Driving Light Installation:

As the title of this page suggests, this is how I installed driving lights (or more appropriately, my driving light) on my Aprilia SR50. The page is a quite image heavy, so it may take a moment to load everything up. If you have any questions, email me at ley@cowboysofjustice.com!

The light I used was a Pilot PL-232C "Performance Series" driving light. They were $29.99 US at Autozone. Each light is equipped with a 55W halogen H3 bulb. I'm only using one of the lights for the SR50 because of the low generator output. Even so, you might run your battery low if you use this auxiliary light a lot. Keep an eye on the battery charge till you get an idea of how it works, and don't run the light all the time, only when you need a little boost at night.

Ok, so here is our Aprilia SR50 that we are going to install the light on. Its a 2000, carb version, though that probably doesn't matter much for an electrical install. Yes, that is Ralph Wiggum picking his nose on the windshield. We are going to install the light underneath the headlight, dangling from the headlight access panel. I measured the suspension travel and clearance first, and found that there is enough room for the 2" it takes for the light and its mounting bracket. If you do this, you should probably measure yours, because there might be small differences in suspension travel or clearance.

 

This is a closeup of where the light is going to go.

 

Here is the stuff the light came with. A light, and a wiring harness with fuse and switch. The other light it came with is inside, we aren't going to be using it. Give it to your buddy, or mount it on your baseball cap or something. The switch that came with this is a bit cheesy. That is, its an ok switch, with a little neon light inside, but you could probably hunt around and get a much more interesting one. This one sort of screams 'aftermarket'. I'm going to use it anyway because I'm not too concerned, and besides, I can always put in a new one if I get in the mood. The wiring we are going to use is very simple. As simple as it gets, in fact. We are going to wire one conductor of the light directly to the negative on the battery. The other conductor will go through the switch, and connect through a 15 amp fuse to the positive on the battery. There is also a short ground wire attached to the switch to light the neon bulb. This is tied to a body screw (the allen head screw under the 'grocery bag hook' to be specific). What this means is that the light can be turned on EVEN IF THE IGNITION IS OFF. You might not want it this way! It could be very easy to forget and kill your battery, or some sneaky punk might turn it on while you are in the store, or something like that. You can use a more advanced wiring method if you like. For instance, connect a wire to the headlight wire, connect it to a switch, have the switch control an automotive relay, which activates the battery connection to the light. Different kits have the necessary wiring diagrams to show you how to do this. There are ways to make them turn on with the high beams, turn on with the headlights, etc. The key with all these others is that a relay must be used! If you try to send the current for both the driving light, and the headlight down the same wires, you may burn wires, or pop fuses!

 

Here is the access panel beneath the headlight. Like all panels, you must remove the screws (3 of them, in this case), and gently work the panel about, finding its perfect angle to be removed without scratching or breaking it. I also have the light sitting next to it, a pen to make the holes I'm going to drill, and my trusty Dremel tool. The phonebook is just something to set the panel on.

 

Here is the panel with two holes drilled, and 5mm screws put in, through the light's mounting bracket. The holes look off center, because there is a center hole, then one to the right that is through an oval hole. This is so it can be rotated around the center axis by loosening the screw on the right.

 

Now we remove the front inside panel. Its easy to remove, but make sure you get all the screws. Look at your manual. There are screws beneath the rubber foot pads, under the grocery bag hook, and on the sides. A total of 15 screws must be removed to get this panel off. I've also removed the grey cover beneath the gauges. I'm also going to remove the red cover directly beneath the handlebars, but I haven't done it yet. The bundle of red, black and white wires are the ones for the light. They have simply been layed down, and put into place. Some go to the battery compartment, and others follow the existing bundle of cabling up the frame, and through a hole in the steering column, and into the space beneath the gauges. It takes a bit of feeling around, but basically just follow the existing electrical system up. Make sure you leave play for steering, but not so much that the wires will get caught in things. The connections to the battery go under one flap of the side inspection panels. Just remove the screw directly in front of the battery, lift a flap, and slide the two wires beneath it, and to the side.

 

Here is a closeup of the batter connections. Red is positive, black is negative. Notice how the wires go under the flap. The fuse box is inline with the red wire, and tucked next to the battery. Make sure you have an inline 15 amp fuse! Without it, a simple short circuit could start a fire, and as we all know, fires on scooters is bad news.

 

Here is the same thing you saw before, except its all been bundled up with zip ties. I haven't trimmed any of them yet, so you can see them standing up here and there. Make sure that there is enough slack in the wires for steering, but not so much that stray wires drag around, or get caught in things. The last thing you need is a wire getting caught in your suspension system while you are trying to steer! The basic idea is, neat and tidy. Use plenty of zip ties, no wires should be straying loose.

 

Here is a slightly blurry image of the wires coming up in front of the steering column, and going into the gauge area. Notice the yellow zip tie holding the wires onto the existing wires.

 

Then I reinstalled the access plate, with the bracket on it. Then fed the wires through, connected them to the light (with good use of electrical tape, and another zip tie), and connected the light to the bracket. Don't worry about screwing it down tight yet, you still need to adjust it.

 

Now we have our grey cover, the one that is normally beneath the gauges, and we have used our trusty Dremel tool to carve a hole in it that will exactly fit the switch. Run your mouse over the image to see it leap into its new home. The switch has little prongs that help hold it in. If your's does not, you will need to use glue. However, I did use a bit of silicon sealant to help hold out the moisture.

 

Here is the panel installed on the scoot, with the switch raring to go.

 

And here is our new and improved SR50! Notice how much brighter that one driving light is than the stock headlight! All that's left now is to take it for a spin, and adjust the light. Too high and you'll blind folks, too low, and you won't get good coverage. I aimed this one to the same spot as the headlight, and then fine tuned it as I drove around a bit!

 

Thanks for reading this! As a token of my gratitude, please accept this image of a "Monkey Frog." It has very little webbing between its toes, and hence, can grab onto branches much like a primate hand would. They are excellent climbers, and spend their entire lives in trees. Cute little guy, isn't he?

Copyright © 1999-2002 Sam Ley; this information may be copied, distributed and/or modified freely, as long as the same rights are given to any derivative work, see the Design Science License for more details. This is a legal and enforceable form of the CopyLEFT concept of information freedom. What is Copyleft?

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