KTM EXC Stator Information (530/450)

[Subaru297]

I emailed Electrosport today and he asked me to check the voltages on the 3 stator leads but I didn't even get that far because as soon as I got the seat off I noticed that one of the leads had become unplugged!
So that whole ride I was on the stator kept my battery charged and headlight working with only 2 leads plugged in. I think as I was tightening all the zip ties I must have dislodged the one lead.
After I got everything plugged back in and heatshrinked and taped it looked much more promising!
With my high and low beam on 130W and my heated grips on full (another 50W) the voltage climbed into the mid 13's while revving the bike. It still drops a fair bit while idling but I can add a bigger battery later on if that is an issue.

So I am happy now! Still have to get out for another ride for a full test but things look good.

Whatever people say about their products I have to give them an A+ for customer service. I will hold judgement on the hardware for now..........

Oh, and the bike also started at the push of a button too. This one confused me though as the ignition is a separate circuit.

Cheers

[guns_equal_freedom]

Originally Posted by Subaru297

What is your total draw in watts with all that on and what is your battery voltage during that time? I would guess that you don't run with all that on for long periods of time or you would be depleting your battery.

Light=65W
Grips=35W
Vest=35W
GPS+phone=10W

65+35+35+10=145W

And grips and clothing are usually around 40-50W each (the above are optimistic estimates) and this isn't including tail lights and turn signals which could be another 10-20W.

With only 100W available to you something will eventually die if you run like that for a long time.

Cheers

I don't know and I could care less.

I ride to and from work on the 530 a couple times a week if it's not raining, and I ride either dual sport or single track on the weekends.

If I am running single track I am not using the heated grips or the heated vest and I also shut-off the headlight.

I also keep all of my bikes plugged into a trickle charger when I am not using them.

[Subaru297]

Well I have a few hundred kms on the bike now and all seems well. Under a full load of about 180W the voltage is around 14.2 constantly. So the output is pretty strong!

My only complaint is the voltage drops a lot at idle. I would prefer something with a lower max output that has a slightly higher output at idle. Maybe 175-200W max. This stator does pick up voltage as soon as you are moving though. High rpm is not needed to get a good output.

A hybrid of the 100W trailtech and this stator would be nice!

Did you get yours in yet James?

Cheers

[James Adams]

Originally Posted by Subaru297

Well I have a few hundred kms on the bike now and all seems well. Under a full load of about 180W the voltage is around 14.2 constantly. So the output is pretty strong!

My only complaint is the voltage drops a lot at idle. I would prefer something with a lower max output that has a slightly higher output at idle. Maybe 175-200W max. This stator does pick up voltage as soon as you are moving though. High rpm is not needed to get a good output.

A hybrid of the 100W trailtech and this stator would be nice!

Did you get yours in yet James?

Cheers

Excellent. Mine's still in the box. I've been too busy riding the Goldwing to install it yet.

[Subaru297]

Last problem is now sorted out! After installing the new stator I had trouble with the e-start. I constantly had to kick start the bike. This was a minor problem as well before installing the stator but it was less often and I think I compounded the issue as well by installing a 65W headlight.
The headlight draw was too much drain on the battery and it would not crank the bike fast enough to start. If I unplugged the headlight or put the battery on a charger the bike started fine.

So I changed the headlight to a 10W LED light and also upgraded the battery substantially. The headlight change helped a little but it still wouldn't start 100% of the time with the button.

The battery that is now in the bike is a 16.8Ah battery capable of about 500 continuous cranking amps. I know this is overkill but they are lithium iron batteries and weigh about the same as the stock battery. This also helps greatly with the power dropping at idle. The voltage stays above 13 now at all times.

Everything is working great now!

Cheers

[KMC1]

Originally Posted by Subaru297

Last problem is now sorted out! After installing the new stator I had trouble with the e-start. I constantly had to kick start the bike. This was a minor problem as well before installing the stator but it was less often and I think I compounded the issue as well by installing a 65W headlight.
The headlight draw was too much drain on the battery and it would not crank the bike fast enough to start. If I unplugged the headlight or put the battery on a charger the bike started fine.

So I changed the headlight to a 10W LED light and also upgraded the battery substantially. The headlight change helped a little but it still wouldn't start 100% of the time with the button.

The battery that is now in the bike is a 16.8Ah battery capable of about 500 continuous cranking amps. I know this is overkill but they are lithium iron batteries and weigh about the same as the stock battery. This also helps greatly with the power dropping at idle. The voltage stays above 13 now at all times.

Everything is working great now!

Cheers

Hey Sub,
HOw's that stator working out? Is it holding up?

Also, what's the part number for that battery you reference? I'm thinking about going to a dual LED set up that's going to draw about 56 watts on high beam (with about 5X the lumens of the stock headlight) and I'm thinking about upgrading my stator and my battery. I think the Trail Tech stator will be fine for my possible setup, but having double the output doesn't sound so bad.... maybe get some heated grips too!

[Subaru297]

Everything is still working great. I have one long trip (~1200kms), a few day trips and some commuting done on the bike now. No problems with anything.

The battery I installed is actually from radio controlled helicopter or plane application. I installed two of these;
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ePo4_Pack.html

Individually they are smaller than the stock battery, although a bit longer, but together they are a bit larger and I had to hack up the stock battery mount. I tested the bike with only one battery and it worked fine but I had already ordered two so they both went in.

If I did it all again I might just go with the TrailTech system for hopefully an easier install and possibly more reliable. Although it has been reliable for me. My biggest issue is the voltage drop at idle and not really needing 250W of power.

I initially thought the bike itself uses part of that 250W to run but it doesn't. The ignition circuit is totally separate from the charging circuit.

56W Led lights + 35W heated grips is 91 watts which doesn't leave much to charge the battery though. But if you have a low beam solution with <56W and a voltmeter to keep an eye on things I think you would be fine.

Right now during the summer my bike uses 10W for the led headlight. The other 240W is wasted as heat as soon as the battery is fully charged! I do worry about the regulator/Rectifier at times but I haven't remembered to feel it yet and see if it is getting excessively hot. I will go this route if it does fail sometime.
http://motoelectrixcom.myshopify.com/

I will say again that the only reason I am not 100% confident in this product is other peoples comments. All the problems I had with it so far have been my fault or KTM's fault.

Cheers

[KMC1]

what a great idea to use those RC batteries! I honestly would not have thought of that.
You know, I keep thinking the Trail Tech is the way to go, here's why:
56 watts + 35 watts = 91 watts plus a little for tail light (10?) puts me right at 100 watts from the TT at idle - Riding it may produce another 10 watts or so.

However, this is worst case draw, (well technically my fan could add another I think 15 watts) now during this time of full power draw, the battery would be called on to "fill in" for any overage, which I would expect would be short ( <2 hours at max) - all other times the TT would be producing overage, and I don't ride much when it's freezing out or at night. The majority (95+ % ) of the time, I would be running it on low beam, no heated grips. The stock headlight is a 35 watt and I've had no issues with the stock stator keeping up. I did change out the coolant to a waterless coolant however, and as a result my fan almost never runs. (highly recommend this)

I'm actually tempted to try running the LED headlight setup off the stock stator and seeing if I can get away with that, but I may upgrade the battery if I do this, as a precaution. I think I will also need to put in a rectifier to switch the stator output to DC for the new LED's, but that's about it. So it's go with the TT stator and have DC output, or put in a rectifier and try to use the stocker....

[Subaru297]

I was more curious to see if the RC batteries would work than anything. So far they have but who knows how they will deal with the vibration and occasional splash of water for long term use. The kickstarter may come in handy down the road!

Sounds like the Trailtech would work for you or you could try and float your ground and go with a new R/R for a low cost option.

I wonder if the stator from a 500EXC would work??? 200W and OEM quality.

Cheers

[zaptoad]

That's a good question!!!!!!!

[harcus]

Originally Posted by Subaru297

I was more curious to see if the RC batteries would work than anything. So far they have but who knows how they will deal with the vibration and occasional splash of water for long term use. The kickstarter may come in handy down the road!

Sounds like the Trailtech would work for you or you could try and float your ground and go with a new R/R for a low cost option.

I wonder if the stator from a 500EXC would work??? 200W and OEM quality.

Cheers

No, the two are totally different animals.
The 500 is a all battery bike with no separate coil for the ignition power where the older bike had a dedicated coil for ignition power.

[Subaru297]

Well it would appear that all the nay-sayers were right! With about 2000kms on the stator it burned itself up and left me stranded out on a recent ride. Luckily it didn't go in the middle of nowhere and chose to give up a few kms away from a small town.
I am not sure if the R/R went and that caused the stator to cook itself or if the stator went all by itself. Anyway it burnt up and was misbehaving for a while before it eventually cooked the ignition coil as well and then I coasted to a stop next to the highway.
I now have a Trailtech on order and am sending the Electrosport one back for a refund hopefully. I will post up a picture later.

If anyone has this installed I hope you have better luck than me and you may want to bring along the old stock one as well even if it is just for the ignition coil to get you home with no lights!

[LukasM]

Sorry to hear that the reputation for bad reliability of Electrosport products has proven to be deserved once again.

But I think you'll be happy with reliability of the Trailtech, at least their stators are excellent. In the unlikely case that you should have any issue they will definitely take care of you as well.

BTW if you need some extra power their flywheel with stronger magnets is good for another 20 Watts or so. Combine that with energy efficient LED or HID lights and you should have enough left over for your other electrical needs.

[D K]

Hello everyone.

Hows the weather in Vienna?

Is this also an issue with the rfs bikes?
I need to know since Ive just bought one

[LukasM]

Originally Posted by D K

Hello everyone.

Hows the weather in Vienna?

Is this also an issue with the rfs bikes?
I need to know since Ive just bought one

Hey David!

Weather was really nice today, took my 520 (RFS) supermoto for a last spin as the new owner is picking it this week. Still a great bike!



What exactly did you get, and where are you riding/parking it? The pre-06 stators wear out over time, the 06-11 (RFS and XC4 use the same part) have a better track record but power output is too low, especially the DC side. So you should either do the DC mod or just get the Trailtech part, it's worth it in my opinion.