12v Socket on an XR650R - How ???
 

Hi guys, im taking an XR650R around South America and i want to fit 12V socket to power a Garmin Quest GPS and maybe other things. As the XR doesnt have a battery, hows the best way to do this ?? WIll the generator be able to handle it and will the AC current mess it up at all ?

All info will be gratefully recieved

Cheers, Ed

I wired my GPS in via the kill switch and headlight wires so that the socket/power supply was fully on the handlebars for whenever I had to dismantle the bike for airfreight. I remember thinking it would be AC, but its DC. (I think!)

Hi
Yes I did the same as Richlees. and it IS DC voltage.

I used the electrical diagram in the owners manual to find a source.

works well. the coil is THAT powerful so dont expect to boil water....

Does this mean that the power socket will supply a 12v DC output ??

The garmin quest im looking at has a Ac converver intended for cars.. will this still work fine..

I was told that i would also need a Rectifier too ! yes ??

as Karim has already confirmed my recollection, yes it does mean you get recitified 12V DC. I've no idea about your AC needs

There are aftermarket 12 volt sockets similar to the cigarette lighter for motorvehicles & bikes which you could mount anywhere on your frame with a small metal plate. You could connect it via fuse directly to the (12V DC) battery. See that the connections are properly sealed against moisture. The socket should have a hinged cap.

Thats the problem mate... there is no battery http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

From what I can gather now, i am going to have to take a feed after the rectifier on the bike, and put an inline regulator in it and probably a capacitor.. This way ill have a steady 12V Dc output. Ill probably go for a 2amp regulator.

no need to add another regulator - its 12v DC

I will need a regulator to give the correct amperage as the bike puts out a much higher amperage that the GPS uses.

http://www.visordown.com/forums/show...73#post2549973

[This message has been edited by tedmagnum (edited 01 November 2005).]

I have used the bikes power directly with 3 different garmin gps's and they all work well under severe conditions.

I do not have a battery on the bike. I measured the voltage at the point where I cut the wire into the loom and it was 18V DC(ok)

hope this helps
Karim

I'm not sure how to pitch this so forgive me if I'm teaching grandma to suck eggs etc, but a device draws the current (amps) that it needs according to the voltage supplied. voltage = current x reistance (V=IR). Karim and I have confirmed you have the right voltage and Garmin have built a GPS of the right resistance. so current will take care of itself.

If the GPS only needs a few miliamps, it will only draw a few miliamps. I don't understand your logic in regulating the current.

I have no doubt that your right and im talking doo doo http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

I was just quoting what another forum told me.

As you can guess im a novice at electrics but learning slowly.

I really do appreciate the help http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

So i should just wire in the GPS anywhere which is DC on the bike and it should work fine? even if 18V is being put into it?forgive my ignorance??

[This message has been edited by tedmagnum (edited 02 November 2005).]

Hey, I quite forgot that it was possible to use a vehicle whatever without battery. But yes, I remember my old buzzbike years ago didn't have one either ;-)

What Rich says is correct: you don't need to regulate the amps. The device only draws as much as it consumes. I'm not so sure about the voltage though if the Garmin device regulates this by itself. It is quite easy to make sure the voltage is DC and does not exceed a defined limit with a bridge rectifier and a zener diode behind it with the correct voltage limit. Any electronic shop should be able to assist you.

who told you 18v? did you measure it on your bike (implying a problem) or were you told that on another dodgy forum ;-)

The bike generates 12v DC so you need to find a positive and a negative and connect to these. eg both go to the light, but you need to be careful about switching between high and low beam. and you don't want to use the indicator wiring if you have the flasher relay or the GPS will switch on and off ;-)

The bike doesnt generate 12v dc, it produces ac which as far as i was informed creates voltage depended on the speed, windings of the alt. So at full throttle it could create 18v (actually its max output is 13.5). This is and regulated then put into the lighting etc.

I didnt really want to put it into the lighting as this will suck power and the XR's headlamp runs of AC anyway. The main problem is that the bikes reg/rec is notoriously "agricultural" and will not respect the sensitive gps.

The solution is: ...

"If you only need a few milliamps then the whole thing is fairly simply.

Presumably the alternator is a single winding with one side earthed, in this case a single diode(rectifier) feeding a smoothing capacitor - say 470uF, 100v rating in parallel with a 0.1uf capacitor to remove the high end frequncy and then through a regulator with the appropriate output voltage rating (7805 = 5v, 7812 = 12v etc). Output of regulator should have a small cap to gnd, 4.7uF or so.

The pulsing of the light suggests a fairly low frequency - if the gps has pulls too much current the voltage could dip excessively on the -ve cycles, if this happens increase the 470uF capacitor. I would reckon 470uF is probably fine if you're pulling less then 50mA though...


[This message has been edited by tedmagnum (edited 03 November 2005).]

yes, the alternator creates AC, but its then rectified on my XRR. ie the AC component is zero. ditto Martin's, Tim's and Karim's so I've no idea why yours isn't. Martin, Karim, Tim and I have all used Garmin's without any drama.

its also regulated to 13-14v. this is just a batteried Honda which suggests they use the same regulator/rectifier. the 18v at peak revs would be between the rectifier and regulator if it exists at all. have you actually measured it or is someone misleading you?

have you got some odd import? eg an MX version that I haven't heard of? I did 25,000km without any grief and wouldn't go adding complexity to the power supply without really knowing I needed to. as it happens, we didn't need to with our bikes and doubt you need to with yours.
good luck, though

The alt doesnt put out 18v, that was just quoting someone elses bike PRE-regulation.

The xr650R will generate about 13.5 max.

whjen reading an XR website, the headlights were said to be AC, with DC for the rest of the bike.. hence the seperate AC regulator.

Will your gps's run off ac ??

[This message has been edited by tedmagnum (edited 03 November 2005).]

seems to be a little confusion on this subject. XR650R watercooled model released 2000, does not have a battery and puts out AC current not DC current, splicing power to a GPS from headlight etc will damage the GPS and you need a rectifier to convert the AC to DC. Thats why the lights dim when the bike is idling and brighten when revved. The XR650 (L) has a battery and puts out 12v DC current which is fine for GPS etc.

well, I'm glad none of us considered that, Rob, or our GPSs might have failed on us ;-)
I must get a new Avo too as its clearly lying

Most XRRs in the UK are likely to be European models (XR650R-ED) which have two generator outputs, one is 12V AC one is 12V DC. Both are regulated. Plenty of north american (AC only)models have been imported too. The sticker under the seat will say if it's a -ED model. The DC feed has a regulator-rectifier and smoothing capacitor mounted near the headlamp. The AC feed has a regulator mounted under the seat. If you've got a standard indicator switch amongst your handlebar controls, then chances are you've got DC too.

If using a fag-lighter socket, vibrations can break the connection, particularly at less than a leisurely pace off-road, causing the GPS to power off. If internal batteries are fitted as a backup, then it should be fine.

Mine is the Euro one and yes it does have a DC output. Its not as easy as just plugging a gps into any old DC supply as the cap/reg on the bike is quite agricultural and iv been recommended not to go that route. The stator on the XR is pathetically weak, stuggling to even honk the horn unless your giving it some throttle. Ill probably go up the rewound stator route with a twin output and put in a seperate regulator/rectifier and a couple of capatitors to smooth the current.

FWIW, I've been using a Garmin GPS152 as speedo continuosly on my XR650R-ED for the past 3000 miles (I use the GPS functions too, but have removed the stock speedo). Power requirement of this GPS is 5W max at 10V. Power supply is 10-40V. I also run a 40W helmet-light at night on the DC circuit and the GPS is still happy. I don't have indicators. My horn works ok without the helmet-light on, but then it's an aftermarket part as the -ED doesn't come with a horn from the factory.

I have an H4 headlamp upgrade too (the lamp is a stock XR600L part, which is a direct replacement). This works nicely on the standard ac supply. This combination of uprated headlamp & helmet lamp is great for trail riding in the dark in the uk.

I didn't upgrade my stator, if necessary HID lights could be run on the standard setup to get more light output too, but a stator upgrade may be cheaper.

Ian


...oops I meant XL600R

[This message has been edited by Ian Bradshaw (edited 08 January 2006).]

I don't know about your bikes electrics, but you might look at getting an Isun or similar. This is a solar panel with a 12v Socket which can either charge aa batteries or run your Garmin during daylight hours. It would also power other small items.
It might save a lot of electric heartache http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif