AC Power and Heated Grips

[UPsnowbiker]

I tried to do my homework on this before posting but I'm not having much luck and I'm an electrical novice.

I have a 2010 KTM 450 XCW. I believe it puts out 100 watts AC and 30 Watts DC stock at idle. I'm trying to avoid upgrading my stator.

I just installed the Cyclops 3600 Lumen LED headlight bulb.(Best $70 ever spent BTW) and I needed their AC rectifier. I also have DC power heated grips that wire into the battery. They warm up but not to full potential.

So my question, is there a way to wire the heated grips in AC? It seems there would be more power available, while riding, to heat them up. If possible, where would I wire them in? Would I need another rectifier. Could I splice them in after the rectifier for the headlight?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Cpt.Ron]

I am not aware if you can run the grips on AC or not, however, if you splice in after the rectifier then you will be on the DC side of the rectifier. The stator puts out AC current in the heavy wires that come out of the Mag cover. From the stator these wires go to the regulator/rectifier, which converts the AC to DC and regulates the maximum output to 14 volts.

 

[egesledder]

I run my RSI grip heaters on AC on my KX500. They heat up enough on high to be too hot. Make sure you insulate the heating element from the metal handlebar on the left side or else you'll really only have one hand warmer.

 

[Chadx]

In my opinion, AC is ideal for heated grips. I run my 2004 KTM 525 heated grips on AC and they will roast you. I just looked at my wiring diagram and tapped into a good spot on the regulated side of the AC. No worries on running down the battery like running on DC and plenty of juice on the AC side; a lot more than dc side. I have plenty with stock headlight on and grips but even if not, the light would be just a bit dimmer and grips not as warm compared to pulling too much on the dc side and your battery not getting enough juice to top it back off or even running it down. Save DC side for running LED lights or, better yet, keep those on the AC side as well (though you will need a rectifier for that, as noted already, since LED need DC.).

I used "hot grip" brand heated grips. Proven durable on many a dual sport bike and, so far, on the snowbike. They are fairly large diameter, which some won't like but they work great. They draw the same power on low or high, they just dump heat to a resistor in a ceramic bar. I chose to not wire low heat to simplify. Hind sight I might have taken the time as high is HOT. But I tend to only turn them on if its very cold and then mainly for the long trail ride out and sometimes back as my hands stay warm at low speed boondocks most of the time with them off.

 

[UPsnowbiker]

Thanks. I'm going to try and tap them into the AC for sure.

 

[UPsnowbiker]

Any idea where to tap and what color wires?

 

[Chadx]

You'll want to analyze the wiring diagram for your specific bike, but on my '04 KTM, it was a yellow wire for Regulated AC power. It leads from the stock regulator/rectifier mounted on the frame up to under the headlight where it splits out and goes to both the brake switch and the headlight switch, where they change to another wiring color coming out. Whatever color your wires, you want to tap into AC after it comes out of the stock regulator and before it goes into any switches. I imagine your Cylcops add-on rectifier, for your LED headlight, was wired into the hot wire coming OUT of your headlight switch (after the switch). For AC grips, you'll want to tap into the AC wire that goes INTO (before) your headlight switch.


Always nerve racking to cut wires, especially when cutting them won't allow you to splice them back together, without adding a new length of wire, due to lack of slack. There was not enough slack, in the wire I used, to cut and resolder together with the new heater wire, so I soldered in an extra few inches of wire to give some slack and soldered in the grip wires to one of those two new connections. An alternative would be to remove the insulation without cutting the wire (easier said than done) and solder the grip wires onto that bare wire. If you want to wire in an appropriate 12v inline fuse, that would be the place, too (between your new connection and the grip wires). You also ground the grip wires.

In any case, do not cheap out and do it with some of the push in pin connectors. They will give you grief at some point. You didn't mention if you wired in your LED rectifier yourself or had it done and what you used to connect them so I might be preaching to the choir if your are already soldering, but solder and soldering guns are cheap and super easy to use. Practice on a couple pieces of similar wire before hand. Before you twist wires and solder, slide on your heat shrink tubing to use later to seal the connection. If you don't have room for heat shrink tubing (I did not), I used the brush on rubber electrical insulation, often called Liquid Electric Tape.


Hope that helps a bit, but consult your wiring diagram. You'll see the wires that run out of your regulator and feed switches for your AC powered circuits.

 

[UPsnowbiker]

Thanks a lot!

I've been messing around and pretty sure I have it now. A is cases racing dualsport harness was installed on my bike so I had to look at the diagram and figure out what it looked like before the new harness.

Thanks again

 

[Kurt Linford]

I run my RSI grip heaters on AC on my KX500. They heat up enough on high to be too hot. Make sure you insulate the heating element from the metal handlebar on the left side or else you'll really only have one hand warmer.

Egsledder, I am thinking about heated Grips on My KX 500, but wasnt sure how to wire everything up. Did you have to buy a new Stator? wasnt sure if the stock Stator has enough juice. Would it be possible for you to post some photos of how your wired everything up. It would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[egesledder]

I don't have any pictures right now, but the stock stator has basically 2 coils of wire behind the flywheel/magneto. On the stock stator, one of those coils is tiny and isn't really used for anything. That small coil is actually removable and you can replace it with one of the coils that lots of different companies sell. Here's one for example:

http://www.rickystator.com/product/stators/kawasaki/kawasaki-kx500-50-watt-lighting-coil-89-on

When you install that new coil, there will be one wire coming off of it (the other end of the coil is grounded). Everything will be powered off of that one wire, so run it wherever you need. Ground everything to the chassis. Make sure you put an AC regulator somewhere in the circuit to keep the voltage below ~12-14 volts AC.