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Post by 2TDave on Apr 19, 2014 18:16:22 GMT -5
So upon my return home I found that I have a burnt out head light bulb. The light and housing is from a Triton GT5 and from what I can tell it's a 12v 18w/18w p15d-25-1 base, halogen. I've seen replacements at parts for scooters and they also have a 35 watt. My question is are there other options. The other bulbs I see are 3 prong with male connectors while mine is the old style similar to 1157 tail lights with 2 contact buttons. I've seen some of Brent's post trying out different bulbs but mine has this funky base and connector attached to the wiring. Any thoughts ? Btw this thing was easy enough to get out but I can see I'll be removing the front fairing to put it back together. UGH!
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Post by 90GTVert on Apr 19, 2014 18:27:08 GMT -5
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Post by 2TDave on Apr 19, 2014 18:56:47 GMT -5
Yeah my first one did but when I ordered the newer GT5 light and fairing(dual cat eye looking)it has the base with a ring in the middle.
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Post by 2TDave on Apr 19, 2014 18:57:35 GMT -5
Maybe it's more alien eye looking.
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Post by 90GTVert on Apr 20, 2014 6:27:38 GMT -5
Ah, I thought they were all the big single.
I know you said you've seen them, but PFS has the 18W (138-32), 35W (138-28), and 35W halogen (138-109). For $6 each for halogen, they may be a good upgrade vs 18W without going through any conversion stuff. If both lights are on at one time 2 35W will probably be the max it can handle anyway.
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Post by 2TDave on Apr 20, 2014 6:46:19 GMT -5
Yeah, Thanks Brent. I'm going to do the 35 watt. I was wondering what the difference was between the $4 and $6 bulbs were. I missed the halogen on the $6. So I'll do that. Don't really feel like getting crazy with that just yet. I have some other stuff in mind.
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Post by FrankenMech on Apr 20, 2014 11:01:07 GMT -5
Those 18W/18W bulbs are a dual filament HIGH/LOW bulb. The beam pattern is different even though the 18W filaments are both the same because of that little reflector inside the bulb. A standard single filament bulb will not work without rewiring etc.
I could not get the search to work at parts for scooters so I could not find the bulbs mentioned above.
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Post by 2TDave on Apr 20, 2014 15:00:19 GMT -5
They are dual 35/35. Went ahead and ordered them and pulled the front fairing.
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Post by AlexF2294 on Apr 20, 2014 20:07:55 GMT -5
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Post by FrankenMech on Apr 20, 2014 22:59:14 GMT -5
My scoot seems to handle two 27W LED bulbs and a pair of 5W?ea LED marker lights all ON at the same time. According to my little plug-in charging system tester it is charging OK running and at idle.
I am getting a burning electrical smell but I think that is coming from the muffler bandage tape I wrapped around my booger welded exhaust pipe. I have checked my wiring and connectors for hot spots etc. The smell started right after I wrapped the tape covering.
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Post by 90GTVert on Apr 21, 2014 8:34:23 GMT -5
Unless the scoot is all DC or you've got the LEDs wired to the battery it should charge fine with whatever headlights you use. The headlights will just dim or flicker if there's not enough juice for them wired as most are stock. My grip heaters are roughly 30W max and that's too much for the DC side of my TaoTao. It'll run down from normally 15-18V at high cruise RPM to just 11V or so with the heaters on max.
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Post by FrankenMech on Apr 21, 2014 11:18:21 GMT -5
My lights flicker on startup but shine bright when idling and running. Some of these scoot regulator circuits seem to pass AC to the headlights, some half wave rectify it, and others have full wave rectifiers and regulation. There are 'elegant' regulation solutions and also down and dirty brute force regulators. I have no way to tell which regulator a person has because they all look the same. That is why I wish I still had my O-scope. My lights seem to be getting DC since a DC switching circuit controls their operation OK.
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Post by dan50 on Apr 21, 2014 18:41:52 GMT -5
If your headlights come on with the key and the motor not running, it is DC. AC circuits, the headlights don't come on until the motor starts.
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Post by FrankenMech on Apr 21, 2014 21:40:14 GMT -5
My marker lights and tail light come on with the key but the big lights only come on when the engine starts.
My voltage registers as a 10.4V AC voltage to the el cheapo digital meter I carry with me but I am sure it is just a very high ripple DC voltage. If I dropped a big capacitor across it I am sure it would register as DC then. I will see if I can measure it with my old analog meter or better yet find a suitable capacitor. I gave all those away along with my O-scope. The ones I have left are old and will probably explode if exposed to a high voltage ripple.
EDIT- The analog meter showed about 12VDC and ~25VAC (my eyes were watering). I found a lone 2200uf 35V capacitor and connected it. Now both the digital meter and analog meter show about the same 13.8VDC voltage at idle. The garage was filling with fumes so I did not try AC readings with the capacitor. I am sure there is still considerable ripple. Lesson for today, -don't trust those cheap digital meters. Even the good ones will lie to you if you are measuring strange waveforms.
The LED 'spot' lights I have have zilch for a 'beam'. They do light up objects 100 feet away and reflect off street signs etc several hundred feet away. Facing the headlights of an oncoming vehicle there is no appreciable vision to the side of that vehicle. If there are any lights in the background they will also over power the reflected light from the front lamps. My night vision is not very good under the best of circumstances any more due to astigmatism. Before the astigmatism I had excellent night vision. So I am not a good judge. I 'aimed' the lights by guess so working at night sometime against the side of a warehouse 100 feet away might improve things. As they are they light up the road surface real well for 30 feet or so.
IMO these lights work ~OK for 30MPH causing only occasional momentary incontinency, but I would not judge them adequate for 50MPH. They are a big improvement over the 18W candles that came with the OEM configuration. At night, in the country, with no lights, and no traffic the LED 'spotlights' would be better. The LED lights would definitely light up the deer population as long as one of them wasn't Rudolf.
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Post by dan50 on Apr 22, 2014 1:16:57 GMT -5
I agree with you on the OEM bulbs. I've been using Halogen, which are much brighter for the same wattage. I have to find a 35watt halogen BA20D base. The 18watt halogen still isn't bright enough, and has a very annoying dark spot in front of the scooter (due to the little plate inside the bulb).
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