Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

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19Delta
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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by 19Delta »

Need some heat for long cold winter days. Will the KDX support these? Where should I tie in?

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Re: Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by david »

I don't think the electrical system of the KDX will support the needed wattage for grip heaters. You would probably need to mount a battery and re-engineer the charging system.

Disposable hand warmers would probably be a better option. Or some battery powered heated gloves.
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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by pumpguy »

+1 You would need to find out the wattage requirement for the grip heaters, and also weather they can work with AC current on need DC current.

Stock, the KDX lighting coil only puts out around 40 watts. It can be upgraded to 80 or maybe a little more depending on weather you rewind or replace with a bigger lighting coil. Ricky Stator sells them. But whichever you do, it's still AC, and if the grip heaters need DC, you will need a regulator / rectifier, and probably a battery too.

I would look into battery heated gloves, unless you want to upgrade your bike for good and legal lights too.
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Re: Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by Tyl3r »

I've never attempted to run these on a bike, but on my quad, they are awesome! I use them all winter and just wear my normal riding gloves with them: https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/96 ... ctors?c=13

Thinking about it further, they probably would suck with a twist throttle. Anyone ever try?
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Re: Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by royadams »

I've got those grip heaters on my 250. They work great, i did rewrap the stator so i could run the lights and heaters at the same time. Ive been running them for 3 years. The only issue is the switch its not water proof and only lasted 1 year.
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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by firsthere »

I use the $20 Tusk warmers on my 04 KDX and they work fine. Only problem is the headlight needs to be off or they don't get very hot. (and probably not good for the life of the bulb) As for wiring tap out of the two headlight wires (before the switch, red and yellow I believe) for + and - , no frame ground.
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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by pumpguy »

So, as a clarification @firsthere, are you saying your grip heaters work with OK with standard AC current output from your 04 KDX?

Does your bike have the stock 40 watt lighting coil, or has it been upgraded?
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Re: Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by bufftester »

I had the tusk ones as well and they worked ok before I rewound my stator, but you're not going to run much else (although, unless you have made it street legal there really is nothing else to run). If you're not riding in the dark your stock coil should power the heaters fine. IIRC the tusk heaters pull like 25W or something
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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by firsthere »

Yeah, its a trade off lights or warm hands. I don't much ride a night but do like warmth the rest of the time.

On the Tusk, just make sure the wire connectors aren't strained. Glue the bend at the grip, leave a free loop for the twist, and support the wires going into the (low) resistor.
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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by royadams »

pumpguy wrote:So, as a clarification @firsthere, are you saying your grip heaters work with OK with standard AC current output from your 04 KDX?

Does your bike have the stock 40 watt lighting coil, or has it been upgraded?
Yes they work fine with a/c. stock coil works fine without lights. If you want to run the lights you will need to rewind the coil. Its inexpensive and not very hard to rewind the coil.
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Re: Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by 19Delta »

firsthere wrote:I use the $20 Tusk warmers on my 04 KDX and they work fine. Only problem is the headlight needs to be off or they don't get very hot. (and probably not good for the life of the bulb) As for wiring tap out of the two headlight wires (before the switch, red and yellow I believe) for + and - , no frame ground.
Thanks!

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Re: Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by 19Delta »

The heaters I want to buy are 40 watts. Let's say the bike is putting out 38 watts... Will that hurt anything? I believe they just won't be as hot (although still plenty warm).

I'm not sure what the bike puts out. It's an 03 low hour 200KDX.

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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by pumpguy »

The stock KDX H series coil puts out 40 watts. If that's not enough, the grip heaters won't get as warm as they could, and/or the lights will be dimmer than they could be.

If either is the case, you need more wattage; either rewound stock coil or bought higher output (Ricky Stator) coil.
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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by firsthere »

It won't hurt anything, just may not be as warm on high (which is usually too hot) and take a little longer to reach full heat (based on the 25w Tusk elements). I occasionally use the high setting on the 650r riding mostly fast logging roads due to the wind chill effect. Even then it's sometimes necessary to take a hand off a grip to cool down.
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Can I wire these grip heaters to a KDX?

Post by IDRIDR »

19Delta wrote:Need some heat for long cold winter days. Will the KDX support these? Where should I tie in?

Symtec Motorcycle Hand Warmer Kit with Metal Toggle Switch 210019MT

Those look like nice heaters. I have Tusk on the KLX & KLR and fancy Oxford ones on the Strom. Warm hands are a must.
It's interesting to see these pull fewer amps at the low setting. The Tusk ones just shunt power through a resister on low and I believe this doesn't drop the power draw. I initially changed the high/low wiring so that on low they ran in series (which saved amps) and high in normal parallel, but the low setting was just not enough so wired as instructed with the resistor.

Let us know how it goes and what you do. I suspect the heaters would work pretty well with the headlight off but won't be worth much with the light on.
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