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08 Jun 2013:
It's time to improve the lighting on and visibility of the scooter.
I ordered the following items:
1) W5W 501 T10 5W 5 WATT CREE LED Wedge Car Light Bulbs - Xenon White
I ordered two of these. They're very bright. They'll go into the front headlight housing in place of the two positional lamps, which also draw 5 watts. So the net load on the electrical system won't change, but the light being thrown foward will increase.
2) Kisan Tech P75W PathBlazer Headlight Modulator
This is a device to modulate the headlight high beam (ie: make it flash) during the day, then allow full brightness during night riding. I have to cut one wire to install it. The flashing will lower electrical system load a bit, but not much. This is more for increasing awareness of surrounding drivers that I'm there.
3) Kisan Tech T50W TailBlazer brake light flasher
This is a device to flash the brake light when the brakes are first applied. I have to cut one wire to install it.
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14 Jun 2013:
My 37th fuel up. I filled up with 87 AKI octane fuel.
Mileage: 5427.7 miles
Miles Ridden: 170.3 miles
Fuel: 2.466 gallons
Price/Gal: $3.859
Total Cost: $9.52
Fuel Mileage: 69.06 MPG
As I was doing my pre-ride inspection prior to leaving work, I found that the high beam on the headlight had burned out (I always ride with the high beam on during the day, so it gets the majority of the use). So I went to Kragen and bought a Sylvania (Osram) Silverstar Ultra (part number 9003/HB2 H4 SU). This is an ultra-bright headlight that is an H2 bulb that is compatible with our H4 headlight system.
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15 Jun 2013:
I performed the 5400 mile maintenance item today, inspecting the brake system. Since others were discussing new brake pads here:
http://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=9154.0I believe I'll order a set soon and replace them when the next brake shoes maintenance item rolls around, at 6000 miles. The brake pads that are on there still look barely used because my riding style tends to be easy on the brakes, but just to be on the safe side.
I installed the new headlight, but had a bit of trouble figuring out how the little spring clip that holds the bulb goes back on, along with the little bronzed-color flat piece of metal that holds the spring clip. I'd have taken a picture before disassembling it, as a reference, but my wife took all the digital cameras with her to Taiwan. I finally figured it out, though.
I also installed the Kisan Tech P75W PathBlazer Headlight Modulator. I had to cut the blue headlight wire to wire it into the circuit, which I did upstream of the plug, so that I didn't have to worry about unplugging the light sensor cable every time I took the front Tupperware off the bike. I stripped back some of the electrical tape that was on the wires from the factory, then cut the blue wire and took out a section of it about an inch long. I stripped the two ends of the blue wire back about a quarter inch, and tried to put the crimp connectors that Kisan had included onto the wires... they were much too small a diameter to take the wire. So, off to Kragen I went to get new crimp connectors and some electrical tape. After installing the new crimp connectors (which were just a tiny bit wider than the ones Kisan provided, but I squeezed them down in width a bit), I found there was the potential for them to touch the aluminum housing of the flasher unit, thereby creating a circuit that would bypass the flasher, leaving me with a high beam that was always on, rather than flashing when it was supposed to. So, I slid the aluminum housing off the PathBlazer and filed down the ends so the housing was just a bit shorter.
The way it's now assembled, the blue wire provides a bit of a 'push' on the crimp connectors (because it's just a tiny bit longer now than the other wires in the bundle), keeping them firmly in place on the connection lugs of the PathBlazer, so the connections can't wiggle loose over time. I wrapped it all up with electrical tape, leaving the aluminum housing exposed, as I'm assuming it's a heat sink for the electronics inside.
For the light sensor that signals the PathBlazer when to flash the headlight, I drilled a hole in the dashboard on the left side (as you're on the bike, looking forward), on the far outer edge, just next to the Tupperware, and approximately on the same level as the bottom of the instrument cluster. There was an empty area behind that section of dashboard such that I could easily bundle up the extra-long sensor wire there without it getting in the way of anything else, and the headlight connector is on that side anyway. I started with an undersized drill bit, and did a lot of test fitting, drilling out just a tiny bit each time, until the sensor fit in the hole perfectly. The sensor head has threads on it, with a nut on the back, so it's screwed to the dashboard securely now.
I have a drop-light in the garage and I first attempted to test it (because I wanted to be sure it all worked before I put all the Tupperware back) by hooking up my multimeter to the headlight connector without the headlight connected, and shining the drop-light on the sensor, but the drop-light was CFL (flourescent), and wouldn't trigger the flashing, so I went upstairs and pilfered an incandescent bulb from the hallway light (it needed to be replaced with a flourescent anyway, so two birds, one stone) and put that into the drop-light and tried to retest... still no flashing, at least my digital meter wasn't registering any... now I was getting worried. As a last resort, I hooked up the headlight and tested again... it worked, much to my relief. Apparently, either my digital meter wasn't registering the voltage fluctuations, or the Pathblazer needs a load to make the light modulate.
Tomorrow I'll install the TailBlazer brake light flasher, which should be easier than the PathBlazer installation.
Soon, I hope to receive the LEDs in the mail, and that'll necessitate me taking off the front Tupperware again, but at least I got the PathBlazer headlight flasher working for now.
Next maintenance item (at 5500 miles):
Replace air filter
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16 Jun 2013:
I installed the TailBlazer brake light flasher today, and I've got to say, it was *more* difficult than installing the PathBlazer, not because of the TailBlazer itself, but getting the bike apart was almost impossible, since I'd never done it before. In the manual, it says that you can take off four screws and the tail light cover will come off... it doesn't. Come to find out that the Tupperware is in the way a bit, and the gasket around the tail light cover sticks to the tail light cover, making it necessary to take ALL the rear Tupperware off, taking the entire tail light assembly out of the Tupperware, and carefully prying the tail light cover out of the tail light assembly. Even doing all this, I managed to crack the tail light cover, so I have to order another one. When I install the new tail light cover, I'm going to put a bit of white grease on the gasket that keeps water out of the tail light assembly, to prevent it from sticking to the tail light cover, and to lubricate it a bit so it slides out easier next time I need to change the brake light or blinker lights. The tail light cover is supposed to slide straight back to remove it, after removing the four screws.
I got all the screws out, and tried to take the Tupperware off, but it just wouldn't come, until I got mad and jerked it violently from the rear of the bike... and accidentally found the trick to getting it off easily, which I'll talk about soon.
Ok, first you've got to take out the Met-In box, the cover at the front of the seat under the Met-In box, unscrew the two side panel screws (above the passenger footpegs), unscrew the tail light cover screws, take off the backrest and luggage rack, then take off the rear fender (where the license plate is).
Once you've got all that loosened, pull out on the plastic clips on the sides of the body (the sections right below the seat, and above the black parts, on the side of the bike) to free the side Tupperware from the black plastic below it, then go to the rear of the bike, put your hand up inside the plastic, and pull straight back to get it off the two little bolt hole studs there. There's actually two pieces together on those two bolt hole studs... the outer Tupperware, and a silver looking piece of plastic. You need to pull to get both of those free. Once those are free, the entire thing will lift back and up (slide it back a bit, then lift it up off the place where the seat backrest bolts to), and the whole thing (the side Tupperware and the rear Tupperware and the tail light assembly) will lift right off. Before you pull it all the way off, reach in and unplug the tail light assembly wires.
Whew! It was a lot of work the first time. The second time (because I accidentally put the outer Tupperware inside the black plastic part on the right side when putting it together the first time, so I had to take it apart again to fix that) the Tupperware came right off no problem... that one little trick of pulling straight back on the Tupperware at the rear of the bike to get it off those two bolt hole studs that the rear fender bolts to was what did it.
Anyway, I did much the same as I did for the PathBlazer... I cut the wire back a bit, making it so the brake light wire was just a bit longer than the other wires in the bundle so it was always pushing the crimp connectors onto the TailBlazer connection lugs, so they couldn't wiggle loose, then taped it all up, leaving the aluminum housing untaped.
Putting it all back together was *much* easier... it took a few hours to get it apart the first time, only about half an hour to get it all back together.
So now the PathBlazer is installed, and the TailBlazer is installed. The next step is putting in the two LEDs that I ordered for the "daytime running lights" on each side of the headlight. I hope to get them in the mail soon.
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22 Jun 2013:
Today I installed the two LED lights I'd ordered:
W5W 501 T10 5W 5 WATT CREE LED Wedge Car Light Bulbs - Xenon White
I installed the LEDs in the positional lights (ie: the "daytime running lights", those lights on each side of the headlight).
All I can say is "Wow". They're amazingly bright with a very white temperature color, the light is well-directed toward the middle of the road ahead of the bike, and they make the bike much brighter and more conspicuous when viewed from the front.
The headlight is a 4000K temperature color Sylvania (Osram) SilverStar Ultra, so these LEDs are probably 5000K or 6000K.
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