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Thread: Tecate Stator trouble? - How to rewind for $10-15

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Wichita, Kansas
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    1,359

    Tecate Stator trouble? - How to rewind for $10-15

    After developing a problem with my Ricky Stator 65W set up, I decided it was time to rebuild the stator.

    The symptoms I was having:
    Only starts when cold
    Very hard to start when hot
    Dies after getting warm
    When trying to rev, it seemed to run richer than Bill Gates.
    7 CDI's later did not resolve the problem.
    Multimeter/ohm meter

    How I confirmed there was a problem.

    1. Tested resistance when cold: 184 ohms
    2. Tested when warm: 160 ohms After the machine warmed up and died.
    3. Tested when hot: Infinite. I set my 3d printers hot bed to 100c and left the coil on for 30 minutes and measured it. I had continuity after it cooled back down.
    *4. Tested magnetic polarity prior to installing stator. Confirmed it matches the OEM polarity when the coils are charged with a battery and placed next to a compass. I've included an image on how to test this. Confirmed that matching polarity has got the machine running.

    This is going to cover the source coil (the big one). The trigger coil follows similar rules. The lighting coil is a little different. The heavy wire needs to be packed as tight as possible.

    *** Warning!! Polarity is a factor here. I've included a way to check it with a compass and a battery. This is the most current information I have. 10-5-2017. I've located another stator, which looks to be repaired OEM. It does run well with this Stator. It starts on the first or second kick every time. I took another set of coils purchased from Ricky Stator. I tested with the coils wrong with polarity. It does not start. I changed the wiring for polarity to match, the machine runs great.


    Tools and supplies:
    *34-33 guage magnet wire rated for 200c
    *Drill
    *Soldering iron and solder
    *Razor or very find sand paper (scrapping coating off)
    *Tape - Electrical tape works well.
    *Non magnetically conductive Epoxy (i've been using the ultra cheap HF clear epoxy on my experiments)
    *Coffee stir to guide fine wire - I forgot to do this step in the pictures!!
    *Thicker solid wire(14g house wire works) or thin copper strip. I've got some very thin copper strap. I find this the best.
    *Holder for spool. I use a vertical metal rod and the spool sits flat on my work bench.
    *Calipers for checking thickness of coil

    Heres a fun dry step by step guide.

    Step 1. Pull stator off bike. Mark which side is which if your only winding 1 coil.
    Step 2. Clean off the solder points and desolder the source coil
    Step 3. Disassemble ignition side and remove source coil. This is the bigger of the 2 coils.
    Step 4. Now that the coil is free from all wires and bolts, remove the old wire. The fastest way is to simply cut it off. A dremel and a set of pliers will be the fastest way.
    Step 5. Stick wire through coffee stir. Solder end of wire to thick wire or strip. Bend wire 90 degrees. Scrap the coating off of the 34g wire and solder it the thicker copper. Fine sand paper or a razor scraps the coating off very easily. It is amazingly thin.
    Step 7. Insulate the iron laminates from the 34g wire. Mine had a good coating provided by Ricky stator. Electrical tape works well for this. Sharp edges can cause a short while winding.
    Step 8. Chuck the iron into the drill. You may need to make an adapter that bolts to it. This will be spinning at 2-400 RPM (i have no honest idea, I set my drill to low and go. I've done it on high, and it didn't fail!)
    Step 9. Look at the 3rd picture and study how the wire needs to be wound. Place the bent 90 degree wire on a inside corner of the laminate. Tape it down so it doesn't move. Hand wind 10-20 turns to hold it down, keep tension on the wire as your winding.
    Step 10. Being winding with the drill. Use the coffee stir to guide it as it turns. Slowly go from 1 side to the next. Move back and forth until it's covered. Keep winding until it's about 18mm thick(mines currently 19mm). The center of the coil will hit the inside of the flywheel before it reaches the outside, so be careful! You can periodically scrap off the coating and check resistance. You'll check between the scrapped off part and the copper wire/strip that should be sticking out. Depending on what gauge wire will determine how much resistance you will have. Thicker wire will have less resistance( I've got 33g and it came in at 160 ohms).
    Step 11. After you've reached your desired resistance or thickness, cut the 34g wire and solder another peice of copper to it. Bend it 90 degrees. Place this on the back of the coil like the first 1. Solder the 34g wire to this. You may need to tie this down with extra wire.
    Step 12. Coat the entire coil in epoxy. and let set up.
    Step 13. install it into the stator and solder it up. Bolt to your machine and test it out!

    Notes:
    *Polarity is critical. Flipping the wires for a coil or flipping the coil over will change the polarity.
    *If the wire breaks while winding, solder the 2 ends together and keep going. This happens if you have to much tension from the coffee stir or if the coil catches.
    *This probably will probably wobble to the moon and back your first time. It sucks. I know. It works though.
    *For a more durable set up, coat the wire with potting wax or epoxy while your winding.
    *Thicker wire allows for more current to be produced. Not much of a problem, these operate off incredibly small amounts of current. Thinner wire allows for more winding's which makes more voltage. This directly effects spark plug voltage.
    *The stock CDI can handle a couple hundred volts reliably. Stay within the books spec and you should be OK. Over stuffing it to far will hurt the OEM cdi over time. Mines designed to handle 600 volts for good reason.
    *The way the winding are wrapped are not criticle. If you wind them backwards, simply switch the wires around. This will make current flow the other direction. The other option is to flip the coil over.
    * DONT over winding the trigger coil. This needs to stay within spec. I was never able to find the datasheet for the OEM parts in the CDI for this. I'm not sure what it can handle. I know my CDI set up will currently handle 400 volts from the trigger coil. I feel this is overkill. It works lol. This is a low voltage signal and needs to remain that way.
    * Lighting coils are special. This can be tuned for more output. Thinner wire=higher voltage to a point. After so much resistance, the coil won't effectively put out more voltage. Current will max out soon. This allows for higher voltage at lower rpm and peaks out only a handful of volts higher. Thicker wire will make more current, but lower initial voltage. At higher RPM, the voltage output will clime drastically. Current * volts=watts. A lot of winding with thick wire=lots of power. A voltage regulator is needed at this point. Ricky stator uses a thicker gauge wire for the 65 watt set up.



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    This is the holder I made for the coils. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2569625
    Last edited by RubberSalt; 10-05-2017 at 09:36 AM.
    I just wanna go fast. If your not first, your last!!
    Reproducing the Tecate CDI. Contact me if you need one. I'm most accessible on FaceBook. You can find me on the 1984-1987 Kawasaki Tecate KXT250 Group.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Northeast
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    17,438
    I don't have a Tecate, but this is a great write up!!
    All our government does is distract us while they steal from us, misspend our tax $ and ruin our country

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Massachusetts USA
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    783
    Nice work! I knew a guy that made a decent living out of spinning stator coils in his basement. Cool guy, but he had a few issues, and ended up going out of business. I could see myself doing this on a one-off basis for my own projects, but I can't imagine doing it full time. I look forward to hearing more about your pursuit of the perfect Tecate ignition system!
    1985 Tri-Z 250
    1985 ATC250R

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Chezzetcook Nova Scotia
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    1,836
    I almost tried this from my shed once. But My coils were too up to see how many windings there were. I have both a 83 kx 250 ricky stator for both t3 and 4 Id like to try. What kind out mount is that to allow to mount to a drill?
    The Green No More Red EVER EVER EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Wichita, Kansas
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    1,359
    The number of windings isn't critical. It's why there is a huge range on the resistance when measuring. As long as the source coil is above 190 ohms and can fit the stator, it'll be fine. The trigger coil needs to be within range, If it's got to many windings, it'll fire early, causing kick back when starting.

    Take some 34g wire, wind it to 200-210ohms, you'll have a nice hot spark and wont have any problems fitting.

    As for the mount, that's just something I 3d printed to hold the coils. I started this using some bent metal that was bolted to the coil. Similar to the image here.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    I've ran a coil off a YT175. Like 300 ohms lol. Had a nice hot spark. The coil required modification, i didn't trust it to not come apart/move though.
    I just wanna go fast. If your not first, your last!!
    Reproducing the Tecate CDI. Contact me if you need one. I'm most accessible on FaceBook. You can find me on the 1984-1987 Kawasaki Tecate KXT250 Group.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Leander TX
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    2,219
    The copper strip looks like a great idea, too.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Arizona
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    844
    I was thinking you could get more windings if you narrowed the width of the iron laminate plates. Is there any reason this can't be done? This might help with the problem of an overwound stator rubbing on the rotor.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Wichita, Kansas
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    1,359
    I'm might try narrowing the width some. It's primarily there to help create attract the magnetic field from the flywheel. I've added a small nail to a trigger coil, making it closer to the flywheel magnets. It ran well, but the top of the coil rubbed and shorted out.

    I've updated the information above.
    I just wanna go fast. If your not first, your last!!
    Reproducing the Tecate CDI. Contact me if you need one. I'm most accessible on FaceBook. You can find me on the 1984-1987 Kawasaki Tecate KXT250 Group.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
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    91
    Great info here!!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Dahlonega,GA. (Formerly Flint,MI.)
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    787
    How's the CDI boxes coming along??
    "You should never smoke in pajamas..
    You might start a fire and burn your face..
    Maybe you should return to Manaugua..
    You could go un-noticed in such a place"

    FZ

    Ass,gas or grass....nobody rides for free!

    Ride free,Brotha. See you in Heaven.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Arizona
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    844
    Just a word of caution for people wanting to rewind their Tecate stator--be careful! If you are getting a lot of kickback after rewinding, something is probably wrong and there is a high risk of snapping the kick boss (the part the holds the kick lever on the kick shaft). I've been experimenting with rewinding the source coil for more spark energy and have broken two kick bosses due to kickback. They snap pretty easy if the spark comes at the wrong time and kick bosses are discontinued from Kawasaki. Luckily I've managed to find replacements. I'm not sure where the problem lies as I am only winding more loops (ohms) into the source coil and haven't touched the trigger coil. It could be that I wound the coil in the wrong direction--not sure yet. I'm in contact with RubberSalt to figure this out.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Wichita, Kansas
    --
    1,359
    Quote Originally Posted by Maico View Post
    How's the CDI boxes coming along??
    If all goes well, I'll be able to continue testing this evening. Everything has been on hold due to my stator.

    And Christph is right about being careful. I've destroyed a set of boots while experimenting. We're getting this down to a science now. I'll be keeping this update with the info I fight out.
    I just wanna go fast. If your not first, your last!!
    Reproducing the Tecate CDI. Contact me if you need one. I'm most accessible on FaceBook. You can find me on the 1984-1987 Kawasaki Tecate KXT250 Group.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Wichita, Kansas
    --
    1,359
    The stator only kicked back for me. I was not able to retard the timing enough to get the machine to run. With the coils provided by ricky stator, it did have a hot spark using OEM/my CDIs, ignition coils, and flywheels. All the CDI boxes I tested, oem and mine, acted the exact same (consistency!).

    A couple of days ago, while rummaging around in my storage unit, I found a 2nd stator. It's by far the worst looking one I've seen. I'll need to get pictures. This one does ohm out to factory specs. It gave the opposite results for the magnetic field test that the ricky stator coils did in the initial post (Ricky stator instructions are confusing lol). It may not be until the week end that I can test this one.


    *** The initial post is correct and the data is safe to use.
    Last edited by RubberSalt; 05-24-2021 at 11:50 PM.
    I just wanna go fast. If your not first, your last!!
    Reproducing the Tecate CDI. Contact me if you need one. I'm most accessible on FaceBook. You can find me on the 1984-1987 Kawasaki Tecate KXT250 Group.

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