Thursday, March 05, 2009

Wiring up Brigitta for Heated Gear

There have been times when I am out and about on Brigitta, my 1987 R80 Airhead Beemer that I'd wished I'd had my electric vest on. Weather being what it is here in Colorado, what can start as a nice sunny day can quickly change into heavy overcast and cold.

So, once I added an S fairing to Brigitta, along with it came a voltmeter to help me gauge the drain on the battery. I had bought, early on when I bought Brigitta, a cable sold by easterbeaver.com to provide me with a "hot" SAE connection directly to the battery:


SAE to Battery

I used the above arrangement to easily hook up Brigitta to my battery tender at night. Worked great.

Then I got a cigar outlet adapter to hook to the SAE connector so I could power my electronics when doing long distance rides. All my stuff would go in the tank bag and one hookup powered it all from the motorcycle:


SAE to Cigar Outlet

So, getting back to my original thread, I found myself on Brigitta and getting chilled in spite of the layers I was wearing. I had packed my electric vest and I was congratulating myself for doing so at a stop. However, I went to connect it and realized it used a BMW type male connector and all I had was a cigar type female outlet adapter! Arrgh!

So this week I took receipt, again from easternbeaver, a female BMW outlet to SAE adapter. I'll be ready the next time!


SAE to BMW Outlet

All these items are from easternbeaver.com: LINK

It's a one man company, James lives in Japan but ships promptly and his prices are very reasonable along with the products being very well made. For instance, I use the two horn relay kit from him and its top notch!

I've no affiliation with James and his company except as a satisfied customer. All images are from easternbeaver.com's website.

2 comments:

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Jack Riepe said...

Dear Charlie6 (Dom):

I have two BWM outlets on Fireballs (a 1995 K75). The first is on the dash and looks like it is factory original. I will use this for the Garmin. The second outlet is just under the batery on the left side. I use this one to power up the compressor. If I ever fit into electric gear, I'll use this one for that connection too.

My rig has a 50 amp alternator, but I got the voltmeter to show me exactly what's going on with the juice at any given time. Caught in stop and traffic, a glance at the voltmeter may suggest switching an item off, or increasing engine idle. I had the mechanic set my idle to 1100 rpm to guarantee a charge out of the alternator at all times.

I have an Eager Beaver relay kit in the headlight basket. You are correct in that this company is a delight to do business with.

Fondest regards,
Jack
Twisted Roads