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Post by ellpee on Jan 1, 2014 14:23:38 GMT -6
Hey, Scot, ya know we love ya, but it's hard to read your stuff in all caps. Plus, for some on line folks that's a signal that you're mad about something, which I suspect you're really not.
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Post by ellpee on Jan 1, 2014 11:55:55 GMT -6
From my limited, I repeat LIMITED, experience, I agree -- if it's Chinese, no matter what name they stock on the outside of it,
(1) Do the full PDI as recommended here. Painful removing all the plastic for that, but chances are it'll save you removing bits and pieces of plastic umpteen times down the road.
(2) Expect issues getting some parts -- for me, switches and minor plastic parts.
(3) Really consider sucking up the expense and putting LEDs in as many of the lights as possible. I've put about $100 into that so far, and still looking at headlights, but it takes a big load off your charging system, and since scooter batteries ain't exactly RV batteries, that's a worthwhile modification.
(4) My latest lesson learned is that 5000 miles on a tire, especially rear, is GOOD -- don't complain, just deal with it.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 31, 2013 21:02:41 GMT -6
what can you say about Dunlop tires? Are you saying they're good, or not good, or you don't know?
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Post by ellpee on Dec 31, 2013 18:01:29 GMT -6
"Power" as in engine power, or as in electric power? What kind of problems? I had that broken bracket thing on my 2011 Roketa, had to fabricate a replacement workaround.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 31, 2013 17:50:49 GMT -6
All good info, thanks,and Happy New Year (to all of you out there)!
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Post by ellpee on Dec 31, 2013 13:40:02 GMT -6
SOLVED!!! After considerable experimentation. Wires going to front turn signals are yellow and green -- yellow goes to the center contact at bottom of bulb, green goes to side contact, i.e., entire sidewall of the bayonet base of the bulb.
Generally speaking, one likes to believe green wire = G = ground = negative side for polarity purposes.
On both of my front turn signals -- readers beware, this may ONLY apply to the 2011 Roketas that were assembled the day after a really, really big celebration, when the assemblers had a massive hangover, and maybe only to my scooter, because they hate me -- the GREEN wire carries the + current from the battery, by way of whatever stops it makes enroute (ignition switch, handlebar switch, etc.), while the YELLOW wire serves as the connection to ground.
Standard incandescent bulbs could not care less -- juice in, juice out, it's all good when you're running those. But LEDs, being polarity-aware, want the "in" coming from the bottom and the "out" departing via the side.
So, the cure for my problem was to snip both of those wires and switch them, green to yellow and yellow to green. After that, all good. LED's lit up when they were supposed to (and bright, bright, bright compared to OEM), be it via the turn signal switch or via the emergency flasher switch. I suppose I could have also bought new connectors and reversed the wires, but since I didn't know where to get those kinds of connectors and didn't want to bother, snip/twist/electrical tape did it for me.
So, in the hope this discovery will make 2014 a better year for all scooters that are the Roketa MC-54{whatever}-250{whatever} by whatever other model name they may bear out there on the Wild West Chinese scooter market, Happy New Year. Me, I still have some wires to cut and twist and wrap before the ball falls and the corks go "POP"! But for anybody who makes the migration to LEDs in any socket, learn from my tribulations. LEDs want + and - where they are supposed to be, and you canNOT take it for granted if you're driving a Chinese scoot that the guy on the other end was not colorblind, or stoned, or hated guailo. If it doesn't work on the first try, check your + and - situation before freaking out.
(PS -- once you get it right, I'm really liking the LEDs, very bright and presumably drawing a lot less amps from my already over-stressed charging system. Not cheap, but what's the price of being stuck alongside the highway about 50 miles from civilization because your electrical takers ran down your one and only electrical giver?)
Oh, BTW, the amber 1156-equivalent LEDs I bought blink at the normal rate, no extra load resistor needed. Maybe it's built into the bulbs, or maybe they just work without it. But on my scoot at least, they work fine right out of the box.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 31, 2013 9:51:22 GMT -6
Well, these are standard bayonet sockets, so the + contact is at the bottom and the - contact is the entire side of the bulb base. Will be looking at it more today, am totally puzzled that they won't work in those sockets but are otherwise fine. I did discover just now that they are polarity-aware, + must be + and - must be -, but no way to screw that up with these bayonet bulbs as far as I can see.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 30, 2013 20:46:51 GMT -6
Working my way through replacing as many bulbs as possible with LEDs, and just got four 1056 equivalents for the turn signals. Put the back ones in, all good, nice and bright. Put the first front one in, wouldn't light up at all. Reversed it in socket in case of polarity issue, nada. Put old incandescent bulb back in, lit up normally. Took an extra, identical front socket I had in my leftovers box, put the LED in, jumpered it straight to a 12v battery, nada. Reversed it in the socket, nada. Touched the LED bulb directly to the battery's + pole, jumpered from the - pole to the side of the LED, lit up.
So the LED bulb is fine, but for some reason it won't work in the front turn signal sockets. Come on, electrical gurus, let's hear your best guesses on why that might be. Physically they look pretty much the same as the rear sockets, so WTH,O?
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Post by ellpee on Dec 30, 2013 20:38:57 GMT -6
Yeah, heard the same at several tire places today; another lesson learned. Tires that came on the scoot are Yuanxing (transl: Chinese junk); brands I heard on my rounds today were Kenda (moderately priced, reportedly a decent tire); Avon (a bit pricier, reportedly a better-than-decent tire), and a couple known quantities like Bridgestone and Pirelli, considerably pricier but presumably good or better than good quality. Comments on these or others are welcome.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 30, 2013 15:57:15 GMT -6
A tad dismayed to find that at barely 3000 miles my rear tire is showing significant wear (although the front still looks pretty good). Many, many threads about tires, many, many websites as well. I see what should be reliable brands -- Michelin, Pirelli, etc. -- and others I don't know much about. I'd sure like to get 10k or so minimum out of the replacement, along with reasonably good resistance to road hazards. Heck, the typical vegetation around Tucson is evil enough to poke holes in a tire! All thoughts/advice/recent experience welcome. And secondarily, if I should choose to install the new tire (or at least remove the wheel) myself, are there other things in that whole rear end "module" that I should consider doing at the same time to save labor?
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Post by ellpee on Dec 30, 2013 13:08:53 GMT -6
Will do, JR, if/when I get that darn new left switch assembly and am messing with front wires again. On a run yesterday with no headlights, was right up near 14v until the fan came on, then down in the upper 12's again, so that darn thermoswitch remains on the suspect list. I do see a little voltage drop when I switch on the hi beams, and ditto when I switch on the lo beams, but not nearly as drastic as the fan. I'm talking to Tvnacman now about LED headlights, so if I make that change the headlights should have little or no impact in future.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 30, 2013 13:02:49 GMT -6
I was told .027" to .030"
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Post by ellpee on Dec 30, 2013 13:01:23 GMT -6
PM on the way, and thanks, BobF. That doesn't sound too awful, and though I too don't intend to do any more night riding than I can help, knowing the battery won't let me down if I do would be a nice thing.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 30, 2013 9:52:18 GMT -6
OK, sounds like H4 is probably the answer, but as you may know from my other threads, I'm trying to reduce wattage (amp draw) any way I can because my charging system isn't performing all that well. LEDs in smaller lights didn't do it, lower-amp fan didn't do it, had to add a switch to turn off the headlights in daytime to finally get a decent voltmeter reading. If I can find legal LEDs for the headlights I might be able to leave them on in the daytime again -- not required here in AZ but always a good idea for safety.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 29, 2013 21:13:44 GMT -6
Unfortunately, no clue unless I remove all the front plastic and pull out the OEM bulbs to read the fine print, which I'm not eager to do unless I have to. Anybody out there with a late-model MC-54-250 (or 54B-250, or 54-250B, or Jonway 250, or Tank 250, or YY250T, or any of the many possible aliases) know the OEM bulb number for the headlights?
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