48 replies to this topic

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

I decided to get my '03 XR250R street legal and plated. When looking around at lighting options, I checked out the BD kit and a few other and was immediately put off by the price. Then I looked at a few DIY kits that people have put together and found that to do it right and to where I wouldn't have any trouble with it down the line, I would still be looking at upwards of $150 plus the headache of sourcing parts from all over. Finally, I found the Tusk Enduro kit. It comes with everything but the headlight, which my XR already had.

The one they sell for the XR (and any bike that doesn't come factory with a battery) is powered by their rechargeable battery pack. The Tusk battery is small, but the downside is that it is NiCd and needs to be plugged into their wall charger (sold separately) in the garage every now and then to keep it full. I didn't like the idea of having to plug my bike in or the possibility that the battery could run flat while I was out on the road. So, I bought their kit for the CRF250X, which comes factory with a battery. This CRF250X Tusk kit does not include their NiCd battery pack and is $20 cheaper at about $150.

To power it, I wanted to add a 12v sealed lead acid battery to the bike so that it could be recharged by the bike's stator. The lead acid battery would allow for it to be recharged by the bike's stator and never need to be plugged in. To accomplish that, I added a full wave bridge rectifier to get a 12v DC source of power in addition to the bike's stock AC system.

My plan is to run all the lighting (tail/brake and blinkers) off of the DC system and run the headlight off the AC system. In this way, all the lights except the headlight will be able to run off the battery regardless of if the engine is running. My state requires that the tail light be able to remain lit with the engine off. This makes sense if the bike breaks down at road side and you need the tail light to maintain some visibility to vehicles approaching from behind.

First impressions of the Tusk Kit:

The Tusk kit is obviously a universal kit that is made to be adapted to any bike. This means that you need to be willing to do some modification to the kit itself and/or the bike to make it work. In that way, it is not as "plug and play" as some of the other options, but something I am comfortable with and actually like because I can set it up MY way.

It comes with everything you need except an additional brake light pressure sensor if you want the brake lights to be activated with both brakes. The kit seems to be made of quality parts and they are decent looking. I was a bit disappointed that the rear flush mount turn signals are mounted with only an adhesive sticker instead of fasteners, but I will wait to see how they hold up over time before passing judgement. The wiring is plenty long and easy to hook up with the supplied instructions.

Installation and pics:

I am still in the process of finishing the installation and will update this post as I go along.

What comes in the kit:



All the individual parts are available separately so if you brake something it is easy to replace.

I ran the main wire harness along the frame under the seat and tank with the OEM wiring. Wire ties are used to secure it:



The combination switch is mounted near the left hand grip and is small enough that it did not interfere with the clutch and decompression lever or my Moose bark busters. I did have to re-locate the engine kill button further away though:



The kit comes with an "on/off" switch that controls power to the tail/brake lights and blinkers. When the switch is off, none of the LEDs will work or drain the battery. It mounted up nicely near the throttle. I plan on replacing this with a key switch at some point down the line. You can also see how the brake pressure switch replaces the stock banjo bolt at the master cylinder:



I got my 12v lead acid battery from the local Interstate battery shop. L.A. batteries take to repeated charging from a 12v system much better than NiCd batteries and have a higher capacity in this case. The battery set me back $22:




To charge the battery, I needed to get some 12v DC out of the bike's stator. Since the XR already has a voltage regulator, I was able to simply add a full wave bridge rectifier from Radio Shack for like $3. The rectifier simply turns the AC power into DC. I tapped the power for the rectifier by simply using the blue and green wires that go to the OEM rear tail light, which I was going to remove anyway. In this way, it leaves the bike to still run off of AC power (engine and headlight) without being effected by the addition of DC power.

Here is the Radio Shack rectifier:



It is tiny and comes with a nice hole in the center of it for mounting with a single screw. the rectifier has 4 poles. Two for the AC power in and two for the DC power out. The DC out is simply connected to the battery and lighting. The battery fits nicely under the frame cross member near the air box. I simply used wire ties to secure it there, but it wouldn't be moving around without them anyway:




The wiring for the rear blinkers and tail/brake light were run easily around the rear fender:



Since the Tusk rear light is an all in one unit that incorporates a tail light, brake light and down facing white LED to illuminate the plate, I had no use for the OEM tail light. I am considering getting an MX style rear fender but for now I just wanted to see what it would look like if I cut the OEM light out. After hacking it off with a cut off wheel, I used a heat gun to mold the fender a bit to clean it up some. Part if the frame is visible which I don't like, but it get's the job done for now. The Tusk rear light comes as a one size fits all deal and you need to cut it to the size that fits your bike as well as deciding how to secure it yourself. The heat gun came in handy here as well. The Tusk fender thingy is not wide enough for a motorcycle plate so I added a plate mount that I had lying around:






I mounted the rear flush mounts on the stock fender and zip tied the wiring underneath. You can see how much cutting/modding needs to be done to the Tusk fender to make it fit the bike. Every bike will be different in this regard depending on where you decide to mount it and how:



The horn was mounted using the mounting bolt for the tank on the left side. The allows the tank itself to protect the wiring:

http://i255.photobuc...ro Kit/horn.jpg

Ran out of space in this thread, see below for rest of install.

Edited by DeadlyAP1, 29 March 2011 - 03:21 PM.
added final pics

[checkburner TT Bronze Member]

Thanks for the write-up and the pictures.  I have an XR 400 and have been looking at the tusk kit,it looks pretty nice.

[michigan400 TT Platinum Member]

Looks good man! Great write up.

How much juice can that rectifier from radio shack handle? Thats dirt cheap compared to a normal unit from baja or trailtech. (Edit - Duh, its wrote on the package,,I'm blind )

FYI - I have 2 rear MX style fenders for an XR400 that I probably will never use. Not sure if they will fit the 250 or not. One is used and has some scratches and holes for a plate drilled in it but its still solid with no cracks. The other looks funny but is new. It looks like the color is off and like it was a short shot into the mold (not enough material or pressure), its hard to explain but it looks like it would still work. I also have a brand new key switch I got with my kit. It's never even been hooked up and has 2 keys with it. Shoot me a PM if interested in any of that.

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

Thanks Guys.

Michigan, I already ordered a key switch that should do what I need (replace the current light switch and act as a kill switch), but thanks for the offer! I will check into the fender situation to see if a 400 size will fit the 250. Anyone else know off hand?

I also checked my bank account and noticed that the check I sent the VT DMV has been cashed. Plate and registration must be on the way!!!

[Griff5268 TT Member]

Sweet! Keep us updated!

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

:banana:

Just got my shiny new VT motorcycle plate in the mail today. Gonna get it insured and be ready to ride as soon as I get the headlight in. That, and if it would ever stop snowing up here. gotta love the NE, 70 degree day last week and snow today

[fuzzbee TT Member]

Thanks for the write-up.  It is perfect timing for me since I am in the middle of doing the same modification to my 2001 XR250.  Hope you can help me a little with my setup.  I wanted to set mine bike up with AC and DC as seperate circuts with the AC running the headlight/tailight and the DC running the horn and signals.  I want to set it up this way so I can remove the battery, signals and horn when I do not need them.  Do you think I can split the blue and green wires for the tailight to go to the rectifier and keep the wires continuing to the tailight to run AC?  Do positive and negative DC wires come out of the rectifier directly to the + and - of the battery?  Did you need to upgrade your stator for this setup?
Thanks,
Greg

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

fuzzbee said:

Thanks for the write-up.  It is perfect timing for me since I am in the middle of doing the same modification to my 2001 XR250.  Hope you can help me a little with my setup.  I wanted to set mine bike up with AC and DC as seperate circuts with the AC running the headlight/tailight and the DC running the horn and signals.  I want to set it up this way so I can remove the battery, signals and horn when I do not need them.  Do you think I can split the blue and green wires for the tailight to go to the rectifier and keep the wires continuing to the tailight to run AC?  Do positive and negative DC wires come out of the rectifier directly to the + and - of the battery?  Did you need to upgrade your stator for this setup?
Thanks,
Greg

Thats pretty much how mine is set up with the headlight running off of AC and everything else DC. You could certainly tap into the blue and green wires for the rectifier and still have them go to the OEM tail light as well. The rectifier only allows the current to flow one way through it so it will not back feed.

As far as getting the Tusk switch system and wiring to run the LED rear tail light off of AC instead of DC, you would have to get creative and I'm not sure how to go about it. assuming I understand you correctly and you want to use the OEM tail light instead of the Tusk fender/light, here are some other options to accomplish what you want to do that I can think of...

1) Modify the OEM tail light to accept a dual filament bulb and wire it to the Tusk kit in place of the supplied LED light. Then, put some quick disconnects on the LED turn signals and take them off when you don't need them. You'll have to source out your own plate light and mount for this method as you will lose the plate light. With this way, the headligth remains AC, but the OEM tail light will run off of DC and leave you the option of simply removing the signals.

2) Install the full Tusk kit with the supplied tail light/plate mount as I have. Except, leave the OEM light in place still tied into blue and green wires but unplugged. When you don't want the tusk kit on the bike, unplug it and remove it and then plug the OEM tail light back in. In that case, I would mount the Tusk turn signals on the plate mount thing so it will come off as one piece. This method allows you to keep the stock lighting original and adds the tusk kit lighting only when you want it.

Make sense?

Yes, the positive and negative leads from the rectifier go to the +/- on the battery. The LEDs don't draw much power at all, so even if I go with a 55w headlight, the stator isn't over worked. If I wanted to go with a larger headlight, I would have to upgrade. Removing the OEM incandescent tail and replacing it with the LED tail light actually lightened the load draw on the stator.

[fuzzbee TT Member]

Thanks for the reply.  I currently have a DOT tailight and a Baja Designs DOT headlight 35w with high/low beam setup with front and rear brake light switches.  The headlight and tailight are not switched and they come on when the bike is running.  I will just put a small auto switch along the DC positive line for the signals, horn and a small running lamp in the headlight housing.  I hate tinkering with electronics because I always feel I am going to roast something...... anyone smell burning plastic?

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

Shoot, you are just about all set up!

Do you already have a combo switch for the blinkers and horn?

[fuzzbee TT Member]

I have a combo switch from an XR650l that I am trying to make work, I am hoping to test it all with a test light and a little juice before I plug it all together.  I am very excited to get on this bike after a few years off.  My plate is on its way as well, hahahahahaha

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

Nice! Let us know how it goes.

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

UPDATE and continuation of build. I would of put it all in the first post but I rant out of space allowed by the forum:


I was going to use the OEM headlight, but it uses a weak lamp and is not easily converted to a decent bulb like the H4 size that I wanted. I decided on the Polisport Halo headlight, which comes with a 35W H4 bulb (high/low beam). To activate it, I ran the OEM AC headlight power through the Tusk combo switch. The green wire in the OEM wore harness is attached to the "-" lead of the bulb. The switch then takes the blue OEM wire in and allows the light to be turned off all together or switch between high/low (see wiring diagram below). The Polisport kit does not come with an H4 plug. You can cheap out and use some large spade connectors, but I purchased an H4 plug at Autozone and soldered it to the green wire from the OEM harness and the white and blue wires from the Tusk combo switch to do it right. Looks better and I don't worry about a short. The polisport light comes with a 35W H4 bulb. I figured since I swapped all the rest of the lighting out with LED, I would have enough juice on the stock stator to run a 55W bulb and picked one up as well. It dims slightly at idle, but runs strong and very bright. My voltmeter never dipped below 14 volts regardless of engine speed. This means that I have plenty in reserve and it will continue to charge my battery to boot.





The headlight mounts up easy enough, but I modified the supplied spacer brackets to get the beam alignment just right:



A shot of all the Tusk wiring connections near the stem (too spaghetti and unprotected for me):



I cut up some old tire tube to make a protective cover for it. I left it looser on the lower end to allow any water that gets in there to drain out. The tube should protect the wires against the hot frame as well.:



The Tusk kit only comes with one brake light pressure switch. I bought an extra and installed it on the rear brake as well:



Here is my sad attempt at a wiring diagram. It is probably too small to read in this thread but if you right click it and save to your computer, you should be able to zoom into it with your computer's image viewer program:



Here she is all set up and ready to ride on the streets!:

[michigan400 TT Platinum Member]

I use the sylvania silverstar in mine, nice and bright, big improvement over the 35w flash light bulb they give you. Have you taken it out for the maiden road voyage yet? Thats always a good day. Especially when you drive by a cop and they don't even look twice. Just be prepared to wear out tires at an alarming rate now. It's worth it though!

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

michigan400 said:

I use the sylvania silverstar in mine, nice and bright, big improvement over the 35w flash light bulb they give you. Have you taken it out for the maiden road voyage yet? Thats always a good day. Especially when you drive by a cop and they don't even look twice. Just be prepared to wear out tires at an alarming rate now. It's worth it though!

I cheaped out on the silverstars because I think my goal is to toss an HID in there soon.

I didn't end up taking it out tonight because it was getting late and my baffle-less exhaust is too loud right now. It's not so much about worrying about getting stopped for it but more of just knowing it's obnoxiously loud for that late at night. I will be fixing that issue soon with a little project I have in mind (details later )

I gotta get the Trakmaster II's on there too!

[yz450fguy TT Member]

Very nice write up!  Here are the videos Rocky put out for installation that may help too.  i bought the tusk kit as well and have really liked it!!

[n16ht5 TT Titanium Member]

nice work

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

Thanks guys!


I took it out on her maiden street voyage this afternoon. Not a very long trip, but just about 10 miles on some back roads, stopping for gas at a very busy station. I probably would have went longer as I was really enjoying myself but I had a ton of stuff to do.


Got some strange looks from folks, especially at the gas station. I'm not sure if it was because they thought I was doing something illegal or because the exhaust is too loud right now. Probably a bit of both.

I had this unbelievable urge to get off the road at a few spots and right through a field or off into the woods. I almost gave in to the urge when I passed some train tracks that I knew lead back to my house.

I am looking forward to getting the exhaust fixed and some better tires. That, and if the weather would warm up!

[michigan400 TT Platinum Member]

DeadlyAP1 said:

Thanks guys!


I took it out on her maiden street voyage this afternoon. Not a very long trip, but just about 10 miles on some back roads, stopping for gas at a very busy station. I probably would have went longer as I was really enjoying myself but I had a ton of stuff to do.


Got some strange looks from folks, especially at the gas station. I'm not sure if it was because they thought I was doing something illegal or because the exhaust is too loud right now. Probably a bit of both.

I had this unbelievable urge to get off the road at a few spots and right through a field or off into the woods. I almost gave in to the urge when I passed some train tracks that I knew lead back to my house.

I am looking forward to getting the exhaust fixed and some better tires. That, and if the weather would warm up!

Awesome man! I've had more people come up to me and just start talking about the bike they used to have, or "my husband rides too!". The one I get the most is "how fast will it go?"   . Even a couple "I used to ride a CR250 when I was 16, it had a powerband in it, that s.o.b had b@lls!" It's all good fun though and everyone has been really friendly so far. Your gonna have a blast on it, enjoy!

[DeadlyAP1 TT Bronze Member]

I played around with some different gearing on gearingcommander.com and ordered a 13/40 setup for the bike. I am currently running 12/48 and it is way too much. 1st gear is non-existent. I figure if the 13/40 setup is good for the street but not for the trails, I can easily swap my 12t back in when I know I am going to the trails for the day. The 40 rear should make for a comfortable commute. We'll see how it goes.

My Trailtech vapor should be back to me on Monday. It was working fine until this year when the buttons gave up the ghost. It was weird because everything else stayed working great. Trailtech's customer service was OUTSTANDING to say the least. I wouldn't hesitate to buy anything from them again.