ufo headlight wiring
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canyncarvr
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What is it you're after? What's happening now?
The oem lighting coil won't run a twin-light UFO shell anyway. That's been changed?
A quick btw..if the '91 has a voltage regulator and runs on AC as the 'H' model does, make sure you keep that VR in the circuit when you wire the lights in.
Otherwise, you'll have plenty of power to run the front lights......but only for a split second before you blow 'em sky high!
The oem lighting coil won't run a twin-light UFO shell anyway. That's been changed?
A quick btw..if the '91 has a voltage regulator and runs on AC as the 'H' model does, make sure you keep that VR in the circuit when you wire the lights in.
Otherwise, you'll have plenty of power to run the front lights......but only for a split second before you blow 'em sky high!
canyncarvr
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My coil is from electrex, commonly sold under a variety of names. There are two ratings listed on the thing, 70 and 75 watts depending on whether you're looking at the mfg. tag or the vendor.
75 watts will be sufficient for an aftermarket headlamp shell and a taillight. If you have any additional accessories (say an 8-track player or maybe grip heaters?), you won't be running lights AND that accessory.
A btw...you will find that the addition of an aftermarket lighting coil will end up being a performance enhancer. No...can't say why. Some FM regarding field shape/strength or somesuch. At least (here comes the disclaimer) I noticed it right off. Thought it was all in my head until I heard the same from kdxdoc (something like that).
Yanno who that is? :)
Signed:
namedropper
75 watts will be sufficient for an aftermarket headlamp shell and a taillight. If you have any additional accessories (say an 8-track player or maybe grip heaters?), you won't be running lights AND that accessory.
A btw...you will find that the addition of an aftermarket lighting coil will end up being a performance enhancer. No...can't say why. Some FM regarding field shape/strength or somesuch. At least (here comes the disclaimer) I noticed it right off. Thought it was all in my head until I heard the same from kdxdoc (something like that).
Yanno who that is? :)
Signed:
namedropper
kdxdoc? You've been on eBay as well then. Where can I find one of those coils. (or did you mean stator?) The coil being the thing with the wire running to the sparkplug. I'm easily confused :ugg: by the terminology when it comes to the electronics, so please bear with me and don't point and laugh :joke:
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canyncarvr
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ha ha ha..point point point -------> ---------->
Oh...sorry. ;)
It's NOT a stator...it's the coil that runs the lights. Yes, there is a coil that runs the sparky controls that is under the flywheel too...but that's not the 'coil' that is the provider of the hi-tension spark that is actually connected to the plug.
A 'coil' in this case being a bunch of wire wrapped around a pole piece as opposed to the transformer that drives the spark plug. Of course, it's really TWO coils, 'eh? ;)
Both of these coils (light and spark control) are part of the stator assembly ...that is under the flywheel.
Where can you buy an electrex coil? Any bike shop should have one. Rockymountain has em...search their site for keyword 'electrex'.
I paid $75 for mine (not from rm-mc).
Oh...sorry. ;)
It's NOT a stator...it's the coil that runs the lights. Yes, there is a coil that runs the sparky controls that is under the flywheel too...but that's not the 'coil' that is the provider of the hi-tension spark that is actually connected to the plug.
A 'coil' in this case being a bunch of wire wrapped around a pole piece as opposed to the transformer that drives the spark plug. Of course, it's really TWO coils, 'eh? ;)
Both of these coils (light and spark control) are part of the stator assembly ...that is under the flywheel.
Where can you buy an electrex coil? Any bike shop should have one. Rockymountain has em...search their site for keyword 'electrex'.
I paid $75 for mine (not from rm-mc).
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canyncarvr
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Soldering is required on the electrex coil.
Rickystator will rewind the one you have if you like. Last I checked the cost wasn't significantly different. So..you end up with your bike down for some time and you don't have a 'spare' (the one you took out) when you're done, either.
Be careful on the flywheel install. It's easy to back the key out in the process. Check the key when you're done to make sure it's still in the slot.
While you're in there, you might as well get a FWW from steahly.....
Wait...you hav one'a those already, don't you.
Rickystator will rewind the one you have if you like. Last I checked the cost wasn't significantly different. So..you end up with your bike down for some time and you don't have a 'spare' (the one you took out) when you're done, either.
Be careful on the flywheel install. It's easy to back the key out in the process. Check the key when you're done to make sure it's still in the slot.
While you're in there, you might as well get a FWW from steahly.....
Wait...you hav one'a those already, don't you.
CC:
What's an 8-track player? J/K... I've been around long enough... :-)
Ok, stupid question time. If I bought a UFO headlamp shell, installed two standard bulbs 30w/ea wired in parallel, which should be 60w, and 10w for the rear light, I should be in good shape with the 100w rewind, right?
Best,
Greg
What's an 8-track player? J/K... I've been around long enough... :-)
Ok, stupid question time. If I bought a UFO headlamp shell, installed two standard bulbs 30w/ea wired in parallel, which should be 60w, and 10w for the rear light, I should be in good shape with the 100w rewind, right?
Best,
Greg
canyncarvr
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Yes.
You could stick a couple of 30 watters in the front, one wideº and one narrowº, run an LED in the back and be good-to-go with the 75'er.
Although, I think your choices will be 25W/35W. It's been awhile since I bought replacments...seems that was true at the time.
Ok...so use two 35s and an LED in the back.
In any case it's going to be dimming at idle.....with the 100watter or not.
You knew that, right?
You could stick a couple of 30 watters in the front, one wideº and one narrowº, run an LED in the back and be good-to-go with the 75'er.
Although, I think your choices will be 25W/35W. It's been awhile since I bought replacments...seems that was true at the time.
Ok...so use two 35s and an LED in the back.
In any case it's going to be dimming at idle.....with the 100watter or not.
You knew that, right?
canyncarvr said:
Thanks, CC. I was just making sure that I didn't miss something obvious and didn't want to overload the circuit.
RE: bulb wattages, I just looked at the buykawasaki.com parts drawing and it states 30w for the headlight, 10w for the tail light, so those are the numbers I used. Luckily enough, havent had to buy any bulbs yet though I should buy one of each and put them in with my spares. In regards to the LED, I've done a quick google search for an R10W LED bulb and haven't found anything. Can I cross with another bulb type?
RE: rewound stator - just repeating what I read on the bajadesigns website. For the upgrade, they want the stator sent to them and they do all modifications. It looks like they charge $90 for the service. If the prices are the same, I think I'm going to go with the 100w coil.
Yep, I knew it would dim. The current setup dims slightly at idle. Two will be just that much more noticable. As long as it's working when I'm going down the trail... ;)
Best,
Greg
bleedngreen
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Rewound lighting coil issues
Hello, CC;
What's the deal with the dimming of the lights at very low RPM with a high output lighting coil? Just installed 75W Electrex unit in my '99 220 and man, what a revolting development...
I tend to get involved in some rather technical trails that I would like to hit at night-- hence the wattage upgrade and planned bulbage change to something a bit more powerful. The original electrics were sufficient for daytime use and with an LED stop/brake light have so far kept me from being splattered while doing any street oriented riding.
When crawling over rocks and hills at near trials speeds though, all this up 'n downing of the lights will drive me crazy.
Is there any way around this phenomonon other than wiring in a battery and regulator/rectifier; or am I just being neurotic because maybe I was coddled too much as a child?
Dave
Hello, CC;
What's the deal with the dimming of the lights at very low RPM with a high output lighting coil? Just installed 75W Electrex unit in my '99 220 and man, what a revolting development...
I tend to get involved in some rather technical trails that I would like to hit at night-- hence the wattage upgrade and planned bulbage change to something a bit more powerful. The original electrics were sufficient for daytime use and with an LED stop/brake light have so far kept me from being splattered while doing any street oriented riding.
When crawling over rocks and hills at near trials speeds though, all this up 'n downing of the lights will drive me crazy.
Is there any way around this phenomonon other than wiring in a battery and regulator/rectifier; or am I just being neurotic because maybe I was coddled too much as a child?
Dave
canyncarvr
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re: 'what a revolting development'
Did you mean devolting? ;)
re: 'or am I just being neurotic because maybe I was coddled too much as a child?'
Thar 'ya go.
The term '75 watts' is in regards to the capability of juice production. The flywheel has to be spinning at a pretty good clip to get that 75 watts.
Here's the rub of the whole deal. It is not a matter of 'the more the better' when it comes to windings on the coil. There is a tradeoff between volts and amps when the size of the wire and the number of wraps around a given pole is taken into consideration. Roughly, if you increase the size of the wire you increase the current carrying capability...if you increase the number of wraps you increase the voltage.
Exaggerate to make the point. Consider one layer of #10 wire. That wire has the ability to carry a considerable amount of current, but you won't get diddle in the way of voltage with a single layer. Likewise, consider several hundred layers of 30ga. wire..you'll get lotsa volts...but zip for current.
Watts (being power, or 'P') is equal to current ('I') multiplied by voltage ('E'), or: P=IxE. A drop in either value (amps or voltage) causes a power loss.
That's a long way of saying that while the electrex can put out MORE watts, it won't do as good a job putting out less watts.
Look for the 100-watter to be worse in that regard. Guess you could say it would do the same thing better! ;)
Re: Buykawi figures for wattages
Except you won't be running that type of bulb in an aftermarket shell. That was my point. I think the halogen wattages available in the (example) ufo twin are 25/35. You might check on that before you order up the baja 100 watt unit. As noted, a huge expanse of extra power being available is not a good thing.
It will work better going down or uphill if you're going faster!!
Re: led units.
I've looked on the web before and didn't find diddle. Went to the local schucks (kragen/pep boys/etc) auto parts store to find them hanging on the wall. Call your local autoparts store and ask 'em for an led replacement for a taillight bulb (1120 is it?). With the LED lighting craze being currently in vogue, they'll have 'em.
Did you mean devolting? ;)
re: 'or am I just being neurotic because maybe I was coddled too much as a child?'
Thar 'ya go.
The term '75 watts' is in regards to the capability of juice production. The flywheel has to be spinning at a pretty good clip to get that 75 watts.
Here's the rub of the whole deal. It is not a matter of 'the more the better' when it comes to windings on the coil. There is a tradeoff between volts and amps when the size of the wire and the number of wraps around a given pole is taken into consideration. Roughly, if you increase the size of the wire you increase the current carrying capability...if you increase the number of wraps you increase the voltage.
Exaggerate to make the point. Consider one layer of #10 wire. That wire has the ability to carry a considerable amount of current, but you won't get diddle in the way of voltage with a single layer. Likewise, consider several hundred layers of 30ga. wire..you'll get lotsa volts...but zip for current.
Watts (being power, or 'P') is equal to current ('I') multiplied by voltage ('E'), or: P=IxE. A drop in either value (amps or voltage) causes a power loss.
That's a long way of saying that while the electrex can put out MORE watts, it won't do as good a job putting out less watts.
Look for the 100-watter to be worse in that regard. Guess you could say it would do the same thing better! ;)
Re: Buykawi figures for wattages
Except you won't be running that type of bulb in an aftermarket shell. That was my point. I think the halogen wattages available in the (example) ufo twin are 25/35. You might check on that before you order up the baja 100 watt unit. As noted, a huge expanse of extra power being available is not a good thing.
It will work better going down or uphill if you're going faster!!
Re: led units.
I've looked on the web before and didn't find diddle. Went to the local schucks (kragen/pep boys/etc) auto parts store to find them hanging on the wall. Call your local autoparts store and ask 'em for an led replacement for a taillight bulb (1120 is it?). With the LED lighting craze being currently in vogue, they'll have 'em.
Thanks, again CC.
You wrote "In any case it's going to be dimming at idle.....with the 100watter or not. You knew that, right?" Now I understand the question and no I didn't. So basically, your last answer says there is no free lunch and if I want the 100w, I'm going to have to spin the motor pretty good just to get that coil to energize, hence the reason why less wattage would be better for my application. Given the above explanation, since I ride slower trails mostly, the 100w may not put out enough juice at the lower RPMs to make the lighting useful.
As for headlight bulbs, I assumed that the bulbs were going to be the same instead of checking - yep, I know, wrong... :-)
Sounds like the LED bulb will be as easy as a run down to the local parts store. I'll do that tonight.
Best,
Greg
You wrote "In any case it's going to be dimming at idle.....with the 100watter or not. You knew that, right?" Now I understand the question and no I didn't. So basically, your last answer says there is no free lunch and if I want the 100w, I'm going to have to spin the motor pretty good just to get that coil to energize, hence the reason why less wattage would be better for my application. Given the above explanation, since I ride slower trails mostly, the 100w may not put out enough juice at the lower RPMs to make the lighting useful.
As for headlight bulbs, I assumed that the bulbs were going to be the same instead of checking - yep, I know, wrong... :-)
Sounds like the LED bulb will be as easy as a run down to the local parts store. I'll do that tonight.
Best,
Greg
canyncarvr
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Right. There is no free lunch. You give 'some' someplace to get 'some' someplace else.
You might consider using a twin-lite shell with wiring to run the lights separately. With the oem coil you will be able to run that ok. While you won't have the advantage of two lites at the same time, you WILL have the ability to easily (with the flip of a switch) get to light#2 if light#1 quits.
While there may indeed be an aftermarket shell that uses the oem kdx style bulb I've not seen one.
Another place jetting becomes important. When you're miles from your rig in the dark, the last thing you need is a bike that loads up so bad it won't idle on some long downhill jaunt.
You can always bump your idle up some to help the lighting situation.
Personally, although I'm not prone to motion sickness, I've found that bouncing thru the woods in the dark on a technical single track about does me in. There are so many shadows changing so fast it gets my head to spinning pretty quick.
Which is to say, I will make a point of staying off such tracks when it's dark if possible.
You might consider using a twin-lite shell with wiring to run the lights separately. With the oem coil you will be able to run that ok. While you won't have the advantage of two lites at the same time, you WILL have the ability to easily (with the flip of a switch) get to light#2 if light#1 quits.
While there may indeed be an aftermarket shell that uses the oem kdx style bulb I've not seen one.
Another place jetting becomes important. When you're miles from your rig in the dark, the last thing you need is a bike that loads up so bad it won't idle on some long downhill jaunt.
You can always bump your idle up some to help the lighting situation.
Personally, although I'm not prone to motion sickness, I've found that bouncing thru the woods in the dark on a technical single track about does me in. There are so many shadows changing so fast it gets my head to spinning pretty quick.
Which is to say, I will make a point of staying off such tracks when it's dark if possible.
I have wiring diagram if you need. I wired my 92kdx with a UFO aftermarket. It has 3 filiments and i wired the one the one that had the best light angle. e mail me if you need to know what color the wires are and if you want the wiring diagram. kevinpaula@arilion.com
canyncarvr
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In series?
Hope your house isn't wired that way!
I guess if you want to wire 'em that way, you could run lots of lights with the oem light coil..... ;)
You wouldn't get lots of LIGHT, but you would have lots of LIGHTS.
And then, when one of 'em quit, you'd be in the dark!!
Hope your house isn't wired that way!
I guess if you want to wire 'em that way, you could run lots of lights with the oem light coil..... ;)
You wouldn't get lots of LIGHT, but you would have lots of LIGHTS.
And then, when one of 'em quit, you'd be in the dark!!
canyncarvr
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If I din't know better, I'd think that matt is serious............
Speaks ain't lights. It's common to wire 4ohm speakers in series for an 8ohm load.
Hey!! These aren't 4ohm lights, are they???
hee hee...
Speaks ain't lights. It's common to wire 4ohm speakers in series for an 8ohm load.
Hey!! These aren't 4ohm lights, are they???
hee hee...
canyncarvr
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OK...no further takers??
Lights are not wired in series. They are wired in parallel. In a parallel circuit, voltage is common to each load. In a series circuit current is common to each load.
What you're after is a 'common voltage' situation, meaning you want each lighting unit to get the same voltage.
So, descriptively....the regulated source is wired to each of the lights with the other side of the light(s) going to ground.
Make sure you keep the regulator in the circuit. While it looks easier to wire to the lights from the switch (yellow wire in 'H' series), don't do it. You have to go thru the switch to the regulator (red wire in 'H' series), THEN to the lights.
Is that clear? You would be wiring the RED wire to the lights, not the yellow wire.
Unless of course you are looking for maximum brightness (but for a very short period of time!).
Thassa' joke, son.
Lights are not wired in series. They are wired in parallel. In a parallel circuit, voltage is common to each load. In a series circuit current is common to each load.
What you're after is a 'common voltage' situation, meaning you want each lighting unit to get the same voltage.
So, descriptively....the regulated source is wired to each of the lights with the other side of the light(s) going to ground.
Make sure you keep the regulator in the circuit. While it looks easier to wire to the lights from the switch (yellow wire in 'H' series), don't do it. You have to go thru the switch to the regulator (red wire in 'H' series), THEN to the lights.
Is that clear? You would be wiring the RED wire to the lights, not the yellow wire.
Unless of course you are looking for maximum brightness (but for a very short period of time!).
Thassa' joke, son.
