I wanted to put a lightbar on my 99 vulcan 750. The one I'm looking at has two 55 watt bulbs in it. Will my alternator put out enough amperage to handle the extra 9 or 10 amps that will draw? I won't be turning them on except when I'm running at 4 or 5,000 rpms. I haven't read of anybody having any problems with running extra lights but I'd feel dumber burning out my stator than I would just asking.

Thanks

I am not really the best to answer this so hopefully someone else will chime in shortly but, I think most that have a light bar are running two 35w bulbs. Seems like I heard once that our system could handle two 50w bulbs but that would be at the top end. So you "might" be alright with the 55w bulbs but I might consider replacing them with 35w bulbs if it were me.

I would highly recommend going with the 35 watters with a separate on/off switch. I have found - as I keep tabs on my battery / charging state with my voltmeter, even 2- 35 watt lamps will come very close to maxing out your stator output and will absolutely send your battery voltage south of 12 volts at idle, especially with the brake light on.

Remember - this is a great bike in so many respects but it's anemic electrical capacity is it's achillies heel.

For some ideas on light bars or voltmeters, check out my web site.

Norm

I wanted to put a lightbar on my 99 vulcan 750. The one I'm looking at has two 55 watt bulbs in it. Will my alternator put out enough amperage to handle the extra 9 or 10 amps that will draw? I won't be turning them on except when I'm running at 4 or 5,000 rpms. I haven't read of anybody having any problems with running extra lights but I'd feel dumber burning out my stator than I would just asking.

ThanksHi Brad;
Two 55 watt bulbs will definitely overtax your system, don't do it. Two 35 watt bulbs will put the charging system at it's limits, I wouldn't recommend that either. I installed a lightbar from Knifemaker at http://www.metriccustomcreations.com (http://www.metriccustomcreations.com/) they come with two 20 watt bulbs which are quite adequate, they improved my lighting by about 45%. At idle with the headlamp and the lightbar on, my voltmeter hangs on the high 11 to low 12 volts. Food for thought.
And if you want a real bright headlamp go to http://www.piaa.com (http://www.piaa.com/) and check out the Xtreme White bulbs. Makes a big difference.