| Author | Message | ||
     Electraglider_1997 |
Last fall I completely covered the front underside of my seat pan with with 2" wide aluminum foil tape to reflect heat. Anybody else do this? http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/295156.html | ||
| Conchop |
How well did it work? Seat of the pants thermometer work just as well as a real thermometer. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
To be honest, I'm not real sure. I just figured that taping the seat pan would reflect the infra-red and it certainly didn't cost much or wreck anything. I suspect it works just fine, but I've got so many other things I've done as you can tell from the set of photos. The air draw through the elbow fittings seems to help rear cylinder cooling quite nicely because my fan doesn't come on until either I've been riding for a long period or not until I shut it down. I've noticed the fan actually cycle off after riding at highway speeds and then coming into town where I stop at light and the fan shuts off during the stoplight. I've had my 06' for over 2 years now, and with the original battery so fears about rear cylinder heat ruining the ECM, fuses, battery, or other electrical components are unfounded. Actually, I've read that the 1125R has a under-seat channel for the purpose of evacuating rear cylinder heat which I figure is similar to what I have done. One other thing is that I used to complain about my leg cooking but that problem is non-existent now. For those of you that have purchased the Buell air-flow-cover-kit http://buell.com/en_us/gear/accessories/Product.as p?Menu_ID=2&ProductLineID=2&CategoryID=5&ProductID =4139 it is very important to completely seal the top and bottom of these plastic devices so that all the heat evacuates out the rear of them. They work great when sealed, otherwise they leak too much heated air onto your leg. | ||
| Hughlysses |
EG, I did it too and noticed an appreciable heat reduction even over the Odie heat blankets. I had previously tried this on my S3 seat which became so hot it was blistering after I had it reworked by Sargent Cycle with their high density "atomic super cell" foam. It made a HUGE difference on that seat. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Hughlysses, Glad to hear it. Personally, I don't understand covering electrical components with the heat blankets. Seem counter to good sense to me. | ||
| Prowler |
I agree, covering the electrical components is probably not a good thing. Fact is that battery life decreases as temperature increases past a reasonable temp. Ideally, isolating all the electrical components from heat would be a good thing. I plan on using one of Odies heat blankets (shortened at the rear to tuck under the ECM) and will probably use the foil type heat shield under the seat also if required to keep from roasting parts off..... I've also got the side heat deflectors from Buell and they work OK the way they are, although I might try to seal them as shown in the link above (at some point). | ||
| Odie |
Electraglider_1997- I can't see much of a difference in what you did to your seat vs. my heat blankets. The heat is still getting reflected away from the seat and back towards whatever is below it. I've been running my blankets for around 3 years now with zero issues. Have had zero complaints from tons of customers also. I live down in East L.A. (Eastern Lower Alabama) where it gets surface-of-the-sun-hot. Not arguing with you by any means. Just trying figure out the difference. I realize you're an engineer so maybe you could shed some light on this. Odie | ||
| Alchemy |
Electraglider, Looking at your pictures (thanks by the way) I wonder why the PVC elbows are not turned the other way? It seems the air flow happen in a more smooth movement rather than having to pass over the engine and under the seat and then reverse directions to exit the via the elbows. I know you did this on purpose so I probably am missing something. I think there is opportunity to improve heat removal under the seat area on the Buell XBs so I appreciate your efforts. On one hand the reflective tape keeps the heat from the rider but then the heat is reflected back on the shock, battery, electronics, brake fluid etc. To counter that improving air flow is helpful but the air is hot coming into the subseat cavity. I often wonder if there is a way (pursuing perfection here) to generate a negative pressure under the seat that would be sufficient to pull cool air into the area as well as the heat from the engine while at moderate to low speeds. This would not be as necessary at higher speeds (I would think). Perhaps your elbows assist in that negative pressure development. This project begs for a multi sensor temperature meter and some continued testing. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Personally, I don't understand covering electrical components with the heat blankets. Seem counter to good sense to me. EG, Me neither. I've modified my heat blankets so that the battery and ECM are on the "cold" side. Mine are arranged such that the hot air is forced out of the new side deflectors. I also moved the rear master cylinder reservoir which gives much more room for air to exit under the right side of the seat. See pics in this earlier thread: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=142838&post=941497#POST941497 I also lined the inside of the frame at the rear and right side of the rear cylinder head with the aluminum tape which seems to have cut heat transfer to the frame significantly. I've been running it this way for ~7 months now and it seems to work well. I really think the ultimate solution would be to have a molded plastic piece with a heat reflective facing that fits similar to my heat blanket, which would seal off the area more-or-less air tight, forcing the air out below the under-seat pan and out of the two side air deflectors. (Message edited by hughlysses on February 23, 2008) | ||
| Baggermike |
there is a place that sell a kit for the ulysses and it worked great for the heat but I did modifie it and cut a peice off and put it under the right side of the rear cylinder, I found heat was coming from this area and it worked real good I have seen the same stuff at auto zone, if I remember who it was I will post it I just got up and still not awake. Mike | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Odie, I just believe that moving air through an area seems like a better thing to do than capturing it and letting it build. That also goes for the way Buell engineers have designed the under-seat area. How often have we read on BadWeb that Buell riders' asses are frying, especially with the lower versions of the ULY seat, which I believe is why you came up with the blankets in the first place. The blanket insulates the rider from this heat but would seem to me to increase the heat under the blanket since it isn't going into the seat pan and seat foam anymore. Some folks apparently thinking along the same lines have reported shortening the blankets to keep from insulating the ECM and other components. With the aluminum tape I've reflected the heat but I've also opened a new route of escape for that heat as air moves under the seat pan to the rear and then through the elbow fittings. The fittings are facing rearward so that they angle up. If they were to face with the opening forward they would drip water flung up by the rear tire during a rain and I didn't want that to happen. I am just counting on positive air pressure under the seat to move the heated air out the escape pathway of the elbow fittings. |
