Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Has anyone upgraded their generator/magneto?

I haven't had any battery/charging issues, but given some of the generally crappy construct of my beloved America, I'm wondering how soon my electric vest, electric gloves, upgraded ignition coils, upgraded headlight bulb, upgraded highway bar bulbs, upgraded air horn, little things like the tach, voltmeter, running lights and GPS, all in stop-and-go traffic (i.e. low engine RPMs) leave me stranded in the ghettos of Baltimore City.

You've got a voltmeter so you're the best one to answer the "how long" question.

Your uprated headlight's not gonna be drawing more current than the standard one plus standard driving lights, and things like the GPS, tach, voltmeter, coils etc draw very little extra current. Keep an eye on the meter and if it gets low turn off things like the vest, gloves, and extra lights. Might not be a bad idea to use an ampmeter (in your workshop) to find out how much current all the relative devices draw so you know which ones to turn off first for best effect.

And/or.. the instructions for each of those should state somewhere how much current they draw, so you could just add it up. The alternator puts out about 27 amps. One other thing you could do - since the winter gear probably draws the most - raise your idle speed up to about 1100-1200 rpm and see if that helps.. it works for me, but I don't have a GPS and I keep my hot pants on low.
To answer your original question, I have yet to see an upgrade for our alternators anywhere. If my poor man's freak design ever gets finished, I'm thinking about installing dual batteries..... just to "spearmint".

I had a girlfriend who used to wear "Hot Pants"!

[ but I don't have a GPS and I keep my hot pants on low]
Grump, I lost my appetite after I had a mental picture of you in hot pants. .......Angelis

i don't have a bunch of fancy gizmo's but can relate to this. i got stuck in ocean city traffic, basically idling for an hour. i jumped off 50 on to 707 (to get a beer at the 707!) and when i went to leave my battery was dead, killed by my headlight and lightbar. i push started her and have never had a problem since (knock wood) but the "opportunity" is still there. now when i know i'm going to be idling for quite a while i kill the lightbar. ymmv!

FYI, our bikes (and just about every bike made in the last 20 years or so) have alternators, not generators or dynamos (for which I'm very grateful).

For what it's worth, my driving lights (spotlights) use more power than the heated gear. The GPS, intercom, sat radio really don't take much.
Have not heard of an upgraded alternator kit.