BOB Deadlight Conversion On 170i’s

[MYSCTR]

We first posted this to see what other riders had experienced with the 170i Buddy's.

Since posting this we have converted all three of our 2014 Buddy 170's to LED lights all around with a whiter brighter headlamp with no electrical issues and we have not used a trickle charger on any scooter since before April of this year. Skip to the later posts for more current info.

The first two originally had the deadlights hooked up both as running lights and blinkers with stock bulbs.

[skipper20]

These are the deadlights hooked up both as running lights and blinkers.

For those who have these hooked up – are you having to charge your battery on a regular basis or how frequently do you charge your battery? Does this over drain your battery with the fuel injection during normal driving?

We have two sets and two new 170i's that we want to put them on.

Please post your results.

Thanks!

I have the BOB (Best of Both) on my '12 170i. I did the conversion in early 2013. The only problem I've experienced is the amber LEDs that I installed in place of the regular bulbs have had several elements burn out. I got them at Auto Zone for about $12.00 each. When the majority of elements go I'll just replace them.

Bill in Seattle
'09 150 Blackjack
'12 170i Italia

[MYSCTR]

Skipper - thanks for the reply - yet you have had no issues with the battery or starting? The battery is still getting a good charge from normal riding? i.e. meaning you don't get stranded with a dead battery (since we can't kick start if the battery was to weak). Thanks!

[TVB]

In case you don't know: running the deadlights as running lights requires replacing the bulbs with LEDs to prevent draining the battery.

[MYSCTR]

In case you don't know: running the deadlights as running lights requires replacing the bulbs with LEDs to prevent draining the battery.

… on a 170?

We have ran three scoots like this over the past four years and never changed a bulb with no problems.

We would love to switch to all LED's some day yet on the 125 and 150 it was never a problem. My wife is over 14,ooo miles with this set up on her 09 and still has the same battery I put in it when brand new (replaced factory battery). It was the first mod we did when we got it home, the second was hooking up the BOB adapter.

[skipper20]

Skipper - thanks for the reply - yet you have had no issues with the battery or starting? The battery is still getting a good charge from normal riding? i.e. meaning you don't get stranded with a dead battery (since we can't kick start if the battery was to weak). Thanks!

No battery problems whatsoever although when I'm not using the scoot on a regular basis I do keep the battery hooked up to a battery tender.

Bill in Seattle
'09 150 Blackjack
'12 170i Italia

[MYSCTR]

Awesome - both girls do that so we should be ok. Got her connected and everything is working great.

[MYSCTR]

We have two 2014 Buddy 170i's and was warned the fuel injection may (or did on older 170 models) cause battery failure if you added anything to the load.

So we just rolled over 2,000 miles including the Scooting the Ozarks back in September and we have not had to use the charger once to keep the battery strong on our 170i. We installed the BOB at 500 miles, already having installed the back off brake module when new.

It starts every time including longer rides like the 150 plus mile out and back on AR-23 between Eureka Springs and Ozark that Saturday afternoon (with a few stops). The other test was at the other extreme - riding very short distances or rides with several stops. No rides of any distance have caused a problem for the battery or the starter and that was our concern with the new 170's as it does not have a 'back up' for starting should the battery go dead or get really weak.

So if you have or want a new Buddy 170 and want to hook up the BOB AND the back off brakes - they do NOT drain the battery at least not in our testing. I believe our longest single non-stop ride at speed was about 65 miles.

[MYSCTR]

Just a quick update on the older BOB light adapter that was sold here some time ago by Lil Buddy that were added to two 2014 170i Buddy scooters a year ago.

We tested both 170i scooters with the BOB added to factory bulbs (without switching to any LED's) and they both held their battery charge fine with just normal riding. I have never hooked up the trickle charger to mine just to see if it would stay charged on its own and it has.

In the past 12 months since purchased, mine has 5,600 miles on it and our daughter has 2,400 miles on hers.

Since then we have added a third 2014 170i and converted all three to LED lights in a different configuration with new relay's and harnesses from thatvwguy. Switching the factory 'dead lights' to white running lights makes an awesome presence to night riding for both oncoming traffic and the rider.

We will post the BOB light harnesses for sale for anyone who is wanting to add lights for safety at a very low cost without going to the expense of full blown LED's.