electrical ??????????????

[coveredinmudd]

I have a 1986 kawasaki klt-185. It had no headlight when i bought it so i got some lights for it. Unfortunatly it does not have enough power. it barely powers 1. is there anyway i can put a battery on my machine? I mean i bought one and have it on, but I need to know how I'm gunna charge it.

[83200e]

Search the threads- Seems like there was something awhile back about doing this with a 185s.

[coveredinmudd]

found a little bit, but seems like it was only for honda's. still kinda stumped

[83185s]

u cant find anything on ebay about a battery charger?? i bet they got some on there...type in kawasaki 185 and it should come up with alot of stuff..the battery charger is just a black thing that u plug into a wall...or get one for the honda 185/..they are prolly the same battery since 185s dont have them..just use it on urs..itll work

[jeswinehart]

i admitingly don't know much of anything about a kaw 185klt other then the fact i had one for a week. got spark to the plug ( oil filled stator ) + sold it for a few bucks more then i paid for it.
but anyways ,,, they have a magneto + that should keep up with about any lighting i would thing. are you using 6 volt lights or 12 volt lights ???


john

[coveredinmudd]

well for one, i know how to charge a battery from the wall :D i have thought about seeing if i can find the kit for the honda, but don't know what key words i could put in on ebay. as far as it runs, it runs great (knock on wood). I have 2 12 volt head lamps on it and a tailight, not sure what that runs at. I kno now thats a lot of power, but i wanted some serious brightness. if i used 6 volt, would it work better, plus still be bright? i like the battery idea tho, so would rather do that. anymore sugg., please post. i appreciate the help so far!!!!!!!

[jeswinehart]

ummmm ,,, no. running 6 volt lights won't help/work.

john

[Howdy]

The first thing you need to do is find out what wattage the OEM headlight was. You didn't say what kind of lights you bought. What kind of wattage are they rated at?
I ask this because when you replace lights, they need to be the same wattage ( or some what close ) as the original OEM one.

If your machine uses a 50watt light OEM, you can't install 2-60 watt lights ( 120 watt total ) and expect them to work properly. Now if your machine used a 50watt light originally, then you should be able to replace that one light with 1 or 2 lights that draw No more than 60-65 watts.

Adding a Battery: The Honda battery add on won't work on a Kawasaki. Honda and Kawasaki uses a completely different electrical set ups. If you do hook up some sorta of a battery set up, you do not want to hook it up to your wiring harness. You can damage the generator and other components.

I hope this helps.
Howdy

[bigredhead]

I want to do something similar on my SX. It already has a battery but i want more light and hand warmers.

so my plan is to get an additional 12 v snowmobile battery, mount it securely in the trunk ( princess auto has slim-desing batteries for 10 $ or so ) and run wires from the battery to the handle bars on it's own circuit with switch..

now i realize it won't re-charge as i ride. but it should provide fairly bright light for at least 3 to 5 hours wich is as long as i ride on any winter day !!

I have a charger at home and would simply re-charge it when i get back !

how's that sound?

[TimSr]

I agree with Howdy. Any time you run a higher draw light than a system can dliver, the light produced is very dim. A 35 watt light puts out a lot more light than a 55 watt light when you put them on a 45 watt system. You cant use a wattage of bulb that is too low. They will only draw what current they need. Running a lower VOLTAGE bulb will light brighter.... until it blows which will probably be the first time you rev it. I dont know what the KLT is rated at, but many auto lights are way out of range for ATVs. My TriZ has a 75 watt system, and I run two 35 watt sealed beam units, and its almost a toss up as to whether it produces more light with one or two 35 watt lights on at the same time.

[coveredinmudd]

man, i didn't kno how much of a pain this was. well what kinda sux is i already got the battery. i have to lights on the front, u kno, the ones you put in cars on the lower bumpers. they look awsome, but it only lights, and its not that bright. if anyone else has any sugg., please, but i might try just changing the bulbs

[Howdy]

I want to do something similar on my SX. It already has a battery but i want more light and hand warmers.

so my plan is to get an additional 12 v snowmobile battery, mount it securely in the trunk ( princess auto has slim-desing batteries for 10 $ or so ) and run wires from the battery to the handle bars on it's own circuit with switch..

now i realize it won't re-charge as i ride. but it should provide fairly bright light for at least 3 to 5 hours wich is as long as i ride on any winter day !!

I have a charger at home and would simply re-charge it when i get back !

how's that sound?

You say SX, so I asume your talking about a 250sx. The 250sx has a electrical set up that is for charging the battery ( it has electric start ). It is made to recharge the onboard battery while riding. I personally think running a little higher wattage bulbs would be ok. I wouldn't run anything higher than say double the stock wattage. Why double the wattage? Because the 250es uses the basic set up and they have a plug to run other stuff on the front. ;)

The thing to remember is that if you use to high of wattage bulbs then your going to drain the battery ( from a little to a lot ). Batteries such as the ones used in a ATV are not made to be totally drained, then recharged, then totally drained, then recharged, ect. From experiance I know this will shorten the life of a Battery.
Now adding another battery and useing a drasticly higher wattage light will only work to allow a longer ride before the batteries go down.

The thing to remember here with electrical stuff: The more load you put on it the harder it is on the system. The factories know this and so they build in a "little extra" power to the charging system. This helps avoid a constant full load on the system, which in turn allows for the electrical system to last longer. I read somewhere where it said: "avoid totally discharging the battery. Failer to do so can result in battery and or electrical failer."

Howdy

[bigredhead]

Howdy.

I agree with you totally, and i understand the principle.

Yes. i have a 250 sx.. however it does not have an aux power supply at the handle bars like the big red.. or it has been removed. mine anyways.

The extra battery would not last as long as it would if it was used as intended, but for 20 $ is i can use a 2nd battery on it's own circuit and manage extra light for the winter i don't mind the expense.. even if i burn one out per year or so vs what.. 5 or so years usually ? drain, charge, drain charge on lead acid batteries will kill them quicker, if i could find nimh or zink batteries it would be cool, but i don't know how well they take cold weather.

Sealed Lead acid handles cold fairly well.

now hooking one up in paralell to the existing one would double the amp/hour but i wonder how the charging system on the bike would handle it ????

[coveredinmudd]

You say SX, so I asume your talking about a 250sx. The 250sx has a electrical set up that is for charging the battery ( it has electric start ). It is made to recharge the onboard battery while riding. I personally think running a little higher wattage bulbs would be ok. I wouldn't run anything higher than say double the stock wattage. Why double the wattage? Because the 250es uses the basic set up and they have a plug to run other stuff on the front. ;)

The thing to remember is that if you use to high of wattage bulbs then your going to drain the battery ( from a little to a lot ). Batteries such as the ones used in a ATV are not made to be totally drained, then recharged, then totally drained, then recharged, ect. From experiance I know this will shorten the life of a Battery.
Now adding another battery and useing a drasticly higher wattage light will only work to allow a longer ride before the batteries go down.

The thing to remember here with electrical stuff: The more load you put on it the harder it is on the system. The factories know this and so they build in a "little extra" power to the charging system. This helps avoid a constant full load on the system, which in turn allows for the electrical system to last longer. I read somewhere where it said: "avoid totally discharging the battery. Failer to do so can result in battery and or electrical failer."

Howdy

i didn't say anything about an sx. its a klt-185. anyways, i think lowering the volts will do it. may not need battery. still open for sugg.