Starter button

[Stoon101]

I want a new starter button smaller than stock tht just has a start button let me knoe if u can find one

[project400ex19]

I've seen guys use dirt bike kill switches. That's what I'm going to do.

[QuadManiac]

The typical bike kill switch is normally open and when pushed (switch closed) it shorts a single wire to ground (the bars). This won't work for the EX start circuit.

You need a normally open switch with 2 connections, one to the black wire, the other to the yellow/red wire. The switch shorts these two wires together when pressed to start the quad.

If you can get a 'kill' switch that has two connections (in the electronics world this is called a "two conductor, single pole, single throw, normally open, momentary contact" switch) and does not short either connection to the bars when pushed, it will work just fine.

You can certainly get a switch of this type at Radio Shack, but it's not going to be designed to mount to the bars... you should be able to find something that will elsewhere.

Good Luck!

[dariusld]

Originally posted by QuadManiac
The typical bike kill switch is normally open and when pushed (switch closed) it shorts a single wire to ground (the bars). This won't work for the EX start circuit.

You need a normally open switch with 2 connections, one to the black wire, the other to the yellow/red wire. The switch shorts these two wires together when pressed to start the quad.

If you can get a 'kill' switch that has two connections (in the electronics world this is called a "two conductor, single pole, single throw, normally open, momentary contact" switch) and does not short either connection to the bars when pushed, it will work just fine.

You can certainly get a switch of this type at Radio Shack, but it's not going to be designed to mount to the bars... you should be able to find something that will elsewhere.

Good Luck! Wow I thought you seemed pretty knowledgable, until this response:confused: :confused:

I used a kx kill switch and worked fine. Here is another members quote and you find many others if you search.


Originally posted by dariusld
Won't let you go there, so maybe this will work.



"If you never use your 400ex headlights like myself and are tired of hitting the on/off switch by accident and kiling the motor then here's a simple way to get rid of that bulky contraption on your handle bars.

I orderd a CR dirtbike kill switch to use as a starter button. The process is easy and pain free. You can also use a kill switch off an ATK quad or any dirtbike for that matter.

Remove the entire wiring harness from the quad, at the handlebars, headlight connection and the connector under the fender. This way you can track down all the wires to be sure your getting a correct connection and it's easier work with this way.

Connect the kill switch to the (red/yellow and black) wires that go to the OEM starter button. Cut the wires and connect the new starter button so that your sure you have connected the proper wires. Use good wire connectors so that in wet conditions it doesn't cause ignition problems. There are several black wires in this harness so BE SURE to seperate the proper black wire from the others.


The (green/yellow and Green) wires need to be connected so that you can start your quad in gear, otherwise it has to be in neutral.

The remaining (brown, black/white and black wires) are relays for the headlights and can be taped up and DO NOT need to be connected to anything.

The wires for the headlight connection are of no use so cut them away and set it aside.

Be sure to use black electrical tape and tape the wires and spliced areas back up real good to keep moisture out and consider the job complete.. :xyxthumbs

What once was made to stop a motor is now used to start one"

[QuadManiac]

Originally posted by dariusld
Wow I thought you seemed pretty knowledgable, until this response:confused: :confused:


So what part of my post do you disagree with, dari? How many years of electrical engineering, motorcycle and small engine maintenance experience do you have? Are you able to easily read and understand the schematic in the EX manual? Do you even HAVE a manual?

I said TYPICAL, not all. Every stand alone (not incorporated into a cluster of switches) bike kill switch that I have come in contact with meets my description to a T. Granted, many of them are from older bikes, perhaps even older than you!

I said "if you CAN get a kill switch with two connections".... and "you should be able to find one elsewhere", and apparently you can, thank you very much. Now that you have sparked my ire, I have looked online and, indeed, see a plethora of kill switches available IN BOTH CONFIGURATIONS, and also in a third - two conductor, normally closed. This type will not work for the EX either, so I definitely stand behind my original explanation.

If the poster installed the original type of switch that I was warning about (one conductor, shorting to the ground or handlebars when pressed) he would be spending a lot of time replacing his fuse instead of riding, if he installs the normally closed switch, his starter will turn UNTIL he pushes the button...

And as to the quote that you included.. "You can also use a kill switch off .... any dirtbike for that matter." This is PATENTLY incorrect. Many, especially older units ARE single conductor, short to ground type, and as we have just learned, some are normally closed instead of the normally open as required by the EX. And as long as I'm on a rant, there's another error in your "quote of fact": He describes the wire to use as red/yellow... WRONG. The wire is yellow with red stripe (yellow/red). Luckily there is no red with yellow stripe wire on the EX, so nobody has caused any damage by incorporating this error.

So, to recap: What have I said in the original post that is in ANYWAY misleading or, especially, incorrect, dari?

Oh, and as an aside, I also have a Raptor 660.. among others. In the Raptors case, a single wire, short to ground switch WILL work for the starter button. So, as an attempt to eliminate confusion, and after studying the EX schematic briefly, I posted my correct response to the original question. After a little more homework, I am even MORE correct.

[dariusld]

Not that this has anything to do with what I'm talking about, but is this a contradiction?


Originally posted by QuadManiac
Take the yellow/red wire that comes out of the stock handlebar switch assembly, (you can cut it real close to the assembly) connect it to the wire on the type of kill switch that shorts to bars when you push it. Insulate the connection between the yellow/red and kill swich wires with electrical tape or preferably heat shrink tubing. Mount the kill switch to the bars (make sure theres a clear metal patch, no paint, where the kill switch mount contacts the bars).

With everything else correct, when you push it, the bike starts.


Your use of typical is misleading. If I came here for info and you said your typical kill switch will not work, I would think I couldn't use a KX250 kill switch, but I could. Now I would look elsewhere, when I had an easy choice.

"How many years of electrical engineering, motorcycle and small engine maintenance experience do you have? Are you able to easily read and understand the schematic in the EX manual? Do you even HAVE a manual?" All I know is what works because I put it on my bike, not because someone told me so. And if it works on my 400ex, it will work on his. The more correct info
he gets the better off he is.

[QuadManiac]

Good homework on your part, it most certainly is a contradiction and is an error on my part... When was that? I was in a serious Raptor repair mode a couple of months ago, and obviously wasn't paying attention... I'll go back and correct it.

I apologize for using 'typical' without including something like "in my exprerience". I was trying to say that the majority of stand alone kill switches I had seen to that point were of the single contact, short to ground type and to avoid using them.. I do believe that I gave a pretty good description of the type that is necessary for the EX.

BUT, let me amplify... two out of the three types (not brands, TYPES) of kill switches that are currently available (through a quick on line search) will NOT work... so the using the word "typical" to imply 66% may not be that much of an error, perhaps majority would have been better.


I have no objection with your providing 'more correct info' to improve the information passed within this forum. But the character attack was completely unnecessary and certainly outside the realm of providing info.

Sometimes it is difficult to get the thought that's in one's head into a text format that is completely understandable by all... that's what follow up questions are for, NOT insults.

[thisperishedmin]

My quad has a dirtbike kill switch as the starter....couldnt tell you what kind though as I didnt put it on :(

that said, i do know it CAN be done and really shouldnt be too hard...good luck!