trunk signals and brake lights

castleton · Post by **castleton** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:59 pm

I bought the following small trunk, and it has space for turn signals and brake lights, as well as a top brake light. I'd like to wire it myself, but not sure where to start. I need lights, settings, wire, but not sure if all that's available at an auto supply place. If I clip it into the current signal/brake wires, will that overload the battery? I could clip in a little fuse, I guess.

Thanks in advance for any & all advice/info!!

ScooterMonkey · Post by **ScooterMonkey** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:50 pm

I don't know what kind of top case that is, but if it's got space for a brake light(not just a reflector) then the manufacturer should sell a kit to go w/ it.
As to how, it's rather easy. I connected my Givi case following these directions from BuddyRaton(about 1/2way down the page) viewtopic.php?t=469&highlight=brake+lights

castleton · Post by **castleton** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:55 pm

Nope, no kit. This is an ebay item, no brand name. But I'm hoping it will be easy enough to gather the parts and come up with my own "installation kit"??? Maybe I'm dreaming...

ScooterMonkey · Post by **ScooterMonkey** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:00 pm

I'll bet it can be done w/o too much trouble.

Post by **ericalm** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:05 pm

castleton wrote:Nope, no kit. This is an ebay item, no brand name. But I'm hoping it will be easy enough to gather the parts and come up with my own "installation kit"??? Maybe I'm dreaming...

You may be dreaming. Though you could wire it, no problem, the real problem with this is fitting lights to the spaces on the case you bought.

But there is another solution: drilling and mounting different lights to the top case. This has been done on quite a few Vespas. Jess posted this tutorial on ModernVespa which could easily be adapted to the Buddy.

castleton · Post by **castleton** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:53 pm

Thanks, Eric--I may end up doing that, and the link is excellent!

What I had in mind, however, was placing small bulbs and/or LEDs behind the plastic (there is room for a regular sized turn signal bulb, I'll post photos later). But I don't want to spend a hunk of change on LEDs, which seem very expensive (according to preliminary searches).

Anyone know of a good on-line store that has such stuff?

And anyone know whether this will overload the battery?

Thanks again.

vitaminC · Post by **vitaminC** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:58 pm

castleton wrote:But I don't want to spend a hunk of change on LEDs, which seem very expensive (according to preliminary searches).

Anyone know of a good on-line store that has such stuff?

And anyone know whether this will overload the battery?

Not sure what you consider expensive, but have you checked out Custom Dynamics? Particularly their flexible LEDs?

A few extra LED's should not have much impact on the charging system, especially if they're only on with the brake lights. But even a few running lights would only draw a few watts.

castleton · Post by **castleton** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:04 pm

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. I'm thinking of splicing them into the existing brake light/signal lights. Is that an ok way of doing this?

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:12 pm

castleton wrote:What I had in mind, however, was placing small bulbs and/or LEDs behind the plastic (there is room for a regular sized turn signal bulb, I'll post photos later). But I don't want to spend a hunk of change on LEDs, which seem very expensive (according to preliminary searches).

This has been done on some scoots. I have seen it on Vespa top cases (check out this MV thread, image about halfway down). For mounting LEDs inside the lenses, you'll need something like these:

Available here:
http://superbrightleds.com/other_bulbs.htm
Fairly cheap depending on size. You may have to drill to add space behind the lenses, though, for wiring and so on.

LEDs are a little more complex than other lights from what I understand, because they need a controller. So I don't think simple splicing will do the trick. But that's way beyond my sphere...

castleton · Post by **castleton** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:18 pm

Eric, you're the best--thanks for these responses.

Now, does anyone know what Eric means by "needing a controller"??

vitaminC · Post by **vitaminC** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:42 pm

castleton wrote:That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. I'm thinking of splicing them into the existing brake light/signal lights. Is that an ok way of doing this?

For these particular lights, I think you'll be fine just tapping into the existing wires.

Read this

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:17 pm

There's a guy over on ModernVespa who seems to be the King of Custom LED Mods. Check out his topcase and other work here. Reallly not quite my style but you have to admire his skill and, to some degree, audacity. And his willingness to totally mod-out a $6,000 scoot. Woo.

castleton · Post by **castleton** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:04 pm

Thanks, VitaminC, for the excellent links. Here are some pix so you can get a better idea of what I'm aiming for.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pcaehill2 ... FBJW7L1kvG

(not sure if that link will work, so let me know)

castleton · Post by **castleton** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:29 pm

I just bought some led flexible strips, red and amber. I'll post pictures of the lights when they're installed!

This board is fabulous. I've made several mods/additions to my buddy just thru reading threads here--brake light modulator, front turn signals connected to oem signals, front/rear accessory racks, windscreen. It's all good, and the ride just gets better & better!

Thanks again to all!

vitaminC · Post by **vitaminC** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:27 am

castleton wrote:I just bought some led flexible strips, red and amber. I'll post pictures of the lights when they're installed!

Excellent! I look forward to seeing how they turn out! Hopefully next month I will have some free time to think about making some changes to my scoot, as it is fun to do a bit of customization.

Elm Creek Smith · Post by **Elm Creek Smith** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:57 am

castleton wrote: I've made several mods/additions to my buddy just thru reading threads here--..., front turn signals connected to oem signals,...

That's what I want to do! You have pictures of the work?

ECS

Post by **ericalm** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:35 am

Elm Creek Smith wrote:
castleton wrote: I've made several mods/additions to my buddy just thru reading threads here--..., front turn signals connected to oem signals,...
That's what I want to do! You have pictures of the work?

ECS

There are step-by-step instructions with pics here.