just paying attention to other things. When I fire up the bike, my voltmeter registers about 14.3 to 14.5, though I have not paid attention to the voltmeter when I turn on the electrics. Still can't figure why they put a smaller alternator in the 1600s than in the boxers. Makes no sense to me

Click to expand...

If it makes you feel any better, the Wethead RT alternators are only 540 watts. The Hex/camheads output 720 watts, which was probably overkill for anything except the authority bikes.

So that was one of my original questions that kinda got lost. Is there a wat to adjust the charge setting? Mine is around 13.8v and I believe for the AGM type battery it should be closer to 14.5v.

Thanks again for the input.

will3hawks said:

I am a Psychologist. SO THERE!!!!!

Click to expand...

Are the “caps” a Freudian slip?
OM

No you can"t adjust the voltage output of the alternator. But if your voltage is on the low side how was it checked? I would check it at 2500 rpms, then put a load on it with your accessories. If it drops below you battery voltage ( what your battery voltage just sitting there nothing on not running) you have a charging issue. My guess is you have a diode (rectifier bridge it changes ac to dc) that is not making enough current (amps) in your system. Also there might be some ac ripple coming from you alternator in your electrical system That might cause engine performance issues. Find a good electrical shop to check your electrical system. Many of these shop can rework an alternator to increase output.

Former ASE master tech from the automotive industry.