Topic: External Alternator or other source for more juice?

[Joe Danger]

I'd like to rig up a radio and speakers in my fairing, for the longer trips.  I'm concerned that the 150W output from my 77 550k isn't going to be enough.  My satellite radio draws about 3 watts, plus nominal load from the headlight and turn lights.  Does anyone have any experience either optimizing the alternator inside the case, or installing an external alternator?  I figure a small japanese car unit could drive off a pulley, and live right behind the cylinders.

Thanks.

[joeb]

The only set up I have seen is this on the gold wings could be a place to start ?? See poor boy don pigouts gm alternater conversion.
http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/page3.html

[Bodain]

When I picked up my 75 CB 550 this is what it looked like.



You will notice the very stylish saddlebags. In the bag you can see is a very old Delco car radio.
Up on the bars behind the bug screen you will find very sheek mounted speakers.

[TwoTired]

Best to find out what your amplifier for the speakers requires in the way of power.  An instrument bulb draws 3 Watts.  I hardly think adding another instrument bulb load is going to tax the charging system very much.  However, the amp that drives the speakers may require more power than the XM.  What's the rating on that?
I had an FM radio/amp on one of my CB550's for a while.  It was fused at 2 amps and I think the audio output was 12W per channel/ stereo.  The bike didn't seem to notice.

I'm assuming you're not putting eight speakers and four sub woofers onto the machine.

[Joe Danger]

Well, that would be quite a 550!  At 80 miles per hour, Dolby don't mean a thing.

The XM is a Roady2, it's really, really low draw.  About 400-500 milliamps.  I put a 3 amp fuse on the cigarette lighter outlet it runs from and it's not even close.

I'm looking to find one of those cyclesound pods for my vetter fairing, and throw a plain jane CD deck in there, the XM goes directly to an aux, plus it's got an FM modulator.  I'm sure a newer solid-state radio would draw very little amperage, so I'll look in the 12-15x2 watt range.  The output is a bit lower on that 550 alternator, but it may not require anything drastic.

Seriously, if you don't have satellite radio on your bike, you're missing out.  It's the best way I've found to put on serious miles without getting dazed.