I have a Sedici heated liner 83 watts, Oxford heated grips 50 watts plus with the high beams plus with the brake light on I still have 14V @ idle going to the battery. BUT this was not always the the case. With the OEM R/R I would have 12V or less, and with only a 9 mile commute @ 35 miles an hour I would have to use a charger to maintain my battery. BUT now with the Mosfet R/R I have the 14V @ idle and 14.5V @ anything above idle with all the $hit lit, and I do not have to use a charger to maintain the battery.

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EZ-RDR55
The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not represent that of any other humanoid past, present or future on this or any other planet.

'95 H-D FXDWG
'06 Honda CRF250X
'04 KTM 450EXC
'97 Honda XR-600R
'04 K1200LT (Sold)
'07 K1200GT (Sold)
'09 Wee-Strom DL-650ABS

All,

Thank you for that detailed explanation of everything. I have a 15-20 minute communte (30-35 is traffic sucks) and in that time I guess I didn't think my battery would recover enough with it falling below 12v which now is 12.7v from PTRider post.
I guess I might need to look into the Mosfet R/R at some point if I install more heated gear or lighting.

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2011 SUZUKI DL650 V-Strom ABS/Pearl Mirage White

Farkles: Aprilia Tuono mirrors / Pat Walsh Design Super Brace / DL1000 Seat / Givi engine guards / Madstad Bkt w/ OEM or Givi Shield / PL532 & E41nn / EB PC-8 - 2x power outlets - Datel Voltmeter - Stebel Horn with PWD setup - Digital Slim H4-3(9003) Bi-Xenon HID - 1157 LED Brake lights

Shiro Nakama Hachi

Something doesn't look right with that wiring.

Pins 85-86 are the relay coil
Pins 30-87/87a are the contacts.



You show the brake light wire being cut and connected to each end of the coil. That's incorrect. You need to take terminal 85 to ground (frame) and tap into the brake light wire for terminal 86.

Like this (image stolen from Taurus Club forum):

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2007 Suzuki DL650 K7 (With a few farkles)

RIP Bucko - Riding on forever

Black/white is ground. White/black is brake light hot. The brake light label on the ground to 86 might be misleading as any black/white ground may be used and ground is not mentioned but the color codes are correct.

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Pat- 2007 DL650A was ridden to all 48 contiguous states. 2012 DL650A is just getting started.
Nicknames for posting ease on my part, Vee = all DL1000s. Wee = 2004-2011 DL650s. Glee = 2012+ DL650s

Without a volt meter, how are you gonna know if "the battery is on its last legs"? ... or for that matter, any electrical problem before it's too late?

Having a volt meter and knowing what you're seeing can save being stranded.

Aha! That's why I was misled.

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2007 Suzuki DL650 K7 (With a few farkles)

RIP Bucko - Riding on forever

When the bike doesn't start in the morning or when it is cranking slowly. Usually, when a battery is failing, there are plenty of early signs. I haven't had a vehicle with a volt meter on it since the 70's and I have not found that I need one.

BTW, I don't keep my bikes on a battery tender all the time. I want to know what the true state of the battery is. When the bikes are parked for the winter I periodically (about once a month) charge them with digital automotive charger, but I don't charge them constantly.

I don't load the vehicle with electrical gadgets. I only recently purchased a heated vest, and chose one with a low current draw.

I've only had one premature battery failure. It was a new battery under warranty and one cell apparently became discontected. In that case a volt meter would not have helped in any way other than diagnosis after the fact. The bike went from starting fine to not starting at all with no warning.

P.S. This discussion reminds me of a similar one on Oilhead forums. Guys with RTs caught in traffic watched their oil temp gauges climb to 5 bars and had heart attacks. Yet there was no evidence to suggest that any oilhead boxer motor had ever seized from over heating due to accessive idling (although the RTs occasionally melted some plastic around the exhaust headers). My R1100R had the same motor but no oil temp gauge, so I had no cause for concern. I do know that if I had the temp gauge, I'd probably be fixated on it like everyone else. Sometimes gauges are just extra cause for needless worry in situations where you can't do anything about it anyway.

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2009 DL650 ABS (with touring kit)
2004 Honda ST1300