Modern Buddy

Hey, this picture gave me an idea. Has anybody ever added a nose light to their Buddy, centered, toward the bottom of the shield? Take a look at the pic that inspired this thought. Is anybody else feeling it or have I just wandered off into the trees by myself? Not that that's ever happened before or anything. Heh.

Do you mean like a Buddy GTV?

Yamaha C3.



Piaggio Liberty Poste 125.



Kymco Agility Carry.



Honda Dunk.


Honda Zook.



Suzuki Choi Nori.



Just some grist for the mill...

I don't know about the Buddy headlight ...

I WANT THAT CAR!

I added a set of LEDs from MondoMotos. The pair of lights together will draw down the battery so I plan to disable one of the pair or remove one and remount. The two together throw a heck of a lot of light. Some pics:

Syd wrote:Do you mean like a Buddy GTV?

Buddy Tucker?

Syd wrote:

Syd wrote:Do you mean like a Buddy GTV?

Buddy Tucker?

Only if we can figure out how to make it turn with the steering. Actually, that would be insanely cool, wouldn't it? I wonder if it could be done...

The panels on the front of the Buddy are so closely spaced that there is really no place to mount lights that would turn with the steering other than mounting a set of auxiliary lights on the shocks (about where the factory reflectors are mounted). Many cruiser style motorcycles use this setup and it works well to provide good foreground lighting as well as some distance lighting depending on the beam shape of the lights chosen.

There are all sorts of clamps and lights that should work well for this purpose, all you would need to do is measure the outside diameter of the front shocks and order the right size clamps.

Wiring anything to a moving part like a shock requires good protection for the wires and enough slack to travel with the full compression and extension of the shocks.

jrsjr wrote:

Syd wrote:

Syd wrote:Do you mean like a Buddy GTV?

Buddy Tucker?

Only if we can figure out how to make it turn with the steering. Actually, that would be insanely cool, wouldn't it? I wonder if it could be done...

Heh. And it would need to know a normal steer from a counter steer. I guess is's just simpler to light up the side that the bike leans toward. Maybe that's a simple weighted pivot.....

PeteH wrote:

jrsjr wrote:

Syd wrote: Buddy Tucker?

Only if we can figure out how to make it turn with the steering. Actually, that would be insanely cool, wouldn't it? I wonder if it could be done...

Heh. And it would need to know a normal steer from a counter steer. I guess is's just simpler to light up the side that the bike leans toward. Maybe that's a simple weighted pivot.....

Incorporate a gyroscope to determine lean and Voilà

Don't forget about a self-leveling feature as well, all dynamic headlight systems need one. Don't want to be blinding oncoming traffic

Ultimately, the best solution would probably be to figure out a way to get more juice out of the alternator so we can run higher wattage bulbs in the main headlight.

Sorting this out is way above my pay grade, but I'm sure someone on the list must be a genius electrical engineer who likes to tinker

I like for my lights to be mounted as high as possible. They are more visible and the lens stays cleaner.

Style and function finally meet




http://www.instructables.com/id/Reused- ... to-Helmet/

More than anything, I think what I was shooting for was something with this effect. I'm, uh, actually serious...

I would simply get a couple of bicycle lights and mount those.Run em off their own battery power,forget using the scoots battery.

As Im sure your aware,there are so many good quality very bright bicycle lights out there.

howHH's lights look really nice! Good job!

Tim.


PS-Dont forget a whip light pole also.

I run this monstrosity. LED, switch above glovebox, wired in to a relay and powered off a splitter on the horn. Doesn't seem to tax the charging system or battery and it's crazy bright.

Looks like the 18W 4.2" LED lights I put on the front of my Maddog 150.



I am working on a couple possibilities using either a PWM controller or a 100W 10 Ohm resistor to allow me to have low beam and high beam settings for the LEDs powered via the stock headlight switch.

Are those lights directional like headlights are, or do they throw light everywhere?

AspenCafeRider wrote:I run this monstrosity. LED, switch above glovebox, wired in to a relay and powered off a splitter on the horn. Doesn't seem to tax the charging system or battery and it's crazy bright.

That's awesome. I'm digging the asymmetric look. Very cool. Thanks for posting.

It pretty much throws a whole lot of light everywhere. Not terribly focused but there's plenty of it...

I dig the asymmetric look, came about because one of the plugs for the rack was popped out when I got the bike. Didn't want a rack and I didn't want to get new bodywork. The mount is bolted to the threaded rack mount and there's a 1" standoff to clear the bodywork.

The two most common types of LED work lights are the "flood" beam, which has a 60 degree spread and the "spot" beam, which has a 30 degree spread.

The spot light version will create far less beam over-spill and glare for oncoming traffic, but is still not legal for highway use. I am currently using a pair of the spot 18W 4.2" beam lights as daytime running lights on my Maddog 150 until I can find a pair of Ruckus headlights that I can swap in.

The stock headlights that came with the Maddog were dimmer than the flashlight on my cellphone from 10' away.

Since the Buddy doesn't use it's lower turn signals I decided to install some left over LED's from my Stella LED conversion. So I converted the unused turn signals into "fog lights". I'll install a switch so I can turn them off and on.

misplacedyank wrote:Since the Buddy doesn't use it's lower turn signals I decided to install some left over LED's from my Stella LED conversion. So I converted the unused turn signals into "fog lights". I'll install a switch so I can turn them off and on.

No need to install a switch. Those LEDs draw such little power, just wire them so they come on when you turn on the ignition.

See the post right above yours and click on his "scooter accessories" link!

misplacedyank wrote:Since the Buddy doesn't use it's lower turn signals I decided to install some left over LED's from my Stella LED conversion. So I converted the unused turn signals into "fog lights". I'll install a switch so I can turn them off and on.

Wow! That's a cool setup. The response to this whole thread has been a great stuff. Thanks so much, everybody!

george54 wrote:No need to install a switch. Those LEDs draw such little power, just wire them so they come on when you turn on the ignition

I would install the switch so that some fine upstanding officer of the law can't saw I am blinding someone and can't turn off the lights.

misplacedyank wrote:Since the Buddy doesn't use it's lower turn signals I decided to install some left over LED's from my Stella LED conversion. So I converted the unused turn signals into "fog lights". I'll install a switch so I can turn them off and on.

What LED's/resistors did you use?

misplacedyank wrote:

george54 wrote:No need to install a switch. Those LEDs draw such little power, just wire them so they come on when you turn on the ignition

I would install the switch so that some fine upstanding officer of the law can't saw I am blinding someone and can't turn off the lights.

Unlikely. They're not that bright.

k1dude wrote:What LED's/resistors did you use?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301028612372?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT
but any lamps like this will work.

As for not needed, many things I do to my scooters aren't needed but I just like to "make it mine".

k1dude wrote:What LED's/resistors did you use?

Sorry I got distracted on my previous post but there are no need for resistors when using LED's a lights. The resistors are only needed if using them as turn signals with a flasher that is made for regular (incandescent) lighting.[/quote]

I used ThatVWBusGuy's wiring kit (no cutting or splicing) and these 1156-base LEDs from SuperBrightLEDs.com (they're in St. Louis and have a same-day pickup window): https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... ifications

PeteH wrote:I used ThatVWBusGuy's wiring kit (no cutting or splicing) and these 1156-base LEDs from SuperBrightLEDs.com (they're in St. Louis and have a same-day pickup window): https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... ifications

Ouch! $15 each vs the ebay ones for $2 each!

I was looking for one with a nice, high lumen rating. The other thing to check is what maximum DC voltage can they handle? Early adopters of the VooDoo kits reported problems with certain LED modules that, as it turned out, didn't accept more than about 14 volts. There were some troubles with the EagleEye family, if I remember correctly. While this might be fine on some vehicles, some scooter charging systems sometimes threw out a bit more, depending on the wiring and condition of the regulator.

The ones from SuperBright are indeed more expensive, but their specs are well-published on the site, and they can accept up to 30VDC. Hopefully I won't have to replace them! If the eBay modules work well, please post a note to that effect so that the community can find 'em.

I have heard lots of reports of cheap 1156 LED bulbs purchased from eBay and Amazon etc. burning out quickly and several horror stories of overheating LED bulbs warping lenses and in one case, a complete melt-down of the plastic deadlight socket.

I trust the stuff that comes from www.superbrightleds.com and that is what I personally use. I have absolutely no affiliation with superbrightleds.com aside from being a happy customer.

I still prefer the white 3W LED w/ Reflector Lens from SBLEDs as the best bulb for the deadlight to running light conversion: https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... -rvb/2364/

In the long run, the extra cost up front seems like a small price to pay for better visibility, less glare for oncoming traffic and reduced need to try to get into the fragile lenses of the deadlights any more than absolutely necessary.