How to Modify Tusk Dual Sport Kit

[Mayor Brap Brap]

I just picked up an '06 KDX200 after selling the one I couldn't get to run right (pictures coming soon). This one runs awesomely, but cosmetically it needs some love. While Stripping the bike, I decided to do a stator rewind and deal with electrical stuff while waiting for the five feet of snow to melt.

So, my plan is to rewind this stator and add a Reg/Rec in order to power the rest of the bike. I have blinkers, a horn, tail/brake light, stock headlight, and eventually want to get a TrailTech Vapor.

With that in mind, what is my course of action here? The lighting coil has a ground and power, while the Reg/Rec has four different lines, which looks like ground, two power, and red to the battery. Any suggestions as to how this should be set up? Thanks!

[Jaguar]

I'm an electronics technician and I just looked at a KDX125 wiring diagram that showed 3 yellow wires coming from the lighting coil which wasn't grounded. So it is different from your setup but here is what I would do. Ground one of the regulators yellow wires and let the other one connect to the coils yellow wire. Ground the black wire and run the red to the battery positive.

[Mayor Brap Brap]

I'm an electronics technician and I just looked at a KDX125 wiring diagram that showed 3 yellow wires coming from the lighting coil which wasn't grounded. So it is different from your setup but here is what I would do. Ground one of the regulators yellow wires and let the other one connect to the coils yellow wire. Ground the black wire and run the red to the battery positive.

Thanks! I've read other places that I can connect a second yellow wire to the ground on the coil and run both of them up to connect to the Reg/Rec yellow wires. Then the red and black go to a battery. Would that work too?

At this point I'm trying to figure out the best way to wire it––the rewound stator coil could power the front and rear lights while the battery could take care of the rest. This is all so confusing and I'm about to just get a Tusk dual sport kit but wanted to see if there's any way I'd be able to wire it with a homemade harness.

[scriberman]

I don't thick it will work well with a common grounded AC and DC . I would Remove the coil earth and connect to one of the yellow reg wires.

[Jaguar]

yeah, that would probably work. The only question remaining is whether or not the voltage is suitable.

[Mayor Brap Brap]

Okay, so I'll plan to run two yellow wires from the coil to the Reg/Rec. Does this mean I have to change everything else in the harness that's grounded?

[6 Riders]

There is a write up about this on Thumper Talk, in the XR section. Tells you how to wire this up. It will work much better if you use a battery to run the lights and the lighting stator w/rectifier to charge the battery.

[Mayor Brap Brap]

There is a write up about this on Thumper Talk, in the XR section. Tells you how to wire this up. It will work much better if you use a battery to run the lights and the lighting stator w/rectifier to charge the battery.

That's what I figured. I'll search for that link and post pictures of my progress in order to help out others here. Any idea what AWG the yellow wire is?

[Mayor Brap Brap]

I rewound the stator using 18AWG 200C Temco magnet wire. They sell colored wire, but it's rated up to 155C, so I stuck with the standard amber.



Here is everything soldered up. I used a layer of clear nail polish on the outside of the coil. I also added a second yellow wire to float the ground. The biggest pain in the ass is fishing the new wire through the stock sleeve and grommet.





Here's the whole setup. I got continuity at all points.



So where do I go from here? Yellow wires to Reg/Rec, Red and black from the Reg/Rec to a battery? Also, what about the grounded black wire on the back of the stator plate?

[Mayor Brap Brap]

Bueller? Do I ground everything to the negative battery terminal? Will this work with the Tusk kit?

[6 Riders]

From the lighting stator you need to go to the regulator, then to a rectifier, then to the battery.
I just put my Tusk kit on, you'd probably want to use a lead acid battery instead of the NiCad that the kit comes with.
I'm not sure why you added the 2nd yellow wire. To "float the ground" you would go +/- to rectifier (convert to DC) then +/- to Battery, then all lighting grounds to the battery.
You need to keep the regulator in play to keep the power from traveling back to the stator or you can use an all in one reg/rec.

[Mayor Brap Brap]

From the lighting stator you need to go to the regulator, then to a rectifier, then to the battery.
I just put my Tusk kit on, you'd probably want to use a lead acid battery instead of the NiCad that the kit comes with.
I'm not sure why you added the 2nd yellow wire. To "float the ground" you would go +/- to rectifier (convert to DC) then +/- to Battery, then all lighting grounds to the battery.
You need to keep the regulator in play to keep the power from traveling back to the stator or you can use an all in one reg/rec.

I floated the ground that way because I am replacing the stock regulator with a regulator/rectifier, pictured in the first post. The plan is to run both yellow to the two yellow on the reg/rec, then the red/black to the +/- leads on the battery. Then power everything from the + lead on the battery and return all ground in the system to the - lead. Alternatively, if I decide to keep everything stock I can simply ground that second yellow wire to the frame and run everything off the stator.

Just checking for confirmation that the battery setup I'm planning with the reg/rec will work properly.

Thanks for the help, everyone. If I get this up and running, I'll make a separate thread detailing everything I've done in order to help others with this process. It's almost like a DIY Baja kit using Tusk parts.

[Jaguar]

You asked about the ground wire from the stator plate. Keep that there for the stator coil that powers the CDI. Keep the coil going to the rectifier ungrounded. I'm pretty sure that you do need a battery since regulators are designed to be connected to one. Without one the voltage sometimes would be too high and possibly burn out the lights. The only problem is figuring out where to put it. That and how to insulate it from vibration and jarring.

[Mayor Brap Brap]

You asked about the ground wire from the stator plate. Keep that there for the stator coil that powers the CDI. Keep the coil going to the rectifier ungrounded. I'm pretty sure that you do need a battery since regulators are designed to be connected to one. Without one the voltage sometimes would be too high and possibly burn out the lights. The only problem is figuring out where to put it. That and how to insulate it from vibration and jarring.

That's what I've researched (for hours on end!). Both yellow to reg/rec, black and red from reg/rec to a battery, Tusk wiring harness running off battery. The battery will power everything--headlight, tail light, blinkers, horn. For the lighting circuit, I guess nothing will be grounded to the frame, just to the negative battery lead.

Now the trick is finding a 12V battery with enough juice to do the job, and one that is susceptible to being charged from the stator during riding. Maybe there's a way to mount it under one of the side panels...

[Jaguar]

as far as I know there is no good space for the battery. You might have to use a few small ones (connected in parallel) and install them at different places.

[Mayor Brap Brap]

as far as I know there is no good space for the battery. You might have to use a few small ones (connected in parallel) and install them at different places.

Just out of curiosity, what power level should I look for in a battery? I see that the Tusk battery is a wimpy 1,000mAh and the TRAIL TECH is I think 3,700mAh. Lead Acid or NiMH? I wish they made a super powerful compact battery!

[6 Riders]

The Tusk NiMH battery is very small and will fit on top of the airbox lid very well, but is susceptible to charging problems. You could look at batteriesplus or a "science" store for a small 12V led acid. Another thought would be to use 2 small 6 Volts wired in series, giving you 12 volts.

[Mayor Brap Brap]

The Tusk NiMH battery is very small and will fit on top of the airbox lid very well, but is susceptible to charging problems. You could look at batteriesplus or a "science" store for a small 12V led acid. Another thought would be to use 2 small 6 Volts wired in series, giving you 12 volts.

I looked at this today:



5Ah should be plenty of power for everything, even without the engine running for a while to pass inspection. The only problem is it's 3.5 L x 2.76 W x 4 H and would add 3.5 lbs. to the bike. Looking under the seat, there's not much room in the airbox at all due to the shape of the rear fender. But, there's space between the seat and the top of the airbox. I might try to modify the airbox lid, near the snorkel hole so that the battery sticks up from it and maybe I'll build a bracket that mounts to the frame bar where the regulator sits.

I will make a mockup of one of those 5AH lead acid batteries and tinker while we get another three feet of snow.

[Mayor Brap Brap]

I'm thinking of LED bulbs in everything to lower power consumption. I'm really only making it street legal to connect trails during the day. So with everything we're talking maybe 30 watts tops, probably far less. In that case, could I get away with something like the Trail Tech, which is NiCd? Or a smaller SLA? Just trying to figure out how many amps I need out of the battery to run everything. Also, I don't want to get one with a capacity so large that the rewound stator can't charge it fast enough.

[pumpguy]

Mayor,

Just curious if your state requires electric turn signals to be road legal? For motorcycles, my state, Illinois, does not, but does require an electric powered horn.

So for my conversion I installed an 85W lighting coil to the stator, front and rear hydraulic brake light switches, a UFO enduro rear fender with tail and stoplight. The bike came with an after market 35W incandescent dual filament headlight. For the horn, I found a cheap Chinese 12V job, and am powering it with a rechargeable 9.6V 1000mAh Ni-Mh SANYO RC car battery that only weighs 4 oz. (<www.batteriesamerica.com> Makes a good loud beep, although I can't say how long it will last before it needs recharging. Of course a mirror was added too.

So, unless you must have turn signals, this might be a good way to go. The RC car battery comes with a set of plug-in leads. Along with the battery, I got 2 supply lead plugs, one for the bike, and 1 for the charger. For a charger, I had a 12V DC 300mA power supply laying around that works just fine. The output is a concentric plug, the center is + and the outside is -. For charging, just stick the red wire in the center hole, and use a spring clothes pin to hold the black wire to the outside. The standard charging rate for this battery is 14 hrs @ 100mA. Fast charge is 2 hours @ 550mA.

Hope this helps. Good luck.