Modern Vespa

Hi all ET2 and ET4 enthusiasts, I am writing this thread with some questions in hope for helping a dear friend of mine who bought recently one gorgeous ET2 50cc scooter, a long term dream of hers. She has GTS as a daily driver, but cute ET was always her passion.

So, she got this orange ET2 50cc scooter and is enjoying it so much to a point that the GTS is feeling neglected

now, the darker part of the year is fast approaching and ET's OEM headlight is bit showing it's known limits

so, the idea was to upgrade the light a bit and the few ideas came up:

1st, most obvious, is to replace the standard 35/35W BA20d halogen bulb with the 45/45W BA20d halogen bulb ==> any troubles to expect here with the higher heat output?

2nd, is to find replacement LED bulb with the BA20d socket for the EXISTING headlight, with hope that the light pattern of the LED bulb will match the reflector on the OEM headlight ==> any experiences here anyone?

3rd, is to replace the 50cc OEM headlight with 125/150cc OEM headlight, use separate high light output bulbs (LED preferably)

4th, is there any 3rd tier supplier of the ET headlights which has the LED projector headlight already available, for a simple swap?

5th, add auxiliary LED headlight ==> any experiences, where to tap for electricity etc?

For this 3rd one, I have few questions for you:

- although shape-wise the 50cc and 125/150cc OEM headlights look very much the same, are the MECHANICAL and ELECTRICAL interfaces the same?
- if electrical only is bit different, it should be easy to adapt this
- is 125/150 cc OEM version occupying more space under or in front of the tachometer, is there any troubles to expect?

Before you answer in this direction: I have already searched through previous threads on ET and headlight, they are very old and a lot of links for recommended HW are not valid any more

many thanks in advance

P.S. would you recommend swapping EOM battery to a lithium-ion one on ET?

Look at the wiring before you put in a more powerful bulb. It's pretty thin in the ET2. And the odds are that it's already showing signs of heat discoloration, because they all do.
You can stick a 125/150 headlight assembly in there, or find a halogen tulip bulb that might give better light. The magneto on the ET2 doesn't make a whole lot of power.

Main idea is to use LED if possible, LED definitely has much smaller consumption and thus much less heat generation. Both the headlamp and the cables would be grateful.

WRT the magneto on ET2 50cc, is there any chance to upgrade it? Pardon for the Blonde moment here: does ET2 125/150 have the same power generation principle, does it use the same or better magneto and, if so, can it be used on the 50cc version of ET2?

if deciding for external, auxiliary LED headlamp, where would be the best place to tap-in electrically speaking? directly to the battery, via relay, or?

also, any experiences of using modern, lithium ion batteries on ET2 50cc?

I would start with option 2 - use a LED replacement for the BA20d. The newer LED bulbs are better than they used to be for light dispersion. It will be the easiest, quickest and safest way to get more light output. You might have a bit of light scatter/dazzling, but that's easy to check for against a white wall or garage door from about 25 ft away. Be sure to check over the wiring carefully for any damage.

You'll end up drawing less power and generating less heat, but have more lumens of output - which is the whole point of this exercise.

A 45w halogen will not be a big improvement, and you risk higher temps and greater power drain.

The next best option would be to mount aux lighting and wire directly to the battery so you're not overdrawing the electrical.

many thanks, that was roughly my idea as well

tend more towards the external aux solution using the PROJECTOR LED headlights, they are giving perfect pattern

alternatively, if my friend OK with that, we could use the normally external aux lights and make a project of getting it inside the 150cc's headlight, to keep the ET's original optics outside

I think it would be possible to gut the OEM light bucket, except the external lense.

That could be an interesting project. You would need to sort out the electrical, but that might not be very difficult using the OEM harness. Mounting and properly aiming the projector style LEDs inside the the OEM housing might prove to be challenging.