I went a did it. Finally purchased the new Yamaha S Max  By  dmartin95 (Read 13,307 times)

Dmartin95,

Thanks! I illuminated mine over a year ago, as soon as I got the scooter.  It had an identical trunk on it, but only half the size, so I changed it out to the "biggie".  I secured all the wires above a ridge molded into the trunk interior with zip-ties, and that protects them from being beaten around by stuff in the trunk.  No problems so far! You're right about these not making a "fashion-statement"... LOL! AND, that their utility makes up for it...

I've been told that mine actually resembles the nuclear butts on the giant beetles in "Starship Troopers"  Yup.

Mine is slightly different than yours (probably made by the same factory) but appears to be about the same generic "2-full-face-helmet" size. And it CAN hold a load of groceries! I even went so far as to add saddlebags for those extra cans and bottles that sometimes remain in the shopping cart after the trunk and seat-pan are full... LOL! Besides, the bags go with the wide-whites and fishtail exhaust.  (that old picture above was before I made up the fishtail muff-tip)... You can take the old geezer off of the Harley, but you can't get the Harley out of the old geezer!

I didn't do a how-to post on the lighting. It's actually easier to do, than to describe. Here's a quick guide, and some pix of the finished installation:

1. Be sure the red lens can be removed. Usually they come out easily with screws from inside the trunk.

2. See if the lens has a channel inside for strip lights. They usually do, but if not, you can still insert strip-LED's in the back of the lens, or, attached to the trunk behind the lens.

3. Find some 12v LED strips to fit in the lens. These are available off eBay in never-ending selections... I used some extra-thin white LED strips which easily went inside the channel inside the red lens. I simply placed them in, a few inches at a time, securing them with a drop of cyanoacrylate (super-glue) every so often. They can easily be pried out again if they need replacement. (I've had EXCELLENT results with cheap Chinese LED strips, with a similar setup on my old 150 lasting 7 years, and still working fine).

You'll need to determine where to place lights for the tail-light, AND stoplight. Both can be inside the big red lens. Mine happened to have a small factory light in the trunk lid which I used for the tail-light, and I reserved the monster strip light for the stoppie.

For turn-signals, I used small amber strip LED's on top of the red lens, but you can do anything that suits you. Many amber signals are available already trimmed and factory-looking.

4. For wiring, I bought a 5-Wire trailer "pigtail set with a male and female plug. I used a 5-wire so the trunk would have a ground. This leaves 4 hot wires: tail-light, stoplight, left blinker and right blinker. You must locate the appropriate wires inside the seat-pan area of the scooter and splice the trailer-pig-tail wires in, leaving the end with the female plug accessible.

5. Wire all your trunk lights to the matching color pig-tail wires on the male end of the pig-tail and run through an inconspicuous hole in the trunk. I securely fastened all the trunk wires with nylon wire-ties and covered the main "snake" with flex wire covers.

6. Plug the trunk pig-tail into the female plug on the scooter and test to be sure all lights operate as they should.

7. Finally, seal any holes drilled in the trunk with sealant (I used black silicone caulk) and you're done!

Here are some pix of the finished wiring as some riders requested. It really IS easier to DO than to EXPLAIN... LOL!





Once you get the red lens off, the whole process comes together pretty fast. I wired up the trunk on the kitchen table, checking with a battery as each light got wired, to be sure it was properly connected to the proper color wire in the pig-tail.

You can buy LED strip-lights at Wal Mart, auto supply stores, etc. but they are expensive, and the selection is limited. Just search eBay for 12v LED and you'll find HUNDREDS of selections! In addition to strip lights suitable to place into the red lens, there are MANY factory LED lights for use as running lights, stop-lights, blinkers and such. Over the last 8 years, I've bought MANY different styles from China, and all worked fine and none ever went bad.

Hope this may help you out. Any questions, I'll be glad to try to advise you. Plenty of other riders have done these lights too, so you'll have lots of advice if you need it. But you probably won't... If I can figure it out, most likely, a chimpanzee can do it. I think... If not, there are plenty of monkeys around the sight to help!

All joking aside, these LARGE trunks DO nearly hide the factory rear lights from tailgating cars, and tall vehicles even at a safe following distance. So, putting big, bright lights at windshield-level really helps. (I haven't been "thumped" in the rear since installing mine...)

Ride safe, ride BRIGHT!

Leo (lit up like Vegas on Saturday night) in Texas

PS:  You could hard-wire the lights into the scooter wiring, BUT using a trailer-light pig-tail with male/female plugs makes the job MUCH easier, AND allows the trunk to be removed if desired by simply unplugging the trunk-wiring from the scooter.  Also, if you ever pull a trailer with your scooter, you'll have all the wiring ready by just using a "splitter" plug for the trailer.  And if you ever tow the scoot, even on a trailer, you can unplug the trunk lights from the scooter, and plug into the tow-vehicle for instant full rear lighting.  The trailer pig-tail wiring colors are universal.