Amen, Fred!  To say the GS has many design weaknesses is to completely miss the point of what this bike is made for.  The GS is designed to be a reliable, inexpensive, fun-to-ride, nice-looking everyday commuter bike, and it is.

It's not a race bike.  I think trying to turn it into one is fine to hone one's mechanical skills, but is otherwise a pointless waste of money... just buy a GSXR and stop screwing around!

The stock airbox was designed so you can ride this bike in a downpour.  It does what it was designed for.  Ride your GS in a downpour with your lunchbox and it will soon stop running when the engine fills with water.  Wiser men than mach1 designed this bike, and every other bike in existence for that matter.

What else should we talk about that's more interesting, Chuck?  Your new helmet?  It's nice.  There, now what do we talk about? 

Quote from: vorBH on April 01, 2009, 10:15:08 AM
Drain the battery? It's a little fan!? lol....how can it dramatically drain the battery?
I was thinking to put on a fan to hit the oil cooler as well....if I do it it will be later on, but I am not so sure now....

Yes...  The GS does NOT have enough power to charge the battery when idle...  The engine needs to be above 5000 RPM if memory serves me right.  Adding a fan in there to cool the bike down during idle is gonna cause more problems.

Doesn't matter to me what you talk about, just seems that it is a moot point. 

Quote from: annguyen1981 on April 04, 2009, 10:00:56 AM
Yes...  The GS does NOT have enough power to charge the battery when idle...

So.....how long will it tickover for before the battery reaches the stage where it doesnt have the capacity left in it to start the engine?

Sledge, that would depend on load, temperature, and the condition of the battery.  The alternator is 190 watts if memory serves, so if you keep power use to about 150 watts or less you won't run into danger of running the battery down.

And 5,000 rpm is where alternator output reaches maximum.  It can kick out enough juice to charge the battery at 3,000.

Having said this, there are two things that reduce the output of our alternator.  Permanent magnets get weaker with age and especially heat, so if your alternator's lagging, the solution is probably a new rotor with new magnets.  Magnet technology has also improved substantially in the past 20 years, so for those of us with older GS's, a new stator would probably help produce more output than the alternator had when the bike was new.

The GS is of an air cooled design and is engineered to take into account the expansion of the components at normal operating temparatures.  When I've been riding at a (relaively) extended period at high speed (70-80mph), then I slow down to a regular city speed of 30-50mph the bike seems a little sluggish.  But I just put it down to one of perception.  When ever one has beeen tooling along at 70mph, anything less seems very mundance for a period.  The newer GS's do have oill cooling, don't they?  Would have thought that was sufficient...

bassman

Quote from: bill14224 on April 04, 2009, 11:56:35 AM
Sledge, that would depend on load, temperature, and the condition of the battery.  The alternator is 190 watts if memory serves, so if you keep power use to about 150 watts or less you won't run into danger of running the battery down.

Yeah I know, dont think you are the only one in here who knows a bit about electrical-engineering.

Yeah, magnets do degrade and reduce field strength in permanant magnet electrical machines, its more of a problem in motors as it leads to a reduction in speed and an increase in current but I would argue that in a generator application such as this where its speed and output is constantly varying and there is plenty of spare capacity and the output is rectified and regulated the effect would be negligable............ After all, we dont see people having to replace rotors on a regular basis because the magnets go flat.

Regarding alternator speed and its relationship to its output......ask yourself a question, how much voltage is actually needed to keep a 12v battery topped up? Next time you have been out for a run and you get home with a fully charged battery put your voltmeter across it and make a note of the reading, then start the bike up, let it settle for a few minutes and while its ticking over take another reading.......you might be surprised.