Improve illumination advice

[chevrons1]

Gents

I have a 1981 P200.  It is pretty much standard.  Without too much bother how do I improve the light?  I do not have a battery so it may be difficult.  Would a halogen type bulb cut it or am I limited without battery?

Happy for any advice.  Cheers.

Rob

[sime66]

There is a conversion bulb, but I didn’t bother with one; they might be worthwhile – duuno.
What I did do though, and is a great improvement, was to get a 'My' halogen headlight. It was a bit cheaper a couple of years ago, but this sort of thing:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Quality-VESPA-Px200-Disc-My-Headlight-Including-Halogen-35w-Bulb-Emarked-/190829291829?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c6e4fe935

The halogen headlight only takes a bit of cutting and crimping of wires to fit to the existing loom; very easy and no problem off the AC. I’ve also got a single 55w halogen spot off my battery too, for camping, and for down here, round the lanes at night and in the fog (don’t start). I’d definitely do the My halogen headlight again if I got another scooter with the original headlight.

[rab]

Get a 12v 17ah or higher golf caddy battery put it in the glove box and use it as a power supply for extra lights or what ever you want.I used one for over a year and found it only needed overnight charging every few days off any 12v charger

[henri]

make sure your headlight glass is glass not a plastic lense 1 , a halogen bulb will melt a plastic one , H

[Robjack]

Another advocate of replacing the whole lot with the MY version here. Cheap and easy improvement.

[chevrons1]

Thanks guys. Especially the plastic vs glass lens.....things like that always seem to catch me out!

I'll try halogen bulb first as it seems the easiest that someone like me can undertake without the need for a safety net.

[leishy62]

Interesting stuff, I need one of those for my PX, winters here in NZ, and I will shortly be riding home in the dark, standard headlight is not the best that's for sure, just wondering if there's a better headlight too for the Vbc super? Also, a mate at work has led bulbs in his bike, thoughts on these anyone?

[vespasco]

Check you have the correct wattage bulbs, that can help. (and voltage)!!
You can also check the stator's output to make sure you actually have full power

LEDs have less drain on the system (i guess) so in that respect there should also be more power everywhere else?
Im not so sure of the wiring mods. you may need to do

I swapped my (Rally) headlight bulb for a a halogen, no mods. required. Staight swap.

[rab]

My headlight improved in 2 ways it got brighter and less flicker at low revs on the non battery model .what did I do ? I replaced the rectifier.I only actualy replaced it to go from 3 pin to 5 but got added bonus of the 2 above

[sime66]

Can’t remember if your PX is battery or not leishy; LEDs are for DC really, but can work on AC with rectifiers. What I’ve picked up so far (not the full story yet):
· Good for indicators – either off battery or with rectifer or if your lucky (some have said they work straight off AC OK)
· You can get a rear light/brake cluster – kru251 did it; search his threads..........
· Not so good for headlight – you don’t get a strong directional beam like a halogen (12v 35w – H4, like the link above).
There’s HID too, but I don’t know much at all about that. If you find any useful info, maybe you can let us know.

[leishy62]

Cheers, all, yes my PX is a battery model, so I could change the bulbs except the headlight for LEDs I guess? A straight swop halogen sounds good for the headlight too...I have just changed the reg actually, as I blew three headlight bulbs in one week!! Seems to be ok now, one week on, still the same bulb, hopefully fixed that at least!

[sime66]

NOT a straight swap, except for the halogen headlight.With battery you have DC available, but lighting and indicators still on AC circuits; it's a little more fiddly than straight swap for LED tail/brake light and DC/LED indicators, but easy enough - there's threads here on DC indicators (I did a thread about a year ago) and kru did a rear LED tail/brake light thread too. Haven't got time to find them myself now, but a search will bring them up.

[rab]

I seem to remember someone saying led lights work on ac even though there dc think it may have been nik or kru as the subject has come up before so if your lurking nik/kru can you throw in a reminder how its done. I think but don't hold me to it they wire direct no messing with teki stuff plug n play.your headlight would should improve by default if you take rear off ac and put it to DC as you take some load off the AC side

[leishy62]

Got it, Lights on AC, cool, might have a go at switching them to battery, then going from there, cheers everyone.

[henri]

worked on a pk a mate of fredperrybruce has recent , guy had taken grey light feed wire off reg box an fused it to battery ,hey presto instant dc lights ,switch vespa indie relay to generic car one an dc indies too ,
2 probs tho , he'd used a car relay not a bike one ,no indie flash at tickover an slow flash upto half revs , needed a lighter bike relay,
and all the ac going into reg box was only trickling charge the battery ,meant after a few hours use with lights battery was drained ,an after a few weeks the reg box was fried ,
with a proper rectifier/regulater from a bike it would work well an give you decent dc lights even without engine running , theres a fair bit of chat about dc lights/indies on the american forum "modern vespa" an also some on the "lml owners club" , H

[leishy62]

Sweet, cheers Henri, that's great info, hey, how's your Spring/ Summer coming? Bloody freezing here, not a big fan of the winter months, but a good time to do all those jobs you never get to when it's good riding weather!

[chevrons1]

Halogen bulb added. It's like daylight now in comparison with the older bulb. And being a frugal chap I now have a spare (the older bulb) so all in all money well invested!

Ta for the advice (as ever!)

Rob