Lighting Questions

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Mayor Brap Brap
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by Mayor Brap Brap »

Now that you mention it, the CRF230 had a battery and I believe the HID kit pulled from that. Looks like I will have to convert to DC.
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dude541
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by dude541 »

Mayor Brap Brap wrote:Now that you mention it, the CRF230 had a battery and I believe the HID kit pulled from that. Looks like I will have to convert to DC.
the crf230 stock has a 60w stator + a half wave reg/rec + a battery, some owners rewind the stator to 110w then fit a full wave reg/rec for even more juice!

your kdx has a 40w stator + reg making ac power.

you will need a rewound stator (85-90w) full wave reg/rec (to convert to dc), and a battery/capacitor to have half a chance of running a hid kit on the kdx.
best regards
john
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by Mayor Brap Brap »

dude541 wrote:
Mayor Brap Brap wrote:Now that you mention it, the CRF230 had a battery and I believe the HID kit pulled from that. Looks like I will have to convert to DC.
the crf230 stock has a 60w stator + a half wave reg/rec + a battery, some owners rewind the stator to 110w then fit a full wave reg/rec for even more juice!

your kdx has a 40w stator + reg making ac power.

you will need a rewound stator (85-90w) full wave reg/rec (to convert to dc), and a battery/capacitor to have half a chance of running a hid kit on the kdx.
best regards
john
Do I need a full on regulator/rectifier, or could I just get a rectifier and use the stock regulator?
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dude541
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Lighting Questions

Post by dude541 »

the stock reg is for ac,
you would need a trail tech reg/rec or similar.
best regards
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Lighting Questions

Post by Mayor Brap Brap »

dude541 wrote:the stock reg is for ac,
you would need a trail tech reg/rec or similar.
best regards
john
Something like this? http://www.phatperformanceparts.com/Pro ... lick=37735

Also, is it a good idea to have a regulator/rec even if I don't do an HID?
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bufftester
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by bufftester »

If you're going to run a battery you need a reg/rec set up. I have seen some use KLR units (reg/rec and handlebar switch unit) with success. Rewinding the stator is easy to get more juice, and mounting the electronics is not difficult. Hardest part is finding a home for the battery
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by Mayor Brap Brap »

bufftester wrote:If you're going to run a battery you need a reg/rec set up. I have seen some use KLR units (reg/rec and handlebar switch unit) with success. Rewinding the stator is easy to get more juice, and mounting the electronics is not difficult. Hardest part is finding a home for the battery
Do I need to change the ground wire on the lighting coil to another yellow power wire and send both to the regulator/rectifier? I'm looking at this WPS reg/rec and it has two yellow wires:

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Lighting Questions

Post by dude541 »

I am currently in the middle of doing this myself, but have been really busy lately, but got around to final testing today! :grin:

I am using a trail tech reg/rec, I have a ricky stator 85w lighting stator, and a 12V 3700mAh SC COMPACT NiMH rechargeable battery pack .

a lot of companies state that you do need to remove the earth from the stator and bring a second wire up to the reg/rec, BUT after doing some research on the trail tech reg/rec I saw that a lot of people with enduro bikes where leaving the stator earthed then running the second yellow wire from the reg/rec to the bikes frame, with perfect results.

so decided to try this myself, to save running the second wire from the stator, and I am glad to say that it DOES work perfectly! with the trail tech reg/rec anyway.

if you do it this way just make sure you mount the reg/rec on top of plastic (ie the airbox) and all of your live and negative connections MUST run to the battery, do NOT earth anything else to the frame.

here is a pic, looks scruffy but it was just testing, I will probably completely remove the kdx lighting loom now and make my own as only minimum wires are needed if using a good handlebar switchgear.
best regards
John

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Mayor Brap Brap
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by Mayor Brap Brap »

Wow, that is insanely helpful! So I'm assuming if I go with the WPS, I'd just not use one of the yellow wires, ground the black to the frame, and run the red to a battery or capacitor? Your setup makes sense, since it's already grounded at the coil, rather than looping it through the coil.

But if I do decide to remove the ground at the coil and run two yellow, can I just snip off the round metal end on the coil ground wire and solder/heat shrink a yellow wire into it?

Thank you for the help, by the way. This is a great learning experience.
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bufftester
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by bufftester »

To run the second yellow yes, you just attach it to the black at the stator and isolate from ground.

Using the Tral Tech Rec/Reg you can run the second yellow wire to the frame and it will work fine...as long as you DO NOT connect the battery negative lead, or any component of the DC side of the system to the frame, as Dude clearly pointed out above. For our bikes this is the easiest way because you don't have to pull the flywheel and muck about with the stator, but you absolutely must rewire all of your lighting system so that it is not connected to the frame.

It is NOT advisable to run a battery with a reg/rec by hooking the battery negative to the frame and leaving the stock stator earthed to the frame as well. Running a non-floated ground on a full-wave rectifier this way you run the chance of damaging the rec/reg, and also of placing an AC charge your frame. This is due to the way a full wave rectifier is designed, you are essentially then running it as a half wave and placing an AC component on top of your DC output through the frame. In other words, you have coupled the AC output of the stator with the DC charging system.

WIll it work this way? yes, though not as efficient you will achieve the same voltage level, but at half the current capacity. Not a big deal if you're just running head/tail light, but comes into play as you add turn signals, grip heaters, etc. You're also placing an AC component on the negative terminal of your battery which is cycling from a negative to a positive potential, which will shorten the life of the battery (and in the case of NiMHs or LiPOs can increase the risk of fire - not the kind of seat warmer you want).
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by dude541 »

bufftester wrote:To run the second yellow yes, you just attach it to the black at the stator and isolate from ground.

Using the Tral Tech Rec/Reg you can run the second yellow wire to the frame and it will work fine...as long as you DO NOT connect the battery negative lead, or any component of the DC side of the system to the frame, as Dude clearly pointed out above. For our bikes this is the easiest way because you don't have to pull the flywheel and muck about with the stator, but you absolutely must rewire all of your lighting system so that it is not connected to the frame.

It is NOT advisable to run a battery with a reg/rec by hooking the battery negative to the frame and leaving the stock stator earthed to the frame as well. Running a non-floated ground on a full-wave rectifier this way you run the chance of damaging the rec/reg, and also of placing an AC charge your frame. This is due to the way a full wave rectifier is designed, you are essentially then running it as a half wave and placing an AC component on top of your DC output through the frame. In other words, you have coupled the AC output of the stator with the DC charging system.

WIll it work this way? yes, though not as efficient you will achieve the same voltage level, but at half the current capacity. Not a big deal if you're just running head/tail light, but comes into play as you add turn signals, grip heaters, etc. You're also placing an AC component on the negative terminal of your battery which is cycling from a negative to a positive potential, which will shorten the life of the battery (and in the case of NiMHs or LiPOs can increase the risk of fire - not the kind of seat warmer you want).
spot on :bravo:
for the ease of fitting etc I would just purchase a trail tech reg/rec.
best regards
john
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by Mayor Brap Brap »

Okay, so you're saying that using one yellow wire and keeping it grounded at the coil is doable, but the optimal setup is to run two wires up from the coil and connect them to the two yellow wires on the rec/reg? Then, connect the red to the battery/capacitor and ground the black to the frame?

I am looking to run turn signals, horn, better headlight, etc. I have a flywheel puller and soldering iron, so that's doable. Also, can I get rid of the stock AC regulator after putting in the reg/rec, or do I need to keep that?
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Re: Lighting Questions

Post by dude541 »

Mayor Brap Brap wrote:Okay, so you're saying that using one yellow wire and keeping it grounded at the coil is doable,
yes, using a trail tech reg/rec, not tried it with other makes, so you try it at your own risk.
you basically run one yellow from the reg/rec to the stator, the other yellow on the reg/rec you earth to the bikes frame, but then make sure you mount the reg/rec to plastic ie the airbox lid, DO NOT mount the reg rec to the bikes frame!
but the optimal setup is to run two wires up from the coil and connect them to the two yellow wires on the rec/reg?


I wouldn't say optimal but yes doing it this way is fine, I would probably do it this way if I was using a different make reg/rec, doing it this way would allow you to mount the reg/rec anywhere.

Then, connect the red to the battery/capacitor and ground the black to the frame?
no no no no no, you must be reading all the previous posts wrong, DO NOT ground the black wire to the frame!
the red & black from the reg/rec need to be directly connected to your capacitor/battery, then all your wiring for the lights etc connected directly to the battery, no negative gets earthed to the frame!
I am looking to run turn signals, horn, better headlight, etc. I have a flywheel puller and soldering iron, so that's doable. Also, can I get rid of the stock AC regulator after putting in the reg/rec, or do I need to keep that?
you must remove the ac regulator completely, also if using the stock kdx loom double check no earths go back to the frame.

best regards
john
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