Modern Vespa

Two jobs scheduled for today - do the headlight mod and change the Dr Pulley Sliders. Man it got hot in that garage come 4 PM! We have a temporary heatwave going on.
I had left the liquid tape off my headlamp switch until I could get around to doing the both headlights on mod. I've been giving that one some thought and it bothered me to cut and solder wires - especially in light of warranty issues of days past. So I did something that some of y'all will find controversial - the mod is removable because it depends on a mechanical connection - not soldered. The mod can literally be removed in minutes with no trace it was there. I checked it extensively before I buttoned her up - my biggest concern was heat from a resistive connection. But because I was thorough and careful I have no issues. So here's what I did:
I cut a short piece of zip cord about 14 GA. I cut pigtails at each end and soldered. Here's a pic so you can eyeball the measurements (not too critical).


Next I took a small ballpeen hammer and slightly flattened both soldered pigtails. This is so they would fit tightly against the existing pins in the socket on the light switch. The pigtail shorts the gray/red and orange wires. First I show without then with.

with


It should go without saying that the flat ends are in line with the curve of the jumper. They will be a very snug fit and I also dabbed them with dielectric grease before poking them in there.
Add the liquid tape to keep out crap and add some mechanical stability...


Here you can see that the jumper does not interfere with the cable fit in the housing.

Finally proof it works.


and both on...


The Dr Pulley slider changeover was relatively uneventful. I wasn't real happy with the 16 gram weights as I didn't want it revving so high all the time. But I do want snappier performance and reduced grundlies. So I bought some 19 gram weights and mixed half and half for 17.5 grams which I'm happy to report the preliminary results are just how I want it. Acceleration is snappy and smooth but without the 7K rpm leap the 16's give you. I'll probably have occasions to miss that - like powering out of a turn but I'm not hell-for-leather rider anymore being as I like the scenery for photography. As I expected the belt damage from the minor rubbing was a non-event - didn't even catch my nail. But I ground down that ridge a tad anyway as I suspect that it has been causing some belt slapping. The idler pulley certainly bears that out - I might get a spare just in case at my next big service.
So that was my day - very little riding but I feel good about getting rid of some things on my to-do list.
Oh - one last thing. I bough this thing when I got my MP3 and I honestly thought it was going to be a geek toy. I still love the hell out of my PsiClops and thought that maybe some of the new folks were not aware these things existed. It has two hoses and a calibrated, illuminated gauge so it is guaranteed the two fronts will match. The quick connects are superb and you will not fumble and lose air doing a release. Still highly recommended after 2 years.
in nice case.


illuminated dial - damn it looks cool in the dark!

Good post, BubbaJon.

You jumpered the orange and gray wires? I don't know how to reconcile that method with this frame of reference:




+1 on the Psiclops.

Well there's really no need to cut and connect the wires. I'm just shorting the wires without cutting. So what if the switch still switches - it's a short for goodness sake. The gray/red wire is 12v and the orange is to the lights. When you rock the switch it disconnects the 12v (gray) from the orange and connects the other two. So the short merely prevents the low beams from having power removed through the switch.

If there's no downside (assuming the jumper is mechanically secure), then it looks like yours should be the preferred method.

Thanks for that Bubbajohn, the jumper looks easier, glad you posted.

BubbaJon, thanks, I have been wanting to do this and because of warranty worries didn't want to cut wires. Might do this today.

I did this long ago by just insering half a paperclip in there.
It has been discussed here a year ago
Wiring Method for Dual High Beams???

I did in fact consider a paperclip but the diameter was such that it did not make as firm a mechanical connection as I wanted - tried it on the "inside" and "outside" of the pin. I also tried the larger ones but they were too large. I liked my solution because the soldered wire is compliant enough that when you jam it down in there it really makes good contact. Is that paperclip still working well for you?

Not only for me but also for a lot of our club members

Now wouldn't it be weird if the Euro paperclips were slightly larger than the American counterparts due to metric wiregauge or something. lol. The two I looked at were a loose fit and I wouldn't trust them. In addition I was concerned with surface area of the contact patch - the jumper has to carry the complete load for the low beams when switched to high. A round hard wire and a round pin makes for a smallish contact patch lowering the effective gauge of the wire. It's why I flattened the soldered wire for better contact area. I then ran mine for an hour and tested the temperature of the jumper to detect any resistive contact. Maybe I was just a worrywart over that issue but the last thing I want is to find myself without lights in the middle of nowhere...

throw out your warrenty now as you have been busted by the cybor police and they have notified Piaggio of you Gross disreguard for installing mods. You'll be getting your letter in the mail certified next week


Really it is a very clean mod and you did a nice job.

it also works for the Fuoco /500 did 26.000km now no fuse replaced yet

only thing when driving with 4× 55watts and your charging your phone, tomtom and a Ipod, the starter wont go round first time after a trip

Did have the problem earlier when i left the ignationkey on for a few hours and then it can make a continous beeping sound also

unlock manualy and start and your fine, the continous beeping sound got something to do with not enough power to unlock



and before the nose job

Nice article, now I am waiting for "my" cyclops pressure gage"! 8)

Sorry for not getting it exactly,
but when you do this sort of modification, then you have both lights on when you are on high beam only the right one when you are on low beam?

So you can still pass?

with the paperclip method you have both lights on when its on Highbeam

With lowbeam you got only the right hand side on

Maksor,
thanks for making it clear to me.

What are the risks of such a modification?

The jumper can be made out of any conductive metal (well avoid crap like aluminum of course) - it's just poked down in the connector snug against the metal pins. Just make sure there is pressure ensuring a firm connection. also I highly recommend some dielectric grease or *something* to prevent junk from getting inside like moisture to prevent corrosion. If not there is a potential for a resistive contact which can cause problems such as ruining the connector which would make it necessary to replace it. The position when assembled is very close to the handlebars (on a 500) so you should make sure the jumper is insulated to make sure it doesn't short accidentally. I added the liquid tape to prevent the corrosion and provide a little mechanical stability. Other than those things it's unlikely to cause any issues and the reason it was done this way is to make it easy to remove.

I'm finally getting around to this now the weather is getting warmer and our local riders are doing night rides again.

I lead the first one in a while, and found my low beams were too low, and high beam also too focussed typical pencil beam, so had that nasty "lose the foreground" to gain the middle... and why would you be stressed with light in a straight, it's the twisties we're cramming into our rides and has us worried when pitch black!

The ZX14 behind me has *awesome* lights, not sure if low adjusted up or he had high beam all on, but it cast my shadow in front of me with my headlights on!!! I figure we've got the same number of lights, must be able to get similar results... I'll find out tonight what he's changed if anything.

edit: he just told me it's an aftermarket HID kit on low beam pair. Makes sense as they are spread well. I don't find high beam as useful, so it's off to see about HID kit threads now...

I did this little mod, works great!! Finding a small piece of stranded wire & soldering it took more time than the whole mod.
Thanks
Bill

I did this with some firm wire used to tie the raw (green) coffee beans 2.5kg cotton bags I purchase. Kind of like hay bale wire I imagine. Tiny clipped portion that was already forming a bridge connector just inserted holding in with wire tension as friction on the pins.
A+ solution!

I got the same result on my Gilera Fuoco
Making this small change to the circuit of the button lights
Has suggested to me a friend who works at Piaggio
he designs the electrical systems of the scooter in the factory and are an expert
In this way, activating the headlights
I light up all 4 lights in the same time
The other functions remain unchanged
Does it really work !!
I'm using it for two years

You sure that drawing is right? It's not the way I have seen it. Will post a link when I get home, if I remember.

I am totally certain
Are sufficent relese a cross connection between the two central wires
four of which come from the connector
The cable colors are brown and gray \ red
My friend who work in piaggio told me
that the standard product does not come with this option
because according to their calculations
if you use a very long time with the 4 lights simultaneously on
the circuit in some cases can not make it to recharge correctly the battery.
But related to the high beam button and used with caution for little time and are no problems

if you note this picture
conceptually the BubbaJon mod
does the same thing!
connecting the two central wires!

with this mod all lights on, is there a chance that the charging system
may not be able to keep up with the load and the battery go into discharge mode???

No, but this mod is for the 500 not the 400. The 400 both lights stay on anyway, don't they?

There is a chance of that, but need to clarify for you this is all lights on when you select high beam.
Low beam is still low beam only, the purpose is when on high beam you don't get a pencil beam and lose your spread beam... which is very annoying.
HID high beam upgrade kit would be on my cards if I did more night riding, but I don't. Adjusting up the low beams a little would help me reach a happy medium.

I've read a 400 owner say they lose low beam when selecting high beam, and I think it was the 400 owners who pioneered (or at least had most motivation for) this mod.

You don't want HID on high beams, due to the delay for them to illuminate.

No no, I do... are you listening Santa?

Having ridden with the ZX14 described in an above post on a night ride, the real world example was proof in the pudding. If there is a delay, it's not relevant to how we use light while riding.

There is a small chance that the circuit loses energy
but only if you use the 4 lights on for very long periods
two years of use of this mod I never had any problems
I made the change because the low lamps have a bean broad but shallow
The headlights are very deep but not too tight beam to illuminate the sides sufficiency
Together, the lighting is great!!
Here in Europe in the winter days are short and then you travel a lot in the dark in the evening at the end of the working day
Here the good lighting is important.
Alternatively, there are xenon lamps kit but they are illegal in Italy
although many people still install them
but a xenon kit costs same money
while making the change to the wires is practically free!
And the improvement in night driving is considerable

My recommended way of doing the mod - each lamp stays on a different fused circuit. http://www.wotmeworry.org.uk/bothlamps/instr/hlswitchfuoco.pdf

I have a 2009 400ie you get high or low beam never both, the two small led lights above are always on. The reason I asked about battery discharge was I had a charging system failure at 2000 miles, the system stopped charging the battery and I was stranded. When the dealer checked it out they at first thougt it was a a bad voltage reg. They installed a new battery and reg still no charging. The culprit turned out to be the solenoid it was shorted inside. They installed a new solenoid no more problems. I have had concerns as to the robustness of the charging system and it's ablity handle greater factory loads

It wasn't shorted - it was open-circuit.

Another Fuoco hidden fuse story...

I take it that this is a common problem. I used the link you provided will check it out later today. Has enyone thought to put in a volt meter or is this problem an all or nothing type deal

Once the fuse and the connectors are liberally plied with dielectric grease, the problem shouldn't occur. Now done at PDI by diligent dealers.