bet and win 250 dashboard backlight

[Rudolf]

You're welcome! You should have connected the + wire (red) of the inverter to the solid brown wire of the dashboard witch you cut away from the PCB of the dashboard, and the - wire (black) of the inverter soldered to the green-black wire of the dashboard without cutting-it, so the inverter would power on as long as the headlights are on.

[mrbios]

You're welcome! You should have connected the + wire (red) of the inverter to the solid brown wire of the dashboard ...

I did it a little differently.  I located the aftermarket inverter outside of the speedometer / EL panel enclouse to make it easier to inspect or test and replace if necessary.  I am probably going to add a voltage regulator to reduce the brightness by turning down the input voltage to ~ 12.0v from the 14v that the Kymco idles at.  See attached picture.

Rudolf - do you still have a scooter?

[Rudolf]

Great work! No, i don't have a scooter anymore. It was destroyed in a head-on crash with a left turning van on the 2nd of june 2015 and dismantled it. All i have is spare parts right now. (engine, tires, wheels, tail light, wiring, buttons, brake system, signal light, screws, nuts and bolts) Everything else was scrapped. I also had both my legs fractured (femurs and tibias) in that crash, and i have metallic implants (screws, intramedullary nails, plate, and hip bolt after 4 surgeries). I've recovered nicely since than and now i have a HONDA XL650V TRANSALP motorcycle. 

This is my bike now:

[mrbios]

Great work! No, i don't have a scooter anymore. It was destroyed in a head-on crash with a left turning van on the 2nd of june 2015... now i have a HONDA XL650V TRANSALP motorcycle. 

Oh yes I remember that terrible crash.  I had a bike similar to yours many years ago I bought a 1994 Honda XR650L and a year later sold it and got a 1994 XR250L because it was lighter off road in the trails.  The 650 is a super tall bike!  I ride friends motorcycles now and Zen and I miss the gears and shifting but for daily driving I love automatic.  My GV250 is about to turn 20K miles... 32K km.  Good to hear you are up and about.  I remember getting a broken leg from an MC accident where a person pulled out in front of me from a stop sign.  Got a broken leg, then didn't ride for about 6 years then got a 1990 KDX 200 two stroke and started riding off road with a friend.  Then got the 650, then 250 XL enduros which returned me to street riding. 

So how did you move from recovering in the hospital to riding again on the XL?  Good to hear from you. 

[Rudolf]

To be more specific of the dashboard backlight fix, that i've applied to my former KYMCO GRAND DINK 250 (a.k.a. GRANDVISTA 250):

[Rudolf]

The finished dashboard of my former KYMCO GRAND DINK 250 (a.k.a. GRANDVISTA 250):

[NigelB]

Hey Rudolf / MrBios, thanks for all that good info you posted about this fix. I ordered a few of those EL inverters from ebay, really cheap at about $2 each, and they work perfectly! A few years ago I had originally ripped out the centre foil on the dash (there are 3 foils on the B&W dash) and installed 2 brite LED's 'cos I had no idea what the problem was and needed to see the speedo at night. Anyhow, I thought it would be cool to see the remaining parts of the dash lit up again, so I removed the existing inverter from the circuit board and ran the wires thru the main wire cork stopper. Installed the new inverter out the back of the casing and that dash is now super sweet! Cheers