trail side repairs

[Jeff Saline]

On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 14:27:13 +0000 stuart_phillips@... writes:

> Hi anyone running an electric vest and/or other electric accessories? > Which one? > > Investigating possibilities to add a connection to the bike, > preferably a bit more convenient than just croc clips to the > battery. > > Thanks in advance to all replies! ><><><><><><>

<><><><><><><> Stuart, I sometimes use an electric vest, heated grips, run an iPod, GPS or heated gloves on my KLR. I've set up my bike with a fan over-ride switch so I can run the fan all the time, none of the time or in the normal mode. I've got a headlight cutout switch so I can turn it off if I want to use the electrickery somewhere else. And I run two LEDs to help me monitor the voltage situation. Here are a bit more on the specifics. The vest is about 38 watts and was only made for a few years. The company was GR8 Designs and I think Doug went out of business about 5 years ago. It uses Gorex, the material often used for heated automobile seats, as the heating element. I like this vest as it's almost indestructible. To stop the heating element from working on a "normal" wire heating element vest all that has to happen is have the wire break somewhere and the heating factor is gone. For my vest the material must be cut entirely apart to stop 1/4th the heating capability. I also like the 38 watt draw compared with many vests which are into the mid to high 40 watt draw area. My vest doesn't have hot spots like some wire style vest may have. The heated grips I'm currently trying are Moose ATV grip heater elements. I'm using the ProGrip Gel Grips available through Fred at www.arrowheadmotorsports.com . I don't remember which model I've got but if it's important to you ask and I'll go look up the model. I first tried the Dual-Star heating elements as I got a killer deal on them through the guy that did some of the initial testing/development of them. The clutch and throttle side are different wattages and I found them to provide uneven heating so I had a hand either too hot or not warm enough. With the Moose elements I find that they work almost too well with my current installation method and they both get burning hot quite quickly. What I've done on my set up is to buy two sets of the ProGrip Gel Grips. I only use throttle side grips and figure I'll use the clutch side on an ATV sometime. I wrap the clutch side handlebar with cork bicycle grip tape and then put the element over the cork. This prevents the heat from soaking into the handlebars. On the throttle side I just put the element over the throttle tube. I use high temperature RTV as a lubricant and glue for the elements and grips. I have removed one set of grips and cut them off. The RTV makes it an easy removal and clean up unlike the stock glue installation by Kawasaki. It seems that both sides are close to the same temperature. And that is hot! I haven't had the opportunity to test them in temps in the 30s or colder but I think I'll like them. I have considered putting a heat troller or something similar in the circuit so I can dial in the temp that works the best. Also, I've only used them with my summer riding gloves which have a thin palm. My winter riding gloves with a thicker palm may work better with the higher heat. One other consideration is I still haven't put any handguards on my Moose Barkbusters. I've been talking about doing that for two years but never get around to it. So a bit more wind protection for my hands in cold temps might make a major difference in how effective the heated grips become. We did a similar set up on Martin Earl's KLR using the Dual-Star heating elements. We ended up rewiring the elements so the clutch side was on low when the throttle side is on hot. That, I think, has evened out the temperatures a bit. But if you turn the switch so the throttle side is on low the clutch side will be on burn. So Martin really only has two useable settings on his bike. High or off. I like the headlight cut out switch as if I'm not on the road and want to save some electrickery for charging the battery or powering the vest, grips or fan I can kill the headlight with a flick of a switch. I set mine up so I kill the low beam. When we did Martin Earl's KLR he wanted it set up so it would kill the high beam and power an LED indicator so he could tell the low beam was killed. I like the killing of the high beam as all you have to do if you want a headlight is to flick the switch (without removing your hand from the left grip) from high to low and you have a normal headlight. For me I have to flick from low to high and then I suppose it could be bothersome to oncoming traffic. The fan cut out switch is set up so I can run in the normal mode which is what I do most of the time. If I don't want the fan to run I can flick the switch to the middle position and the fan won't work. This is great for after a fall on the left side if you've maybe damaged the fan assembly and don't want to take the time to fix it. An alternative method to disable the fan would be to unplug the wire from the sender at the bottom of the radiator. Jeff Just recently melted a fan blade on his KLR and I think having the switch available to stop the fan may have prevented much if not all fan blade hub damage. The last position I have is always on. This is fine for slow running when you want some extra cooling. I used it alot last summer on De Tour. And Bill Watson's data indicates using the fan up to about 60 mph (I think I've got that correct) is beneficial for helping to run a bit cooler. The down side to this set up is if the switch gets flicked to always on (maybe by a helpful kid or raccoon) the fan will operate until the switch is flicked back to off or normal or the battery is dead. In two years I haven't had a problem. I use cigarette lighter type connections (I actually use European DIN connectors like used with BMWs) on my dash. I have two and one is hot all the time and the other is key controlled. I like the hot all the time for battery charging connections and operating the GPS. When I turn the bike off the GPS continues to work on the bike battery and doesn't need any buttons pushed to continue to operate. I like the key controlled outlet for my heated vest. I monitor my charging system using a very basic method. I have two LEDs hooked into the system (key controlled) with a couple of resistors and zenier diodes. One burns at a constant brightness when the key is on. The other lights at about 11.5 volts and increases in brightness as the voltage increases up to about 14.5 volts. At that point both LEDs are equal brightness. With just a little bit of use I learned to read with a glance at how my electrical system is doing. I don't want more information than what's provided by the two LEDs. They give me a warm happy feeling when both are glowing nicely and I know my charging system is fine. I don't run grips and vest at the same time on the KLR. One on the other off. Then a switch of components and I can keep my body and hands comfortable. I think my KLR would handle my vest and grips but that would be about the max my charging system could handle. And that's only at higher engine rpms, for me about 4-5,000 rpm. I use the city lights wires under the fairing near the right turn signal wires to control a relay which supplies power to my switched circuits. I have a separate fused circuit from the battery powering the relay. I don't think the city lights wiring is heavy enough to pass the current needed for heated clothing. Some folks on the list use those wires for their heated grips or vests with supposedly good results. I think some basic testing with a multimeter would show a serious lack of capability. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT

[Analog Aardvark]

I run a widder when temps are really cold. It has a bizarre two pronged plug on the vest, but it came with a little adaptor at the end of the temperature knob/heattroller that converts it to SAE. I use the same fused SAE lead for the vest, the trickle charger (well, if I ever put the bike up), the tire pump, and for a homemade H3 helmet light. None of it at the same time. I don't know the exact numbers on the widder draw, but I researched it at the time and decided it made sense. The KLR has no issues running it all day, and it's HOT HOT HOT HOT. The only other vest I've used is the aerostich fleece electric (with full sleeves, don't know if the elements go down the sleeves or not). The Widder at "barely on" is as warm as the Aerostich at high, ini my experience. I plan on wiring grips to the city lights leads but haven't done so yet. -Luke --- stuart_phillips@... wrote:

> Hi anyone running an electric vest and/or other > electric accessories? Which one? > > Investigating possibilities to add a connection to > the bike, preferably a bit more convenient than just > croc clips to the battery. > > Thanks in advance to all replies! > > [Non-text portions of this message have been > removed] > >

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[John]

I've had Gerbing for about 8 years. I have jacket with sleves and gloves. Running at 3000rpm or more (make sure you get a thermostat or "heatroller" as they call it), you will continue to charge the battery. When stopped at lights, with or without blinker going, you will be discharging the battery, so I turn it down to about half. I have a very accurate voltage meter on the bike, so know exactly what state of charge I'm in. The thermostat works with pulses, the more you turn it up the closer together the pulses get until its constantly on. Its a spendy extra, but make sure you get one, full on is too hot much of the time, its nice to be able to set it to exactly where you want it. You mount the thermostat on the right side, infront of the battery box above the front drive sprocket. For connectors I use black rubber side by side male/female. Not sure what they are called, but you can get them from Radio Shack. Can send you photo's if you need them. www.gerbing.com They have a warranty for life on their stuff, I've sent my gloves back and it just cost me postage. Usual disclaimers, no connection with them, just like their stuff and its been great over the years. John --------------------------------- All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Hookstr]

I have a Gerbing jacket liner. A liner not only heats your core thoracic area, but your arms, too. It is great! Gerbing's is a family owned business, and manufacture both "off the rack" sizes and custom made liners, coats, pants, gloves, socks, etc. Not always the least expensive, but you get personal service and a lifetime warranty on the heating elements. To quote from their website: "OK, so how well does this warranty work in practice? As best as anyone at Gerbing's can remember, our record to date is 16 years. In 1998 we had a customer return a jacket purchased in 1982. After 16 years of use, one of the heating wires had finally loosened, resulting in a cold spot at the front of the jacket. Within two days of receiving the jacket, we had opened it up, secured the broken connection, further strengthened the remaining connections, and returned the jacket to our customer. The only cost to our customer was shipping and handling. A couple of items to note about this example. First, in the rare event of a broken connection, our heating system does not fail, just the affected heating pad. (We wire our pads in parallel instead of serial.) Second, we have improved our quality even more than when we made this jacket in 1982. Over a quarter of century of experience gives us an understanding of what you need and how best to provide for your needs. For Gerbing's, lifetime really does mean lifetime." I'm not affiliated with Gerbings; just a very satisfied customer. Here is their website: http://www.gerbing.com/index.html

[Rick]

This summer on our trip into Canada and back we used our Widder vests & electric gloves (purchased from Fred @ Arrowhead). I wired them up with a connector Widder sells that is a simple plugin. I ran the plugin from the battery and up under the gas tank to the handle bars. The Heatroller plugged into this. We rarely ran the Heatroller above half way and it was toasty warm. We also had a separate plug we ran our Chatterbox communicators from. From the 12v outlet I mounted just below the windscreen, we plugged in our Sirius satellite radio or charged our cell phones. From the outlet I plugged into the Battery Tender plug, I'd sometimes charge my camera battery from it. Every thing worked well. My headlight is always on.

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, stuart_phillips@... wrote: > > Hi anyone running an electric vest and/or other electric accessories? Which one? > > Investigating possibilities to add a connection to the bike, preferably a bit more convenient than just croc clips to the battery. > > Thanks in advance to all replies! > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >

[E.L. Green]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Analog Aardvark wrote:

> I run a widder when temps are really cold. It has a

I run the Widder also. It has the least current draw of the major vendors (Aerostich, Gerbing, Widder). Mine is the one *without* the collar. I find that if I put a fleece shirt with collar on over the Widder, my neck stays plenty warm. I have the Widder wired straight to the battery with the provided hookup, and the socket comes out of the slot in the side panel. I have the coiled electronic heat controller -- the telephone-style coil helps significantly with wire management -- and typically tuck the rheostat into the belt on my now-shabby-looking First Gear Kilimanjaro riding jacket so that it's right there at my waist when I want to adjust it by feel.

> I plan on wiring grips to the city lights leads but > haven't done so yet.

I tried wiring grips to the city lights leads, but found that when I turned on the grips, the voltage to the headlight dropped to only 9.5 volts and the headlight noticably dimmed and the wire from the headlight fuse to the front of the bike became noticably warm. I swiftly wired straight from the battery instead. I use the city lights lead to switch an automotive relay under the left side of my fairing, which in turn is connected directly to the battery. As far as powering both the vest and the grips, note that the electronic controller, if it's turned up only halfway, that's all the power that the vest will draw (maybe 25 watts total). The grips pull about 40 watts. On a stock KLR you have about 100 watts of power to play with. So theoretically I could do something else like, say, heated gloves. But I've never had any reason to do so, between the grips, my thinsulated gloves, and the rather large Enduro Engineering handguards on my bike, my hands stay plenty warm even in the coldest weather. I've had both the grips and the vest at full blast and the KLR powers them fine. But if you had one of the heated jacket liners, that probably would not be true. Which is why the alternator is the one remaining limitation of the KLR that irritates the **** out of me... -E

[Analog Aardvark]

I already have the headlights on a relay, so I figure that leaves me some room to strain the city light circuit. In case anyone cares, I have the collared Widder and I love it--I thought it would be too much, but it's really comfy. I think it would depend on how fat your neck is, and the fit of your jacket, and what else you wear. With my normal neck, JR ballistic, and vest, I can wear one more layer at the neck without being restrictive. I find a fleece neck tube best, because it makes a total seal up around my chin, sealing in my face, too. I'm hoping to get to Mexico from NYC in early january this year, which ought to be a fair test of how warm I can be... buzzing an hour to jersey is nothing compared with trying to log 600+ mile slab in January. Typing it makes it sound crazier than I'd been thinking... hmmm... -Luke --- "E.L. Green" wrote:

> I have the coiled electronic > heat controller > -- the telephone-style coil helps significantly with > wire management > -- and typically tuck the rheostat into the belt on > my > now-shabby-looking First Gear Kilimanjaro riding > jacket so that it's > right there at my waist when I want to adjust it by > feel.

SNIP

> I tried wiring grips to the city lights leads, but > found that when I > turned on the grips, the voltage to the headlight > dropped to only 9.5 > volts and the headlight noticably dimmed and the > wire from the > headlight fuse to the front of the bike became > noticably warm.

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[Larry W Menefee]

I ride a lot solo because I`m not very smart...while in Ky. riding in the Redbird area I knocked a hole in my side case of the 300 KTM I was on. This happened about 25 miles from the truck. I patched the hole with JB weld that I always carry.But I don`t carry oil. I removed the front wheel and slide out one fork leg at a time draining the fork oil into the crank case. This gave me enough oil to get back to the truck but made for a very interesting ride back. Don`t see why you couldn`t do this with a KLR if it would save you a long walk to get oil.You must be easy on the gas and the handleing realy sucks but it beats walking! TOOLS: a well prepared fanny pac. Larry W. Menefee 1467 Hempwood Drive Columbus, Ohio 43229 (614) 436-9944 --------------------------------- How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger s low PC-to-Phone call rates. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]