Adding a stereo (or other electrical accessories)
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:44 am
150 miles on my new ride, and I've been itching to catch some tunes the whole way.
The chrome bullet-style motorcycle speakers/amp kits kind of make me drool, but I'm afraid of tinkering with the electrical system and voiding the warranty on my brand new scooter... or worse. Anyway, this is just me thinking aloud trying to brainstorm ideas of what I could do instead.
And no, I don't think the in-helmet things or earbuds are right for me. I'm not going to be satisfied until I'm blasting Painkiller at a stop light, having some good obnoxious fun. I may even go to hell for it. Cool!
Unfortunately I didn't find a ton of information on scooter audio systems around the forum. While I did see a couple examples of people using full-fledged stereo systems without a problem, I also found a couple posts which seemed to indicate that the official word from Genuine is that the Buddy's electrical system will not support even a 50W amp.
Trying to make do with what I've got, I tried dumping a little battery-powered bluetooth speaker into the front bin. The one I've got is just a little 2W thing. Indoors it's pretty loud for what it is, but once I take it out and start the scoot I can barely hear it over the engine idle. Plus, it just sounds bad anyway rolling around in the bin like that. I think I'm not going to be satisfied without something a little more legit.
So I got to thinking... the 2019 Buddy has a 5V USB charger, what can I do with that? And I found this little thing -- a battery powered 50W stereo amplifier. Cool! I can just leave it plugged into the charger.
https://www.amazon.com/ONEU-Bluetooth-A ... B07DCPNFVY
While the brand looks a little sketchy (is that Comic Sans etched into the plastic casing?? ) it does appear to be one of a kind. Seems like a gamble, at $60+. If it worked out, though, I'd be halfway there, just need to add some speakers!
Another thing I looked at was jump starter batteries, and aftermarket motorcycle batteries. What if I just installed a regular motorcycle stereo system, but on an isolated circuit with an auxilliary battery? Maybe sneaking in a SPDT relay to keep the amp powered off with the scooter ignition? Apparently, you can actually get Li-Ion motorcycle batteries, which I suppose would stand up better to the charge/discharge cycles it would be subjected to with this kind of use. I'd have to hook it up to a separate Li-Ion battery tender between rides. But the advantage is I wouldn't have to limit myself to a low-wattage sound system.
Just throwing around ideas, which are maybe fundamentally bad, because I only know enough to be dangerous, and not one bit more.
The chrome bullet-style motorcycle speakers/amp kits kind of make me drool, but I'm afraid of tinkering with the electrical system and voiding the warranty on my brand new scooter... or worse. Anyway, this is just me thinking aloud trying to brainstorm ideas of what I could do instead.
And no, I don't think the in-helmet things or earbuds are right for me. I'm not going to be satisfied until I'm blasting Painkiller at a stop light, having some good obnoxious fun. I may even go to hell for it. Cool!
Unfortunately I didn't find a ton of information on scooter audio systems around the forum. While I did see a couple examples of people using full-fledged stereo systems without a problem, I also found a couple posts which seemed to indicate that the official word from Genuine is that the Buddy's electrical system will not support even a 50W amp.
Trying to make do with what I've got, I tried dumping a little battery-powered bluetooth speaker into the front bin. The one I've got is just a little 2W thing. Indoors it's pretty loud for what it is, but once I take it out and start the scoot I can barely hear it over the engine idle. Plus, it just sounds bad anyway rolling around in the bin like that. I think I'm not going to be satisfied without something a little more legit.
So I got to thinking... the 2019 Buddy has a 5V USB charger, what can I do with that? And I found this little thing -- a battery powered 50W stereo amplifier. Cool! I can just leave it plugged into the charger.
https://www.amazon.com/ONEU-Bluetooth-A ... B07DCPNFVY
While the brand looks a little sketchy (is that Comic Sans etched into the plastic casing?? ) it does appear to be one of a kind. Seems like a gamble, at $60+. If it worked out, though, I'd be halfway there, just need to add some speakers!
Another thing I looked at was jump starter batteries, and aftermarket motorcycle batteries. What if I just installed a regular motorcycle stereo system, but on an isolated circuit with an auxilliary battery? Maybe sneaking in a SPDT relay to keep the amp powered off with the scooter ignition? Apparently, you can actually get Li-Ion motorcycle batteries, which I suppose would stand up better to the charge/discharge cycles it would be subjected to with this kind of use. I'd have to hook it up to a separate Li-Ion battery tender between rides. But the advantage is I wouldn't have to limit myself to a low-wattage sound system.
Just throwing around ideas, which are maybe fundamentally bad, because I only know enough to be dangerous, and not one bit more.