'81 maxim 650, heated jacket liner?

So, i've been riding my 81 maxim 650 for a while now and the cold is finally starting to get to me. I'm looking at a four hour ride on the interstate home this thanksgiving in about 30 degree weather, and am really not looking forward to it. I've recently heard about the tourmaster's heated jacket liner and was wondering whether or not the bike could handle the drain this jacket liner would put on its power.

Would i be able to run a heated jacket liner on my 1981 yamaha maxim xj650?

 

motor, don't have an answer for you but, there are some on the site who have added heated controls, gloves & the like. One of them will chime in on this for you. Good luck
Gregg

 

There are battery operated vests out there....

 

I've looked at the battery vests and have heard they don't really compare to those you can hook up to the bike. I'm really wanting to get this vest for the longer trips i take, i just don't know if it'll put too much of a drain on the bike.

 

I read a breakdown of the amps, so, from memory, the bike puts out 19 amps on the highway and there's only about 6 "unused" amps on a good running system. At slower speeds there's almost nothing left over.

How many amps does the vest pull ?

 

If you switch all but your headlight to LED, you can save a good 4A. More when the turn signals (27W a piece) are flashing, or the brake light is on.

 

I know the liner pulls around 76 watts, 6 amps gives me 72 watts to use. What will this do to the bike? 4 watts is only a third of an amp. Will this mess the bike up to much to run it?

 

I'd do the LED conversion, at least of the instrument lamps, tail light, and license plate light, just to be safe. With a 6A extra, continuous, draw, I think you may find that you're running your battery down.

 

You should definitely mount a large windshield that provides some lower leg and hand protection (like the Slipstreamer SS) as well as synthetic base layering with your Winter riding jacket, pants, gloves, balaclava, etc. No sense adding an electric heater if you are wasting the BTUs you generate naturally.

 

I've got all the right base layers and clothes on, but it doesn't seem to be enough. The windshield is currently a no go because of the area my bike is at. The bikes with windshields tend to get vandalized.

SQLguy, how difficult is it to do the conversion, and where did you get the led's for your bike? Can you do that with the headlight as well?

 

For your bike, if you're not doing turn signals, it will be very easy to switch to LED's. I got most of mine from superbrightleds.com.

You just need 194-type wedge mount LED "bulbs" for the meter light (warm white), and maybe the neutral (green) and turn signal indicator (amber). I'd suggest going with some of the dimmer colored lamps, as the multi-LED green can be downright blinding.

For the tail you'll want red 1157 replacements. and probably a white 67 equivalent for the license plate lamp.

The bulbs simply swap in place of the originals.

If you do decide to replace the turn signals, though, check out my thread on converting to LED's on the FAQ Suggestions forum. For the turn signals some work is needed on the flasher and cancelling module in addition to swapping out the bulbs.

It's not possible to do LED headlights. Maybe in a few years... Only possibility right now for saving power from the headlight is to convert to HID. This is expensive, but bright, and saves about 20W, but sacrifices the high beam / low beam options... you just get "beam".

 

Thanks for the help everybody!