Modern Vespa

Not much to report. The scooter has been starting intermittently. I'm pretty sure it was the CDI. The Stella has the blue Ducati CDI. It worked often enough to make me to rule it out at one point, but I switched the wires over to the CDI on the 200 and the problem seems to be gone. It's been frustrating. Hopefully done.

Success! The scooter started right up this morning and revved and idled nicely. Waiting for a break in the weather to go for a ride.

I also hooked up my cht/rpm gauge. It seems to work well. For now the wiring is tucked under the floor mat. I will also run a kill switch wire under the mat to a momemtary push button switch on the glove box. The plug gave me quite a nip when I pulled it.

I will wire it correctly the next time I pull the tank. I think the other CDI might be ok; bad ground, damaged wire or bad plug wire. I have a better understanding of the electrical system now and how the stator differs from the 200. If I ever bought another stator for the VBB or any of my bikes, I would probably just buy a stock stator. The Vape stators seem overpriced overkill for a lightly tuned bike.

The Stella has a bunch of crazy in it, though a lot of it has been previously removed. So the plan is to enjoy this bike with the 200 engine while I put together the 187.

I finally went for a short ride. Still have to fix the turn signals, The speedometer stopped working even though I recently replaced the cable and gear. I guess this isn't unusual.

The 200 engine is somewhat underwhelming compared to the the Polini 177, but I've only been around the block. Not bad or boggy or running poorly…just kind of sluggish by comparison. Not that I mind it like that. The third gear is kind of like the third gear on my bus 3 speed automatic…works fine from 25-55 mph…But it's nice to have something to ride.

This gear got chewed up too. I'm pretty sure some of it happened when I installed it as there was some binding. Is there a way to install it without it catching? The hub splines were clean and greased.

My signal lights are LED. Does this mean they are DC only?

Thanks.

An LED is DC.

You can run whatever light you want, or combination. They are DC with a solid state flasher relay as I wanted to make the whole bike LED.

An LED is DC.

Unless they specifically say they're AC, LED's are DC only. Incandescent bulbs will run on anything, but are much more sensitive to current spikes because the bulb is effectively a deliberately-inefficient fuse.

I thought led's were usually dc only and it looks like that how the bike is wired. It's actually been streamlined to get rid of a lot of the LML garbage that was on the bike. Right now, I'm just getting a constant buzzer and no signal lights or speedo arrows. The relay is getting power as I can hear feel it clicking. It was working fine before. I will just have to go through and test it.

This is the wiring arrangement. The small black relay only seems to affect the high/low beam which works fine. I'm actually not finding anything that looks like a turn signal flasher. There is nothing under the horncast either except the turn signal buzzer.

There is a brown wire and pink wire that are disconnected. I thought they were for the grunt turn signals but running power through them doesn't let get the bulbs. The bulbs light when 12v DC is applied directly. I'm stumped.

Original flasher was to the right of silver box with heat sink in that picture.

When you said you'd groomed out all the Stella wiring garbage, I assumed you'd moved the CDI back over the motor and were just sending across AC Out from the stator to the regulator/rectifier.

Based on your photo, I'm not sure what you have going on other than "something that won't work," but that's not telling you anything you don't already know.

The turn signal flasher should be a two-pole unit that's strapped to the back of the battery box.

This wiring diagram from this post looks to be a match with the Stella diagram. I can only find my version modified to reflect my first DC conversion.


Are you running with or without a battery? Is that what the fused wire is connected to? If so, why is it connected to a relay?

What sort of regulator/rectifier is that? What's its wiring schematic?

I wonder if they did what I want to do. Hook that relay up to battery for a DC source. Hook output to grey wire for headlight, then use ignition switch keyed power to turn relay on and off with scooter. I have a relay and fuse block I'm planning on using for that purpose.

As for cdi I'd move it to motor side with a bracket and clean that side up a bit.

Lol. The grooming was done before I got the bike. It does have a battery and appears to have the lights as DC only. I'm not sure if the black box in the photo is a turn signal flasher. I thought it was related to the starter motor, which was previous removed.

I ran my stator wires to the original CDI on the 200 engine so the one in the battery box is just sitting there. I don't think the lights have anything to do with the CDI in a DC setup. The battery is wired to the relay for the headlight. and I think is charged by the stator via the regulator. I didn't do this wiring so that's partly why I am having trouble understanding it.

I can get in touch with the PO too.

Unbolt that box and look at backside might be some numbers.

Okay, that makes a little more sense

The RL44 is most likely supposed to be a starter relay switch with battery power in and out to the starter.

The grey wire is the AC side of the electrical system (headlight)
The violet wire is the DC side (turn signals, tail & brake lights)
The orange wire through the key is a bypass back to the battery so that when the key is on, the turn signals and tail/brake lights work even when the motor is not running. It also serves as the charging flow when the battery is running.

This diagram would really benefit from being broken into layers with the various electrical subsystems shown in isolation, because most folks don't care to know about how the clutch switch works with the starter relay, etc.

My gut is that that black box on the back of the battery box is a regulator, but it could also be a turn signal flasher. As Christopher said, unbolt it and see if there's anything on it. Or just feed some 12v through it on a multimeter and see if the voltage pulses or not

I think it's a regulator also, to big and a lot of potting material for a flasher.

Thank you!

I will continue to poke around. Strange thing is was that it was working and then it didn't and I hadn't changed anything. Happened even before switching to the other CDI.

All symptoms point to crapped out turn signal flasher. It's just that I can't find it. Usual location would be the battery box or horncast. I know there's a buncha other weird Stella shit to lock out the starter. Weird.

Ok. Black box is a flasher.

Well It was. Now it's will just keep a test light on rather than making it blink. Just wow.

that's a lot of epoxy for a flasher. You can get a cheap one off Amazon for like $5. That'll get you back on the road with turn signals, at least.

I think I will need a 3 pile flasher. LML seemed to change their wire colors a lot and have a couple extra relays that I haven't found yet. Wonder where they stash that stuff…

There's a fuse up under the horncast for the DC side that is guaranteed to blow when it's dark out and your glovebox is full. No relays, though.

The only relays are for the starter motor and its clutch switch cutout.

The small black box is the solid state flasher relay, the silver with the heat sink is the trailtech regulator, and the relay is ignition on since the wiring was to small for that purpose. I didn't want all power through the key. Atleast that what I remember as it was about 7yrs ago I did the wiring.

All the Stella junk is gone so no relay for start interrupt or starter wiring.

I probably repurposed some of the wiring to the relay from the headset so you would have to beep that out if you really cared.

Edit, now I'm second guessing myself, I can't remember why I added the relay but doesn't matter much, as it works haha.

The system is all DC now, no AC, no bypass and no starter system left.

Nice

Did you just bond the AC & DC sides down at the regulator, then, so it's all a single circuit, or are they separate?

Thank you! That helps a lot. Props for remembering wiring you did 7 years ago. I just can't ever remember.

The way you did it is way more straightforward than factory. Maintaining all that crazy wiring for the starter motor would be more effort than just kicking it over. No need for all that Honda Goldwing bullshit.

Oh and the relay…There's one just like it in my bus. Something about sending the juice right to the starter via a short, fat, new wire instead of all the way up front through crumbling wire and a crappy ignition switch and all the way back again.

I bet that's what you were thinking.

Yeah, that must have been it, the run would have been to the headset and back with very small wire. I also liked the idea of having the CDI tucked in there as it cleaned up the engine side a bit.

Side note, I've been riding the Rally and it's very smooth and cool but wow I do miss the power of that Stella and the disc brakes!

Makes for a much safer ride when you know you can power yourself out of a situation instead of getting stuck in it.

What's the engine in the Rally?

I have a stock Stella I just rebuilt and while it stops great, it can't get out of its own way compared to my other scooters. (I mean, sure, they're far-from-normal, but still)

It's hard to go back to a stock scooter after riding one that has been nicely kitted. Acceleration definitely adds a lot to the fun.

So after spending a lot of time going over the wiring diagram and even drawing out the signal light circuit, the problem smacked me in the face. I had not disconnected any wires but they definitely disconnected themselves while I was jumping up and down on the kickstart.

So that flasher unit no longer works but it did power the signal lights and idiot light. I couldn't figure out why the buzzer stopped working, but the flasher relay alternates the signal light with the buzzer. It occurred to me that I could just ride it while waiting for the relay. I'm out in the boonies anyway.

Got my turn signals to work with a flasher relay from the FLAPS. I have another speedo gear, so I will try to get that going too.

Is the SIP speedo the best option for a speedo that works longer than 15 minutes? Is the stock setup particularly prone to falling apart?

If your harness is still an LML harness, SIP speedometer isn't plug and play. Connectors in headset are different. It can be done, takes patients and following wiring diagram and some soldering.

That's putting it mildly.

Phone gps it is then. That kind of dicking around is a worthy winter project, but at this point would mean more riding delays.

Can anyone recommend a phone holder that will let me use it as a gps speedo? Just something generic from Amazon that is known to work and will get it done. I can also post my shakey cam land speed record videos.

Thanks.

Here is what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFDKNZF

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012TRIXU

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q016CL4

I have a mounting ball on all three of the scooters and use the center piece and phone holder for using the phone as a GPS on whatever I'm riding.

Thank you!

Can you have pictures of one mounted on Stella?