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I just stumbled upon this lighting kit by Tusk and thought it was pretty cool and very affordable.

http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/produ ... Parts=true

It's got me thinking about those short back road commutes to work.

Thoughts?

That looks like a great deal - especially the battery included if needed. Isn't our bike an AC only system with the stock stator? Would we need a regulator/rectifier or somesuch other fancy electrical doodad?

Thought we would have had an answer to your question by now, but to be honest, I have no idea.

I also wonder if there is any other kind of devices needed to maintain a battery on these bikes.

Anyone?

Yes... you need a rectifier which is hell on battery power. It becomes a terribly inefficient system. Many have tried... that's why I didn't want to comment on it.

Just thinking out loud here, how about tapping into the factory wiring to power this setup?

Stator upgrade, headlight upgrade and this kit.

Only drawback to not having a battery is powering the emergency flashers when the bike is not running..... which would probably not pass inspection, but there is always the supplied rechargeable battery to pass inspections!

Existing is AC... it doesn't work with a battery.

Mine is rectified to DC and output is poor. If I run a 35w bulb it zaps the battery. I'm now running all LEDs, which keeps the battery up, but the headlight is crap for night riding.

I think turn signals and the horn require DC, but if you don't need those in your state you could set it up with just a headlight and tail/brake light. I see Az plated bikes set up this way a lot.

My Husaberg has a dual otuput stator and is a factory (in Europe) dual sport. The headlight and tail light are AC, and everything else is DC.

The KDX isn't very good on the street anyway, I just like to have a plate on mine to connect and get to the trails. Wouldn't recommend it for anything more than a short commute.

I just looked into the kit, and realized that like you said the battery is recharchable. I may get this kit for the KLX, and think it would work well on a KDX if you set it up where the battery only powers the turn signals and horn. The headlight and tail/brake light should run fine of the bikes AC power. The battery should stay charged for a long time if you don't use the horn, and even if it died you'd just loose your signals and horn.

^^^Doesn't sound like too bad of a plan.

What if you use a regular gel-cell battery with this kit, and then ONLY use the stator output to charge the battery?? Then ALL wiring is off the battery, making the battery necessary. Just like a car.

fuzzy wrote:^^^Doesn't sound like too bad of a plan.

What if you use a regular gel-cell battery with this kit, and then ONLY use the stator output to charge the battery?? Then ALL wiring is off the battery, making the battery necessary. Just like a car.

That's pretty much how most dual sport kits work including the Baja Designs I have on my KDX. The problem is that you need to rectify the coil's output to DC, where you loose mucho power. According to what I've read on this site and info from Baja Designs, even with a rewound stator, the output when rectified isn't enough to sustain bright lights.

I've had the same issues with dual sport kits I've ran on my Huskys since the 90's. My '93 had a 130watt SEM stator, which was enough to power the DS kit with a 55watt headligh through a rectifier. When I put a kit on my '95 610 they had switched to a low output, but more reliable Ducati ignition. Even after having it rewound to an estimated 90watts by Malcolm Smith's, it won't run the DS kit with anything over a 35watt headlight. Baja Designes swithched from gel cell batteries to nicads years ago because the gel cells didn't hold up near as well to off road vibrations and being drained. Nicads are the way to go in a kickstart bike, lighter and not damaged if drained.

The Tusk kit sound apealing to because one could keep the running lights off the higher watt AC voltage and just run the horn and signals off the battery.

I wonder if you could split the output wire into a rectifier to just charge the battery. If my understanding of rectifiers is right, they are just a fancy diode and should not let current from the battery bleed back to the AC run accessories. HMMM. . . . .

A Rectifier is a set of 4 diodes run in a diamond shape.... I think I have a few lying around....

Why do you need to rectify it if it's just going to be a charging output? And if you lose 'mucho power' by rectifying it would it be enough to charge the battery/keep charged under most conditions?

fuzzy wrote:Why do you need to rectify it if it's just going to be a charging output? And if you lose 'mucho power' by rectifying it would it be enough to charge the battery/keep charged under most conditions?

I believe a battery, horn, and turn signals will only work with direct current. Am I wrong?

I am by no means a expert on motorcycle wiring, but here is my thought.

The factory headlight bulb is a 12 volt device.

We have all talked about stator upgrades, which is really a amperage upgrade, not a voltage upgrade.

A battery is only a storage device.

Tapping the headlight harness before any kind of onoff switch that is already installed on the bike, will be a constant power source when the bike is running.

Now I know some electronics are voltage sensitive and may not operate if voltage is too high or too low.

The kit is LED, so that means the amperage draw will be very low.

The horn will be greatest amperage draw if it all, excluding a after market headlight of choice, but how much can it really draw? Probably not much.

With all that said and not wanting to use the rechargeable battery that is included in the system, the only illegal thing about it would be non-functioning emergency flashers if a breakdown occurred.

Ya, I agree. I think it would work - if you're good about 3 things. First, it's prolly only good for getting to trails and connecting trails legally. Second, better turn it off when you get to the trail. Third, better be good about recharging the lil battery.

Honestly, it would only need to get me through an inspection (emergency flashers are not nrcessary here in Maine), and to the trails. Anyone who wants to do much more onroad than that with a KDX is certifiable. I can only imagine the looks I'd get downtown at our 1 stoplight with my bike dropping smoke and spoo like a 67 Buick.

So who's gonna be the first to waste the money.... ah, I mean give it a try?

Velocity_Stack wrote:I am by no means a expert on motorcycle wiring, but here is my thought.

The factory headlight bulb is a 12 volt device.

We have all talked about stator upgrades, which is really a amperage upgrade, not a voltage upgrade.

A battery is only a storage device.

Tapping the headlight harness before any kind of onoff switch that is already installed on the bike, will be a constant power source when the bike is running.

Now I know some electronics are voltage sensitive and may not operate if voltage is too high or too low.

The kit is LED, so that means the amperage draw will be very low.

The horn will be greatest amperage draw if it all, excluding a after market headlight of choice, but how much can it really draw? Probably not much.

With all that said and not wanting to use the rechargeable battery that is included in the system, the only illegal thing about it would be non-functioning emergency flashers if a breakdown occurred.

Factory bulbs are 12 v but you have an operating voltage at high RPM
around 100 volts. There is a considerable voltage drop as soon as you turn the lights on.
I would wonder if you take the 35 watt headlamp out of the system and
replace it with an led if it would smoke the LED's immediately ??

TWMOODY wrote:

Velocity_Stack wrote:I am by no means a expert on motorcycle wiring, but here is my thought.

The factory headlight bulb is a 12 volt device.

We have all talked about stator upgrades, which is really a amperage upgrade, not a voltage upgrade.

A battery is only a storage device.

Tapping the headlight harness before any kind of onoff switch that is already installed on the bike, will be a constant power source when the bike is running.

Now I know some electronics are voltage sensitive and may not operate if voltage is too high or too low.

The kit is LED, so that means the amperage draw will be very low.

The horn will be greatest amperage draw if it all, excluding a after market headlight of choice, but how much can it really draw? Probably not much.

With all that said and not wanting to use the rechargeable battery that is included in the system, the only illegal thing about it would be non-functioning emergency flashers if a breakdown occurred.

Factory bulbs are 12 v but you have an operating voltage at high RPM
around 100 volts. There is a considerable voltage drop as soon as you turn the lights on.
I would wonder if you take the 35 watt headlamp out of the system and
replace it with an led if it would smoke the LED's immediately ??

If you put a 100 volts on a 12 volt bulb, I would be willing to be it would blow just past 15............

I'm going to break the meter out tomorrow and test some currents via the headlight harness, I find it hard t believe that I will pick up ac current.

I do admit that it will fluctuate between maybe 10 and 14 volts, but I just can't see 100.............

There is a VR in the system and yes it is AC! A bulb doesn't care if it's AC or DC...

TWMOODY wrote:

Velocity_Stack wrote:I am by no means a expert on motorcycle wiring, but here is my thought.

The factory headlight bulb is a 12 volt device.

We have all talked about stator upgrades, which is really a amperage upgrade, not a voltage upgrade.

A battery is only a storage device.

Tapping the headlight harness before any kind of onoff switch that is already installed on the bike, will be a constant power source when the bike is running.

Now I know some electronics are voltage sensitive and may not operate if voltage is too high or too low.

The kit is LED, so that means the amperage draw will be very low.

The horn will be greatest amperage draw if it all, excluding a after market headlight of choice, but how much can it really draw? Probably not much.

With all that said and not wanting to use the rechargeable battery that is included in the system, the only illegal thing about it would be non-functioning emergency flashers if a breakdown occurred.

Factory bulbs are 12 v but you have an operating voltage at high RPM
around 100 volts. There is a considerable voltage drop as soon as you turn the lights on.
I would wonder if you take the 35 watt headlamp out of the system and
replace it with an led if it would smoke the LED's immediately ??

The regulator should keep it around 12 volts no matter how many watts the stator puts out. The stock stator puts out like 45 watts, barely enough for the stock 35 watt headlight and tail light. The stock headlight is probably okay for a running light on the street, but not very good off road at night.

I have all LEDS on mine including the headlight. http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... H4-WHP.htm The LED headlight bulb is designed as a daytime running light and sucks at night.

I haven't ever heard of a motorcycle needing hazard lights. My factory DS bikes never had hazards.

My main objective and concern is to determine if this Tusk system can be tapped into the factory headlight harness as a power source without the supplied battery or the use of a 12 volt battery.

It's great that it comes with a rechargeable battery, which a person could use to get the bike legal for titling and state inspection reasons: "engine not running - lighting still works".

Plus I was looking for any other reasons it would be a bad idea all together, you know, 2-stroke KDX used as a street commute.

Maybe I'm trying to find a reason not to buy a ZX6R.