Changing Scooter From AC to DC V For LED's Lights

[erndog213]

Cant find no instruction anywhere to make entire Vespa ET2 50cc scooter work with led lights on entire bike from all light including odometer lights,do I need to change flasher,voltage regulator, etc are then any video instruction to see how and what would I need to make this possible any direction for some guidance to do this job and is it possible?

[FrankenMech]

A good regulator is already giving you 14VDC for your headlights. The regulators used on 50cc scoots are what is called a shunt regulator. They shunt or short the excess voltage and negative voltage to ground which is why they get so hot. A 1000uF 35V capacitor will smooth out the ripple in the power to the headlights and make the voltage readable with a digital voltmeter, an analog voltmeter will read correctly without the capacitor. LED headlight bulbs work OK.

I would recommend leaving the turn signals alone and use the standard incandescent bulbs. Conversions won't save much power due to the duty cycle and may give difficulties with the flasher. IE leave them alone.

The other bulbs, stop, tail, cluster are all OK with LED bulbs. Some stop/tail LED bulbs work better than others due to internal circuitry.

[captincvmn]

So I looked up the 1000uF 35v capacitor and I must admit I’m kinda shocked at how small they are. I’m accustomed to the ones in 110v electric motors. They’re only 50-70 uF. I thought a 1000 was gonna be lantern battery sized.

[aeroxbud]

I had to Google that just to see how big it was. 😄

[FrankenMech]

Voltage makes a big size change. 1000uF @35vdc is about as big around as a nickel and a little more than an inch long depending on brand. You don't even have to permanently install the cap. You only need it to read the right voltage with a digital meter. I have mine permanently installed just so I have it for field troubleshooting. Digital meters are easily confused by strange waveforms. The battery acts as a big capacitor on the other side of the regulator which makes the voltage read correctly there.

Larger more expensive scoots have actual 3 phase rectifiers and regulators. I have heard that cheap 50cc stators can be modified to use actual rectifiers and regulators. Some scoots even have load resistors to help the regulators handle the heat load when the lights are turned off. The cheap electrical systems that most scoots have are easily damaged during operation,  or by mistakes by errant users.