XR650R Lighting Upgrade or Putting Lipstick on a Big Red Pig

tomcycle

Past President DSBC 2004 -2018
Staff member
Ledhams Big Red Pig was getting lost at nights last time we were in Baja, even with the stock ac lighting you couldnt see where he was as night. I was told thats the way thing are with these bikes unless you buy the Baja Designs lighting kit.

Long story short, I was volunteered to make this project work, and I am always up for the challange

Ledham wants Lights to see and night and doesnt want to pay a lot of money, so HID is out. Anything is better than what comes with the bike so he tried taping some LED flashlights to his helmet, that didnt work. He decided to get one of Ian's Britania Composites Lynx Fairings. Its got a really cool low beam projector halogen and a great hi beam halogen.

I am asked to hook up the electrical for these lights, sure how hard could it be?

but I wasnt told that a few thinks needed to be done first.

Ledham drops the bike off dirty, so some cleaning has to be done
Bike needs a new stator installed
Lynx fairing does not have a model to fit so some modifications have to be made first
Ledham also wants a Vapour speedo mounted and installed
and the water temprature feature installed
and the tackometer feature installed
and make the backlight work when the bike is running
and provide power for his GPS

Had to spend a little time to digest the list and how it was all going to work, remember the XR650L is and AC lighting system.

Ricky Stator has the Stator upgrade that is required to make everything work. what we will end up with is a stator with 4 phases, it sounds kinda strange but that what we need. Instead of rewiring the whole bike into a DC system we will keep the dirt bike type AC for the Coil and CDI unit, these use the ground of the bike. So the bike will continue to operate as it was intended. We will use one phase from the coil to send AC to the front of the bike where we will have a simple Regulator Rectifier voila we have DC power and a small battery to keep everything even.

Done lets get started
Look new stator, stock on the left, I think Honda was trying to save weight by not using so much copper




At least the stator replacement is and easy job, not like removing the skid plate thats rusted in place


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First dry fit
Looks like everything will fit as planed
Bottom right on the Lynx is the Regulator Regulator, this will take one of the AC phases from the new stator and power the new lights and anything else that will require DC power


Stating to make some connections


Finally all the wires in place, a lot more that what most people think for just a headlight


Almost done, the hard work is done
The battery for the DC system is a small gel cell that fits nicely in the chin for the lynx fairing
Battery will do a couple of things
1 add about 6 onces of weight to the bike
2 provide a steady scorce of power for the lights, when the engine rpm drops the battery will make up the difference in voltage keep the output to the lights at 12VDC
3 should get about .5 to to light without the bike running, I case you have to fix a flat in the middle of the night






The Dash
Vapour in place and lots of room for a GPS with up to a 10 inch screen
Switch on the right is for power and the switch on the right is for HI beam



Look at all that light, and it doest even need the engine running .



Anyone wanting to do something like this, DONT go buy a new bike instead. If you must do this conversion I will be glad to answer questions

I am going to wrap this up and post the last few pictures

PS I like the new photo GALLERY software

Tom


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bike fx

New member
CHEAP , all I know is that I'm fixing and painting alot of fairings(free) and Plastic for Ian and Tom.:)
 

bike fx

New member
Tom its Leedam not ledham ,although supect that you know that,

By the way those lights look great , now I wont have any excuses not to ride in Baja wash at night, no more pirate code promise.
 

04klr

Well-known member
you guys are sooo lucky to have a guy like Tom to do all your work for you!
Leedam, Ledham, clearly the name is "Lucky". no excuses? as they are spur of the moment things, I'm sure something new can be dreamed up, oh my vertigo, lumbeggo, bad back, monkey butt, too scaredycat, I wanna do the "brokeback Baja thing again", see, lots of excuses.
 
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Ti welder

New member
All I did was rewinde my stator and presto, lots of light. cost 40$ Shure like that fairing though. Makes me wonder if my homemade stator and stock wire has enough output to run that light setup?
Any pics of the finished bike?
 
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dirty princess

New member
Looking for lighting stuff.....

Looking for lighting stuff.....

CHEAP , all I know is that I'm fixing and painting alot of fairings(free) and Plastic for Ian and Tom.:)

I am interested in some lighting parts n pieces.
My xr 400 is plated, has a high and low
beam, but i would like to upgrade to a xr 650l
style of light.
Any help - parts would be great!

:)
 

landlocked

New member
I'm doing a fork swap on my RD and really like this setup, how well does it light at highway speeds? any noticeable "overdriving" the light?
 
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