Aftermarket Voltage Guages

[Bob_Roller]

There's a small bulb under the headlight that's on all the time, that can be removed .

At least, there's one on a twin shock bike .

I don't know anything about the instrument cluster on a mono-shock bike other than it's different than a twin shock, but I believe it's the same as the larger bikes, don't know if you can replace any of the instrument internal illumination bulbs for LED's .

There's not much more you can change to help your low battery charge issue .

I looked the specifications for the solar charger, the panel is 12x18 inches, about twice as large as I thought it would be, so that might be a bit of a problem there .

[tvrla]

Barry makes a good point - reducing the load and conserving the electricity you've got. LED tail light. Rig up a headlight off switch and run with the parking light - I substituted a 20 watt halogen. Have the bike in tune so it starts immediately. I've replaced my gauge's illumination bulbs with LED - which had the added benefit of eliminating moisture within and fogging of the glass lens.

[anaxolotl]

Multimeter: I believe i've narrowed down the multimeter problem to one of the probes (ha! troubleshooting my troubleshooting equipment) after changing out the batteries and checking the fuse.  

Parking: Our apt complex has a mix of covered and uncovered spots for around 250 cars.  they are not necessarily within sight of anyone's apartment and there is no power hookup.

Testing: Yeah, before i do anything of significance, i'll walk through as much of the system as possible.  It looks like the previous owner did a bit of electrical work himself (one of the reasons the turn signals weren't initially working) and a once (or twice) through will probably net a bunch of possible improvements.

Lights: Really good idea... after testing, i'll work my way through the system seeing where i can reduce load.

Those things being said... i have a feeling i'll still be charging the battery weekly.

Thanks again all.
--m

[Barry]

I've replaced my gauge's illumination bulbs with LED - which had the added benefit of eliminating moisture within and fogging of the glass lens.  

That's very interesting wirespokes. Why do you think LED's had that effect - lower heat input ?

[tvrla]

I've had fogging on some of my bikes for ages! I tried dessicant packs, sealing the gauge up well, drilling a drain hole in the bottom, putting them together and sealing them up when it's low humidity - none of which worked.

I believe it was someone on this forum a few months back who matter of factly stated the moisture came from the bulbs.

That really made sense! Mufflers and the exhaust system do the exact same thing - criss-crossing the dew point and collecting moisture.

So I got some LEDs, and what do you know - fogged the day before, no fog since! And riding in the rain like yesterday GUARANTEED foggy lenses - and they weren't!!!  

I also had a talk with Rick at Motorrad Elektrik and he'd had the same experience. So I'm 99% sure that problem's been licked! And yes, I'm sure it's due to LEDs running cool unlike incandescents.

[Barry]

Makes sense. So it's the heat/cool cycles pulling air into the housing. Warm air absorbs more moisture than cold air then when it cools down or is cooled by air flow over the instrument glass it falls below the dew point and water condenses out.  By that logic riding with no lights or pulled instrument bulbs would give the same result. This I've got to try.