Awful Paint Job  By  scootdude (Read 5,150 times)

Feb 13, 2015 18:23:14 GMT -5 scootdude said:

Feb 12, 2015 19:00:20 GMT -5 oldchopperguy said:

Heya!  I got some LED lights at the auto parts store and wired them up on the sides of the bike where light sort of just gets absorbed like a black hole and everyone pretends they cant see me.  So there's one problem addressed.  I need to pick up another set of LED lights for the back trunk to tie into the brake lights.  I'm not really an electrically inclined kind of guy, and I don't want to mess anything up.   So I called my local Kymco shop and before I could even finish my sentence, the guy cut me off as soon as I said LED and told me they aren't interested in helping.  He said I'll have nothing but electrical problems and went on to say that the electrical generator on scooters can't handle any extra electrical load whatsoever.  He said he wants no part of it and won't help. 

He suggested I put an LED 1157 bulb in the tail light and call it good.  I'm not thrilled with that answer. I'd like to wire up some LED strips that make the bike much more visible and safer on the road.  Anyone have a suggestion for how to go about getting electrical wiring help?

I wonder if there are any solar LED lights that would soak up enough energy during the day to run brake light LED's at night?

Oh brother!  What a helpful dealer...  Cheesh! I suppose they're worried about liability and such.

These scooters seem to have REALLY stout batteries AND charging systems!  Even my old Chinese 150 had a load of LED's on it and they never caused any problems, or drained the battery!  The LED's draw VERY little juice.  They should be connected to DC current however.  My old 150 had AC headlights, but as far as I can tell, the Kymco uses DC for all the headlights, tail lights, etc.  So LED's can be hooked up without problems, anywhere you want them.

The only thing you need to be sure of is to connect the LED's positive to the scooter's positive leads, and grounds to a ground.  I tracked down the individual wires going to my lights with a simple 12V test-probe...  A wire (preferably use black for future reference) can be connected to the frame, or, as I did, tapped into any wire on the scooter that's grounded and be used for grounding all your LED's.

Then, tap the positive LED wire into the tail light, stop-light or blinker you want the LED to run with.  You saw my Vegas-style rear "billboard" lights, and I've been running them now for a year with NO problems whatsoever.  The little Chinese scooters can handle at least a few extra LED's, and the Kymco 250 can handle more.  Even a whole strip of LED's use only a couple watts of juice.

Hooking up your LED's is easier than painting the Dinkster...  Really!

With your seat-pan removed, all the rear wires are visible.  You can almost tell which are the tail light, stop, and blinkers just by looking, but a test-light/probe will easily verify which is which.

You can tap into factory wires in several ways... I went the "easy" route, using those blue plastic automotive taps with little "guillotine" steel pieces you squeeze with pliers, then close the plastic locking piece to weatherproof.  They are good in tight places like under the seat.  And they seem to be VERY durable, better than twisting "wire-nuts" and easier than trying to cut, strip and solder.

Any questions I can help you with, just ask.

I STILL love that black paint!  Ten times better than I envisioned, and I'm an artist!  Woo-HOO!

Get 'er lit-up... and Ride safe!

Leo

Lookin' GOOOOOODDD!

I don't know what you tapped into for these lights, but your brake light should hook up the same way: positive LED lead to brake light wire, negative LED lead to ground.

Just remove that pesky seat-pan, and you'll find the wires going to the tail light, brake light and blinkers. I hate pulling the dang seat out, but if you need me to, I'll do it and find out what color wires go "whrere". I should have written them down when I did mine... Duh... HOLD IT... I think my shop manual has a teensy wiring diagram!

I'll see if I can find it and add to this reply for you.

OK, I found the wiring diagram but it's printed SO small that the wire colors letter-codes are broken and illegible, even under a magnifying glass.  If you check the wires going to the tail light, you should be able to see them and probe with a test light to see which is the tail light, and which is the stop light.  If not, I'll find them on mine and tell you the colors.

Hey, when Kymco sees your bike, they might bring back the Dink in stealth mode!

Leo

Feb 18, 2015 2:19:47 GMT -5 scootdude said:

Feb 15, 2015 14:42:59 GMT -5 oldchopperguy said:

Scootdude,

You won't have any trouble hooking up the wiring... I'm no electrician myself... LOL! Once you get TO those pesky wires, you can see which ones head to the tail lights and turn signals. Find a ground, then just test to see which one goes to the tail light, and which one goes to the stop light.

While you're at it, I'd tap into all the wires you might want to use later... Tail, stop, left & right blinkers and a ground, then run those new wires out to where you can easily access them later, maybe inside the seat pan. THAT will save you a LOT of disassembly and fuss later on if you decide to light up the trunk, etc.

Now go knock 'em dead on that new job!

Ride safe!

Leo

Awesome post!  Thanks Leo!  Yeah this weekend when I get a little time to dig into it, I'm going to fuss with the electrical wiring and fix up the old gal.  I ordered a genuine LED brake light on ebay that should come in sometime later this week.  It's one of those buggers with about 40 tiny LED's all over it.  It's going to really brighten up the tail and brake lights.  Then I'm going to pick up some more LED strip lights and mount em up to the back trunk, and wire em up good and proper.  You all know how much I love to post pics, so I'll be sure and post a bunch when I've got it all done.

The new job is AWESOME!  Best job I've ever had.  I was lucky to get it.  It was a 1 in a MILLION stroke of luck getting this job.  It was like hitting the jackpot.  And best of all, I get to serve active military personnel and veterans.  I tried to go into the military back in 1988 and was stamped 4F and rejected.  So I never got a chance to serve.  So it kind of chokes me up now that I get a chance to serve in at least some sort of capacity.

Cheers! 

You're most welcome!

I'm SO glad you got a good job!  Not all that easy to get one these days...

You'll be safer with some good lights UP ON THE TRUNK.  And all the lights I've gotten off eBay have been very good.  Had some on my old Chinese scoot for nearly 7 years with not one ever going out.

If ever you have trouble with the self-stick goo not holding (the stickum is definitely NOT as good as the LED's...) a dab of any of the modern wonder-rubber-cement glues will fix that...  I've used those cements on boot-soles, lights, auto emblems etc. all with great results.  Even glued broken bumper plastics on my car with no problems!

That big trunk of yours is a natural for illumination.  I think it's the only one bigger than mine!  On a scoot that's your "family car" it is just the thing.  You can haul half of Wally World home with you...  It DOES block your factory rear lights though, from tall vehicles and cars tailgating you.  With bright lights on the trunk, even a tailgater has them right in his/her face.  I am positive my trunk lights have prevented a few rear-enders when stopping at night.

Even though my own GV is painted white, from the REAR it's ALL flat-black.. Trunk, seat, backrest and mud-guard.  "More lights, more better"... LOL!  While I kept my choppers "clean and simple" my old Harley baggers were lit up like a Tijuana taxi!  One of these days when it STAYS warm, I've gotta get my driving lights on, and my marvelously nostalgia-tacky illuminated swan... Be still my beating heart, "Minnie Mouse" will have her rodent-nose adorned just like my '49 Ford was in '62... The birdie will likely be ONE mod NOBODY but myself will approve of on the site... but, it's an "old-geezer" thing... LOL!

Ride safe and enjoy that warm weather!

Leo