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Light bar install is killing my battery. Help.

899 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Here 2 help 
#1 ·
Hello,

I am new to the group and happy to be a part of this community. I am also a new proud owner of a 2002 honda TRX400ex.

I am having a bit of an issue with a new lightbar I bought from Walmart over the weekend. Everything went smoothly with the install and the lighting output until I had to start the bike 20 minuets after riding and testing the bar. The battery was dead enough to where the bike would not crank over. I assume the light bar depleted my battery to the point where the bike simply would not start. Sure enough, after connecting the battery to my charger, the charger reported back saying the battery was 50% charged. I assumed that the bike would have kept up with keeping the battery charged during my test ride, but I guess I was wrong.

My question is this: Is there a special way to bring the power into the light bar? I connected it directly to the battery terminal. No switch is required because the bar comes with a wireless remote control (pretty nice)

Thank you and looking forward to becoming a regular member on this forum.
 
#2 ·
In addition to my question, Would an upgraded Stator with multi outputs help with my issue? I came across this Stator ith 3 windings in it. the OEM 50w winding, and two 100w windings specifically for lighting (as the state in their ad)

Thanks again for looking
 
#3 ·
Welcome to the forum

First more info is needed - what is the amp draw of the light bar?

Second, it should not have been wired directly to the battery - the remote control receiver will have a constant draw on the battery when it's parked and just like the clock in the radio of a car or truck, it constantly draws current and if the vehicle is not driven regularly, the clock will discharge the battery. May take a month or a year, but it will drain the battery.

Now, you did not include a link to the stator you found, so I can't make any judgement on that, but you have to understand the vehicles charging system. Unlike a car, the alternator is a part of the engine and the engine has to be at or above a certain RPM to charge the battery and the original design was not intended for night riding. The factory lights draw 65 watts (5 amps) - the alternator is capable of 147 watts at 5000 RPM, but that's AC watts and the voltage could be near 100vac. Let's say the alternator output is only 80vac at 5000 RPM - that calculates to 1.84 amps to produce 147 watts. Now lets rectify the AC to DC - 80vac is clipped to about 40vdc - more than enough to charge the battery and while the voltage is decreased, the amperage is increased to approx. 5.5. Thus, the charging system produces enough current to run the lights and has 1/2 amp left over to use for charging the battery. These are not actual measurements, but calculations. Your system may have a higher or lower actual output, but to simplify things, if the light bar draws 60 watts or less, then if the factory lights are shut off, the light bar should be usable without other modifications, but the factory lights will drain a battery also if the engine is not kept above 3000 RPM.
 
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