Hey Vikeme, I just got, today from the UPS man, a book called
Everything you need to know: Streetbikes, by Bill Stermer. While leafing through it during lunch today (us worthless guvmint workers got Columbus Day off, w0Ot!) I found the following:
To check if your bike can handle the added electrical draw, with the key off and garments unplugged, connect a voltmeter to the battery posts. It should give a reading of around 12.5 to 13 volts. Now start the bike, plug in a garment, and rev the bike to its usual rpm at highway speeds as you take a second reading. If this second reading is higher than the first, there should be no problem. Now plug in any additional garments, one by one. If at any time the reading goes lower than the original, indicating a discharge situation, end the experiment immediately and unplug the garments. Using all these products could blow the fuse or damage the electrical system. However, you should be able to use any garments up to that point when the battery began to discharge. Sekk you dealer's advice.
(I'm going to leave in that one typo, just so they can't sue me for plagiarism!)
That explanation makes sense. I'm pretty impressed with this book too; it doesn't have any info about
riding, but rather about everything else: styles of bikes, heated garments, types of helmets, cruise controls, strengths/weaknesses of the different brands, and I even noticed about a 5-page section on oil, something we haven't all agreed on in this forum!
I'll post a book review in the appropriate thread after I've read it, but wanted to share the power info with you since I remembered you asking the question and, boom, there it is!
