Scooter Doc
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Post by twowheeler on Nov 30, 2013 14:48:37 GMT -6
The LED styles ive seen dont have a beam thats worth much but the driving lights i see everywhere seem to be much better. Will running these 55watt lights hurt anything?
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11,000 Miles and Counting...
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Post by bhinch on Nov 30, 2013 14:58:33 GMT -6
Not sure...I installed 35w...HID's.....5000k...H4...9003...HI/LO...bi-xenon with relay almost 3 yrs ago and have loved the mod. I also installed LED's for stop and turn. The charging system has no probs with the load....
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Ad Free Donut
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A bike is music to my ears.
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Post by Guitarman on Nov 30, 2013 14:58:54 GMT -6
I thought about that but in the end, I decided to just swap my old headlights for HID's. It was a good choice.
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Scooter Doc
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Post by twowheeler on Nov 30, 2013 19:35:43 GMT -6
I found a nice pair of LED round driving lights. I plan on mounting them on the forks.
Can I run the wires to my amber running lights to power them up or do i need a separate wiring harness?
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Post by FrankenMech on Nov 30, 2013 20:29:11 GMT -6
Wire the lights to the original headlight wires.
I have two 27W LED 30° 'spot' lights on my scoot for 'headlights'. The LED lights don't give a good beam without special lenses etc. The light emitting surface does not work the way an incandescent filament does. It is not a 'point' source so parabolic reflectors don't work. It is just physics and there is no getting around it yet.
With my headlights ON my electrical system holds the proper voltage at idle and at speed.
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Post by sitticuss on Nov 30, 2013 21:31:19 GMT -6
thanks for the explanation frank...Cleared up a few questions i had about led's
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Post by twowheeler on Nov 30, 2013 21:54:39 GMT -6
Frank so you no longer use the stock headlight?
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Post by FrankenMech on Nov 30, 2013 23:44:55 GMT -6
I had dual 18/18W High/Low halogen headlamps that were too dim to see anything. There was also a lot of light reflecting off the decorative 'guard' over the lights and light leaking from the back of the chrome plated plastic stock reflectors. That light leakage ruined my night vision also. The 18/18W bulbs were only available from the manufacturer in China. If I remember right that is a violation of the DOT standards.
I removed both of the stock lamp assemblies and replaced them with LED assemblies. The LED replacements are not DOT rated. Fortunately my scoot falls under the bicycle lighting rules in Kansas which means my front light must be a 'white light visible from 500 feet'.
The stock assemblies were labeled DOT but I also noticed that rating was for a 5/5W bulb. The stock assemblies also had a small #194? bulb 'marker' light in them that came on with the ignition switch. I wired two LED billet bullet lights into that circuit.
When I wired up the new lights I used a couple of diodes to make both front white light 'headlights' come on in HIGH and only one in LOW.
I had the proper connectors so I just made up a new wire harness for the lights that plugs right in to the existing wire harness.
I saved the stock fixtures and wire harness in my pieces-parts leftover box. That box also has a rev limiter and a nasty buzzer alarm like they use as a backup alarm on construction equipment. It also contains the tiny 'free' trunk and the front bumper for the scoot. I reconfigured about 1/3 of the electrical wiring harness. Sea air and LA smog did not do the scoot any favors. There were two bad switches that had oxidized or corroded to the point they would not make contact. I had to disassemble and clean those switches. The schematic for the scoot did not show much of the wiring or was incorrect.
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