Modern Buddy

I've made the two into one mod on the turn signals, but now I wanna take it a step further. Has anyone looked into doing anything with the headlight switch on the right hand side that does nothing?

I'm not sure if I wanna add more lighting via fog, headlights, or maybe some cool ass running lights along the bottom trucker style. Either way, I'm certain I should connect it so that this switch is the on/off. So, I'm calling out to y'all to see if anyone has tinkered with this yet and can give my Noob butt a learning curve headstart.

Also, I'm going to paint my wheels. Anyone have great tips on how to do this the safest and most efficient way?


Thanks,
Brian

I don't really think the flush signals are visible to cars, but it could be a nice mod to hook up the switch to those, and make them running-lights. Maybe only for then it's dark even. Switch out the orange bulbs and/or lenses and it should make the bike much more visible.

While on ebay looking for replacement mirrors, I saw a set that had turnsignals built into them. Seems like a good way to have visible turnsignals and still be able to get rid of the ugly stockers...

Use the switch for some sweet street-glo

*BUMP*

Just trying to push this back towards the top........I know several have messed with the electrical.......anyone trace where the dummy switch leads to if it is even wired at all?

According to the wire diagram it is the on/off switch for the headlights.
They must have by-passed the switch and wired the headlamps on all the time – the diagram does not show the by-pass. So for all intense and purpose the switch is open to use for anything but you need to know what you are turning off and on.

I messed around with the wires for a while yesterday to no avail. I took the top cover off of the handle bars and tried to follow the wires (be careful with the front part- there are two posts next to the clips that are easy to break, and you will have to disconnect the speedometer cable and unscrew the top of the headlight casing). The switch is connected but the wires disappear into piles of electrical tape and seem to change colors after connecting to something. There is a yellow and black-stripe wire disconnected beneath the front cover next to a connected blue one going to a ground. I switched them but nothing happened. The wiring diagram in the service manual is very hard to make out, and even if I could it wouldn't mean much to me. My guess is the switch is by-passed where the headlight would route through it, so whatever you did hook up would need a power source. I would be happy to just reconnect it to the headlight so everything works if anyone can figure this one out. It may require separating the wires in the handle bar area in order to find the loose connections.

I know some people have installed extra switches on their Vespas (esp. ETs) for headlight modulators, sound systems (nowhere to really put one on the gloveboxless Buddy, though), and other accessories. Check out this post on ModernVespa for some inspiration.

There's also this turn signal minder/running light kit which can be switch operated.

James Tate wrote:and you will have to disconnect the speedometer cable and unscrew the top of the headlight casing).

Is there any trick to disconnecting the speedometer?

I don't know if this is the correct way to do it, but I unscrewed the brass connection from the cable to the (front tire) hub with channel-lock pliers and the cable came loose. It leaves a greasy cable exposed that you would have to pull through the headset to take off; I just left in hanging. It seems like unscrewing the cable at the speedometer itself would be a lot easier, but it looked hard to access without the cable disconnected so I didn't try.

Use it for a garage door opener.

I figured out how to reconnect the dummy switch; to do so you need to remover the handle bar cover. Once inside, you will see the wires coming from the switch going into a harness, connected to another harness, and then connected to a third harness (=}{=}{=). You need to remove the "middle man" harness and connect the harness from the switch to the one dropping down into the body (=}{=). The switch will then turn the lights on and off, and everything else on the bike appears to work fine. This should at least put you one step closer to doing something useful with the switch.
DISCLAIMER - That said, I have only just figured this out and have yet to do a thorough test to make sure everything works ok. The only reasons to do this are to overcome an aversion to non-functional switches, to increase your chances of getting hit by a car, or to run a stealth mission against someone who can't hear. Data, and the law, are both behind riding with your lights on all the time.

Thanks so much........I wouldn't recommend anyone riding with switch connected to the headlight as it's accidently get turned off from time to time and that'd be helladangerous.

I am--however--interested in using the switch to control an iPod or running lights, etc.

Thanks for the descriptive diagram.

KD, if you figure that schnat out, in terms of controling added lights or something, let me know... i am planning on adding som green led's for running lights, and it would be super nice to control them with that switch...

I'm so busy right now, I'm just trying to get a long laundry list of mods so that I can take my Buddy out of commission this Winter and takle them all at once. It'll be like the catapiller that goes into a cocoon and comes out a butterfly..........except my Buddy won't be all prissy like a butterfly.

So, I may not even get to that until December.

Correction to kill switch connection instructions. From talking to Seth at Metro Scooter, it does not appear necessary to switch ground wires in the front of the machine. After testing the two wires, the blue one sparks and the yellow-black one does not. Still not sure what the blue one does, and I have been running with it disconnected for a month, but it appears to have juice flowing to it while its neighbor does not. I have edited out the ground-switch in the instructions above.

Seth told me he configured his headlight so he could go into stealth mode. I am not sure what he's doing exactly that requires that, but sometimes it's better not to ask.

I am interested in some rewiring on my Buddy, but for me it is all about making myself more visible, not less.

scarabmonkey wrote:Use the switch for some sweet street-glo

Seriously, this is a good idea! One right under the foot rest. Depends on how big those lights are. You could always click them on and off manually for night riding.

GalacticFattPatt wrote:

scarabmonkey wrote:Use the switch for some sweet street-glo

Seriously, this is a good idea! One right under the foot rest. Depends on how big those lights are. You could always click them on and off manually for night riding.

Don't know how it is for bikes, but these things are banned (for cars) in some states. I have noticed that LAPD bikes have a lot of extra blue LED running lights on the sides and top cases.

Check these out.

I like those. Two 1.5inch strips or one 3 inch stripe.
But how would i hook them up. That is the scary part for me.

You know, it might just be easier to use a foot mounted switch for extra lights. If you want to ensure that5 you don't drain the battery, you might want to pull power from the headlight.