Stator woes?

[jmutiger]

Hi there,

I have a 1993 KDX250, and I think I need more output from my stator.. When I hit the brakes, the headlight dies almost completely. The tail light doesn't light up fully on braking (pressure switch installed)..

Who does rewinds in Canada? Anyone know? I'd lik to avoid shipping cross border if possible, I'm around Toronto.

ps. the headlight is a Baja Designs with a 35W bulb, and a standard 1157 brake light bulb. Disconnecting the tail light completely totally makes my headlight brighter.

jon!

 

[slcyclerace]

Before you go the stator route look for a bad ground.

 

[canyncarvr]

'hit the brakes'? The point being low engine speed, I presume? That's a single 35W?

I've never understood the 'rewound' part. Prices I've seen for rewound are about the same as buying a new one..so why send yours off for a week or two when you can just bolt in a new one?

But, DO check your grounds.

 

[jmutiger]

Okay, I have installed a brake light and brake pressure switch, so I'm running a dual filament rear bulb, which is 21W when the brake light is on, and 5W when it's on regular, just like a car (in most cases).

My grounds are fine, I've checked them. But the problem appears to be that I'm not generating enough electricity to feed the system what it wants at full load.. THUS I want to rewind the stator not to bring it back to stock power, but to bring it back with say 70 - 100Watts.. That should alieviate some of my dimming of the headlight.. the said dimming occurs weather I'm at full RPM or 600rpm.. It can't make enough right now.

Has anyone here had Baja Designs rewind their stator? Did it solve these issues?

Jon!

 

[Canadian Dave]

Rewinding a lighting coil is something you can do yourself. I did mine on my 89 and was shocked how simple it was.

You'll want to measure the wire that's presently on the coil so determine what gauge it is. Head down to your local electronics store and match it up. Remember it needs to be coated wire just like the what comes off the coil. When I did mine I removed the existing wire and measured the total length. I then rewound the coil with the same amount of wire. Mine ended up producing much more power than the stock set up even though I used the same length on wire. I wound it much more tightly than the stock set up hence more juice. Doing it this way leaves room on the coil for additional wire. If you wound it more tightly/carefully than the original and continued to wind until the coil was at the original diameter you'd be producing plenty of juice to run your lights etc. no problem Be sure you have a voltage regular in the circuit or you'll blow all you lights at idle.

You’ll notice your coil has a coating applied once its been wound. I duplicated this with Varithane (sp?). Worked great.

Hope that helps.

If you don't feel comfortable rewinding your lighting coil any electric motor repair/rewind shop should be able to help you out. They should have wire as well if you get stuck and can’t find any.

David

 

[Jim Crenca]

Hey Dave,

Do you think before a stator rewind, it would be a good idea to use an inductive amp probe to measure the true current draw? I would think that a ground / wiring imperfection could cause a higher than reasonable current demand. My 94 has stock electronics & there is very little change in lighting output with stock bulbs.

 

[Canadian Dave]

Certainly, do some testing to insure its not a wiring problem before you go hog wild.


David

 

[jmutiger]

Thanks Dave,

One question for ya.. What kind of puller will I need to get the Stator off the bike?

Okay one more question..

How hard is it to replace the gear selector shaft? I'm gonna have to do it sometime this year, as I ran a semi-tight selector lever for a day, and it took off half of my splines.. I just wanna know if I'm gonna have to split the cases or just pull it out from the clutch side.

Thanks again,

Jon!

 

[canyncarvr]

Whoa!

I'd first said 'I presume..' because obviously a brake light/ pressure switch being added would be mentioned upfront. :(

A lighting coil that is marginally not up to output requirements, but otherwise operating OK will not have the symptom you are describing, namely a dimming of the headlight whether at 600 or 6000rpm:

the said dimming occurs weather I'm at full RPM or 600rpm

The marginal part would apply in this case as stated...one 35w front, and a taillight. Obviously a 30 watt coil hooked up to 75 watts-o-stuff isn't ever going to be bright.

I'd be looking at the voltage of the front bulb, for one. Maybe there is an error there. Disconnect the added 'pressure switch' and maybe the taillight, too. BE CAREFUL about the disconnecting part...it's easy to disconnect the back wiring, say, in the headlight area...but you might also be disconnecting the regulator.

re: rewinding with the same wire size. The size of the wire is going to determine its current (amp) capability, the number of wraps and the density of the wrap will determine the voltage output. Point is, if you rewind using the same guage wire but wrap to a higher density/# of wraps, you will be expecting more current from the same thickness of wire.

The wire used is probably large enough to handle any reasonable increase in current, but keep in mind that you will be pushing more current through the same wire (if you use the same guage). It's not like you'll be winding something the size of a watermelon. ;)

This is a case of a LOT more not necessarily being better.

You'll need to pull the flywheel to get to the coil. Get a flywheel puller (about $10US). Note the LH threads! If you don't have an air tool (doing it by hand) you'll have to hold the flywheel whilst wrenching on it. Several ways to make your own, or use the transmission and brakes as a holder (not real effective that I've ever found).

Of general note:
http://www.buykawasaki.com/
is a good place to see how parts fit in your particular model. So would a service manual, of course.

 

[kx200]

Part Unlimited sells just the output coil. it uses larger gauge wire and a larger steel pick-up and a larger yellow output lead.

 

[slcyclerace]

Quote from Canadian Dave:
"You’ll notice your coil has a coating applied once its been wound. I duplicated this with Varithane (sp?). Worked great."


Great advice. I melt shellac flakes on the wound coil using a soldering iron and it dries immediately to a super hard coating.