lighting for the EX

[ex_rider101]

what kinda of lights are in the 2003 400ex? cuz i wana put halogen lights in there so i can get more light when riding at night down trails

[aviator4]

They are 35 Watt Halogen bulbs. - 70 watts total.

Max output of the stator is 147Watts - keep under that (in total wattage) and you should be fine.

[aviator4]

Sorry.. 147 Watts at 5,000 RPM - MUCH less at idle.

[ex_rider101]

thanks for your help:)

[bwamos]

That's why I love my Trail Techs on my 300ex. Same watage as stock, but about 10x brighter. I mean they are blinding bright. Good reflectors and a decent bulb goes a long way.

[aviator4]

I, too have been running trail techs, I have two sets (and no stock lights) but have had some problems with them.

The small set is 20 watts per bulb. The housing is great, but the plug inside and the bulbs leave something to be desired.

So far, I have had BOTH plugs inside the housings fall apart. All it is is a small rubber grommet with the connectors shoved into it. Both sides have had one side of the connector break. I've also had problems with water leaking into the bulb. One bulb has corroded so badly inside that the metal connector has come completley off. - sucks.

The contacts inside the bulb are copper and thus corrode once they are wet. As it stands, neither of them work right now. I'm going to have to totally re-wire them to accept new bulbs. and THEN replace the bulbs. I'm going to have to come up with some better way to seal the housing with an O ring or something.

Now, on the other side of that story, the larger 50 watt bulbs havent given me any problems, but they are also a LOT newer.

My smaller one are now two years old.. maybe thats why they are giving me so many problems.

[RiderTRX400ex]

yea my buddy has the trail tech lights on his 300ex, they ARE extremely bright!:devil:

[400Rider022]

for all of those with trail techs..im very interested in these...what is the procedure for putting them on...im not to great with wiring so is it possible for me to do

[aviator4]

You will have to splice into the wiring harness on the 400 in order to get them to light up using the light switch on the handlebars. The ground wire is simple to install.

So far, I've had to make custom brackets for all of my lights, as the brackets that came with them didn't to anything but position my lights to that they lit up my bumper.

[bwamos]

Originally posted by aviator4
I, too have been running trail techs, I have two sets (and no stock lights) but have had some problems with them.

The small set is 20 watts per bulb. The housing is great, but the plug inside and the bulbs leave something to be desired.

So far, I have had BOTH plugs inside the housings fall apart. All it is is a small rubber grommet with the connectors shoved into it. Both sides have had one side of the connector break. I've also had problems with water leaking into the bulb. One bulb has corroded so badly inside that the metal connector has come completley off. - sucks.

The contacts inside the bulb are copper and thus corrode once they are wet. As it stands, neither of them work right now. I'm going to have to totally re-wire them to accept new bulbs. and THEN replace the bulbs. I'm going to have to come up with some better way to seal the housing with an O ring or something.

Now, on the other side of that story, the larger 50 watt bulbs havent given me any problems, but they are also a LOT newer.

My smaller one are now two years old.. maybe thats why they are giving me so many problems.

I have the 35w bulb system. I've had them on my 330 for oh I dont know probably 4 years?. No issues at all. The 20w ones must have been made a lot cheaper. My 35Wx2 bulbs are great.

The standard setup replaces your upper bar mounts with a plate that the lights sit on. You can also get frame mounted lights.

www.trailtech.net is their site.

[ex_rider101]

i was diging in my shed and found 2 baja lights both putting out 55wats each so i just decided to put them on insted right behind the bumper and are they ever bright :devil:

[04TRX400EX]

Anyone have any pictures of the TrailTechs on their 400? I am curious to see where you've mounted them and how they look.

[aviator4]

The smaller 20 watt lights are tucked up under the front fenders. You can see one of the custom brackets on the right-hand side light.

The bigger lights are the 55 Watt lights. This was acutally Trail Tech's kit for a 450R and came with a special chrome plate to mount them on them on with "TRX" cut out of it... pretty cool. It was designed to put the lights roughly into the headlight holes on the 450R plastics, but I liked the plate enough to use it.

I had to make an extension piece to mount them to the frame. It's made of aluminum plate and is mounted to the frame on the plate where the VIN number is. I didn't have to dril to frame, just that little plate. Fit perfect

The small lights are wired into my "low beam" circuit and the big lights are wired into my "high beam" circuit.

All told, thats 150 Watts, which is too much for a stock stator so I can't run them all at the same time... I see a HO stator in my future though.

(and if the front suspension geometry seems -off- it's because the bike has been winterized and is on its' stand. The wheels aren't touching the ground so the suspension is fully extended at the moment.)