Bulb Conversion to LED's

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PJD
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Bulb Conversion to LED's

The following is the bulbs I used to convert all but the headlights to LED's. The sum of the wattage of the incandescent bulbs the LED's are replacing is about 140 watts - and the sum of the LED's is about 20-30 watts, so you are freeing up about 100 to 120 watts, or about 9 amps.

Bulb location......Superbrightleds.com Part No......Quantity needed....Price Ea.

Tail................1157-R18-T.............................2.............$17.95

Turn................1156-A18-T.............................4.............$17.95

Lic Plate Bulb......WLED-W-120.............................1..............$1.39

Little Bulbs
in Headlight.........WLED-NW5..............................2..............$3.94

Bulbs in
rear view mirrors....WLED-A-120............................2..............$0.79

Inst Panel...........WLED-W-120............................5(I think).....$1.39

Turn Signal
Indicator............WLED-G-120............................2..............$1.79
..................or WLED-G4-90...........................................$2.59 - Brighter than stock - helps remind you to turn them off!

High beam
Indicator............WLED-B-120............................1..............$0.79 (don't use a brighter bulb here)

With LED's, an electronic turn signal flasher is needed, to get the proper 90 flashes/min. The stock flasher will only flash at 30-40 flashes/min due to the much lower current draw from LED lamps. I used the following:

Turn Signal Flasher, Part No. G215-EB $8.95

This is a 2 wire flasher. The stock flasher is a 3 wire flasher - 1)hot, 2)normally open load, 3)normally closed load. But the normally closed load lead is only used to operate the rear view mirror lights in their alternate mode of on all the time, blinking off when the TS blinks on (achieved by switching some connections - ask if interested). So this 2-wire flasher will work in the normal mode the bikes are delivered in. Find the correct connections with a voltmeter. Red-hot, Black-normally closed load. The flasher is mounted behind the front body panel next to the BMS

Also, note that with LED's always get a bulb with the same color as the lens if the lens is not white. So the tail lights should be red, not white. Turn indicator should be green, the high-beam indicator blue.

LeThala
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Re: Bulb Conversion to LED's

Thank for sharing your research. I am going to upgrade all my lights to led. I have a question about the instrument panel. I removed 4 screws and tried to lift it off without success. Are there more screws I'm not seeing or are there plastic tabs that need to be unlatched? I'm afraid to apply too much force without knowing what I'm doing for fear of snapping off some plastic latches.

Thanks,
John

PJD
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Re: Bulb Conversion to LED's

Remove the four screws in the in the handlebar/instrument fairing. There are two plastic hooks holding the colored panel to the black plastic just below the brake levers. Press on them from below with a small screwdriver if they don't come unsnapped on their own. Then, remove the colored fairing piece that covers the front and underside of the handlebar fairing. With this panel removed, if your hands aren't too big, and by turning the handlebar this way or that, you can access the rubber indicator light bulb holders on the underside of the panel.

Tip when reassembling: to preserve the threads in the plastic, always turn the screw backward until you feel it "click" into the thread, then screw down.

The lower panel under the tail lights, which needs to be removed to access the bulbs, always give me trouble. With the four screws removed, a deft, hard rearward pull is needed to undo the plastic hook-snaps and remove it. You WILL think you broke something, but you didn't.

Then there is the removal of either the front "beak" assembly or the black rear part of the front fairing (latter probably easier) to access the front turn signals, headlights and flasher.

It is a fairly big job.

LeThala
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Re: Bulb Conversion to LED's

I just placed an order for led replacement bulbs. I decided to leave the 4 1156 turn indicators as incandecent bulbs. Since they aren't on al that often I didn't think it was worth the cost of the 4 bulbs plus a flasher. Instead I spent more for brighter tail/brake lights so my total came to 60 bucks. I wish they made led headlight bulbs. If I could get the light circuit to run off a 5 amp fuse, I could put a 15 amp fuse on the aux circuit which would allow me to run my heated gear at full blast which would draw 14 amps. I don't think I will ever need to turn it up all the way but it would be nice to not have to worry about blowing a fuse.

Your instructions on removing the panels to access the instrument and tail lights was very helpful. I removed some bulbs to look at and and to make sure I'd be able to change them. The only real problem I had was that when I put it all back together the throttle didn't work. I poked through the wires looking for a loose one or a short but didn't find anything. Then I toggled the circuit breaker off and on and tried the throttle again and it worked. I'm guessing it was my jostling of the wires that fixed it. I just hope it stays fixed

When my less arrive I want to try to get the mirror one set up in normally on mode using the other output of the 3 wire flasher. That was the other reason I didn't want to change out the turn indicators and flasher.

PJD
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Re: Bulb Conversion to LED's

The left hand mirror light has a green and orange wire, and they are connected to a green and orange wire (green-green, orange-orange). You will see an unused yellow wire nearby. The right hand mirror has green-green and blue-blue, also with an unused yellow wire. To change to having the mirror lights always on, blinking off when the turn signals blink on, switch the wire connections from blue-blue to blue-yellow (RH) and the orange-orange to orange-yellow (LH).

As far as the throttle, check the throttle wiring connector. Also, check the brake light/regen switches on the brake levers. If a brake lever adjustment screw has gotten loose, so the handle has too much slack-play, the switches may be on all the time. This of course will be indicated by a rapid flashing indicator light and the scooter won't run.

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