Removing the Flywheel Weight
Admin
1st Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 7,269
The other winding feeds directly into the headlight and taillight, no coversion to D/C, it runs them directly off A/C. Consequently, the headlight only operates when the engine is running. I have gotten quite used to simply hitting the kill switch and never bothering to turn off the key because there is no drain on the battery even with the key on.
So the modification just involves separating the two pick-up points of the two separate stator windings and splicing them together into one. This gives full stator output to charge the battery, run the headlight, taillight, fan, etc. A slight modification to the wiring harness is required to do this but it is simple. And it requires a new beefier regulator which is a drop-in replacement to handle the new D/C load. So it was pretty simple, just a little desoldering/soldering, crimping, and sorting out the wires from the harness, and somehow tucking it all back in under the tank.
It was needed for the HID light, because the ballast requires D/C input and it would have been too much to hang the additional 35 Watts off the stock D/C output side of the stator. But it is fine once you rewire the stator to direct the full output there since you eliminate the 55 Watts of halogen headlight and replace that with 35 Watts of HID, getting a 20 Watt savings. All in all, I should actually see an improvement in available electrical power, even though I have about 5 times the light output.
I went riding with it Wed night in the wet and rain, it turns night into day. I'm very happy with it. It gets pretty toasty, though. We set up a twisting loop in a slick wet field with tall weeds and once we ran it in, we went to town. It wasn't long before the corners turned sloppy, and had a blast coming in hot, both front and rear sliding, and tractoring out the exit only to set up for the next one after barely enough time to shift to 3rd then hard on the brakes again. An hour and an half later I was covered with mud, my goggles were fogged up, and the steam from the rain and tall wet weeds and mud on the radiators and light made it look like the bike was boiling over, sizzling and shrouding me in vapor with the bright white glow of the HID making the boiling steam appear like a curtain that you couldn't see beyond. And riding at night gave a whole new character to the ride. It definitely would not have been as fun with the stock headlight, guessing about the terrain ahead, with the HID light, it was great. Even though it was only 7:30 in the evening, it was pitch dark here and it seemed like midnight. Good times!
I can only imagine what something like those Baja Designs 8" reflector HID race lights would be like. But I guess if you are going 100 MPH at night down the Baja peninsula in the 1000, that's what you would need to keep from outrunning your lights. For what I do, the stock reflector will be fine for now.
Thread Starter
|
Senior Member
1st Gear Member
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 960
________
RHODE ISLAND DISPENSARIES
Last edited by JasonFMX; Mar 29, 2011 at 08:19 AM.
Admin
1st Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 7,269
Yyyyyyyyyyyyup. Not just MX bikes though, many other machines as well. This KLX 250/300, the pic of the TTR flywheel on the site that had the link posted earlier, and just now when you posted your KTM pic were the first I have ever seen flywheels like that. Everything else I have ever ripped into have had the flywheel with the stator mounted fixed to the motor and the flywheel was the cover. Hell, even my old man's skid steer Bobcat is like that.
Illogical.
Thread Starter
|
Senior Member
1st Gear Member
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 960
You can keep posting pics of Mr. Spock all ya want. It's not going to get you candy before dinner young man......now eat your damn spinach!
________
Medical Marijuana Doctor
________
Medical Marijuana Doctor
Last edited by JasonFMX; Mar 29, 2011 at 08:19 AM.
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,106
From: Misawa Japan
1st Gear Member
No, the stock KTM stator has two separate windings, one feeds the regulator where it is converted to D/C so it can charge the battery and run the electrical stuff with the exception of the headlight and taillight. There is barely enough juice on that side of the stator to do this. I added the optional radiator fan which taxes it even more, so it is just borderline to keep the battery charged, especially if the fan runs much.
The other winding feeds directly into the headlight and taillight, no coversion to D/C, it runs them directly off A/C. Consequently, the headlight only operates when the engine is running. I have gotten quite used to simply hitting the kill switch and never bothering to turn off the key because there is no drain on the battery even with the key on.
So the modification just involves separating the two pick-up points of the two separate stator windings and splicing them together into one. This gives full stator output to charge the battery, run the headlight, taillight, fan, etc. A slight modification to the wiring harness is required to do this but it is simple. And it requires a new beefier regulator which is a drop-in replacement to handle the new D/C load. So it was pretty simple, just a little desoldering/soldering, crimping, and sorting out the wires from the harness, and somehow tucking it all back in under the tank.
It was needed for the HID light, because the ballast requires D/C input and it would have been too much to hang the additional 35 Watts off the stock D/C output side of the stator. But it is fine once you rewire the stator to direct the full output there since you eliminate the 55 Watts of halogen headlight and replace that with 35 Watts of HID, getting a 20 Watt savings. All in all, I should actually see an improvement in available electrical power, even though I have about 5 times the light output.
I went riding with it Wed night in the wet and rain, it turns night into day. I'm very happy with it. It gets pretty toasty, though. We set up a twisting loop in a slick wet field with tall weeds and once we ran it in, we went to town. It wasn't long before the corners turned sloppy, and had a blast coming in hot, both front and rear sliding, and tractoring out the exit only to set up for the next one after barely enough time to shift to 3rd then hard on the brakes again. An hour and an half later I was covered with mud, my goggles were fogged up, and the steam from the rain and tall wet weeds and mud on the radiators and light made it look like the bike was boiling over, sizzling and shrouding me in vapor with the bright white glow of the HID making the boiling steam appear like a curtain that you couldn't see beyond. And riding at night gave a whole new character to the ride. It definitely would not have been as fun with the stock headlight, guessing about the terrain ahead, with the HID light, it was great. Even though it was only 7:30 in the evening, it was pitch dark here and it seemed like midnight. Good times!
I can only imagine what something like those Baja Designs 8" reflector HID race lights would be like. But I guess if you are going 100 MPH at night down the Baja peninsula in the 1000, that's what you would need to keep from outrunning your lights. For what I do, the stock reflector will be fine for now.
The other winding feeds directly into the headlight and taillight, no coversion to D/C, it runs them directly off A/C. Consequently, the headlight only operates when the engine is running. I have gotten quite used to simply hitting the kill switch and never bothering to turn off the key because there is no drain on the battery even with the key on.
So the modification just involves separating the two pick-up points of the two separate stator windings and splicing them together into one. This gives full stator output to charge the battery, run the headlight, taillight, fan, etc. A slight modification to the wiring harness is required to do this but it is simple. And it requires a new beefier regulator which is a drop-in replacement to handle the new D/C load. So it was pretty simple, just a little desoldering/soldering, crimping, and sorting out the wires from the harness, and somehow tucking it all back in under the tank.
It was needed for the HID light, because the ballast requires D/C input and it would have been too much to hang the additional 35 Watts off the stock D/C output side of the stator. But it is fine once you rewire the stator to direct the full output there since you eliminate the 55 Watts of halogen headlight and replace that with 35 Watts of HID, getting a 20 Watt savings. All in all, I should actually see an improvement in available electrical power, even though I have about 5 times the light output.
I went riding with it Wed night in the wet and rain, it turns night into day. I'm very happy with it. It gets pretty toasty, though. We set up a twisting loop in a slick wet field with tall weeds and once we ran it in, we went to town. It wasn't long before the corners turned sloppy, and had a blast coming in hot, both front and rear sliding, and tractoring out the exit only to set up for the next one after barely enough time to shift to 3rd then hard on the brakes again. An hour and an half later I was covered with mud, my goggles were fogged up, and the steam from the rain and tall wet weeds and mud on the radiators and light made it look like the bike was boiling over, sizzling and shrouding me in vapor with the bright white glow of the HID making the boiling steam appear like a curtain that you couldn't see beyond. And riding at night gave a whole new character to the ride. It definitely would not have been as fun with the stock headlight, guessing about the terrain ahead, with the HID light, it was great. Even though it was only 7:30 in the evening, it was pitch dark here and it seemed like midnight. Good times!
I can only imagine what something like those Baja Designs 8" reflector HID race lights would be like. But I guess if you are going 100 MPH at night down the Baja peninsula in the 1000, that's what you would need to keep from outrunning your lights. For what I do, the stock reflector will be fine for now.
Yeah, I kinda sorta started wondering when I thought you wrote you had to go inside the stator to change the output to DC, but it all makes sense now. Combining the outputs so they all go throught the rect/reg makes hella more sense.
Congrats on the mod. An H4 Hi/Lo is still on my list but I think phase one will be to install the KLX450 headlight assy. The KLX reflector is just not suitable for H.I.D.....at least not that I've heard or witnessed so far.
Senior Member
1st Gear Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,332
With as much juice as the klx puts out... a 100 watt bulb is no issue and is WAY bright and cheap with the baja setup.....well I like it..
Admin
1st Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 7,269
Sorry, I could have chosen the words better, I can see why that might make one scratch their head. On the ktm boards, it is commonly referred to as the "DC mod". It doesn't convert the stator output to DC of course, but converts the electrical system from an A/C portion plus a D/C portion to just D/C. It would have been better if I had phrased it more like "rewire the stator to support a single D/C supply".
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,106
From: Misawa Japan
1st Gear Member
Hey tremor, consider a standard Baja Designs headlight.....they use the same reflector for their standard bulb and the hid....the standard setup is a bargin if you are considering a hid upgrade.
With as much juice as the klx puts out... a 100 watt bulb is no issue and is WAY bright and cheap with the baja setup.....well I like it..
With as much juice as the klx puts out... a 100 watt bulb is no issue and is WAY bright and cheap with the baja setup.....well I like it..
Yeah, I really like the build quality of their fixtures, but I noticed they take an H1 sized bulb, which I 'think' doesn't have high/low beam. It sounds like that setup throws a lot of light, but is good for mostly off road use (lightin-up those sand dunes, trails and fire roads).
I spend almost all of my time on the pavement, so I'm looking for an H4 based Hi/Lo beam setup. Also, the H4 based HID draws only 35w, so I'd have more of a cushion for running my heated vest and grips.
That's how it is for a motard rider in his late 40's