Maddog Headlights with DC Power Modification

Most scooters run the headlights directly from the stator.  This method supplies AC power to the headlights, which is fine for standard filament bulbs, but doesn't play nice with LEDs.  The following steps will work to power any 12VDC LED lighting with a total wattage of 36W or less on the front of your Maddog.  If you have a different brand of Chuckus, you might not have the accessory plug on your wiring harness and this modification won't work.  I make a switched power kit that easily gets around this issue.  There is a link at the bottom of this page with more info.

LED light bars are one of the most efficient ways to get good lighting on the road in front of you.  Be sure to buy a light bar with a 30 degree spot beam to avoid blinding oncoming traffic.  

I chose to use the 36W Auxbeam 7" LED light bar for my Maddog.  Testing the light with my DC power supply shows that the light is really only consuming 27W (13.69V x 1.95A = 2.7W).  Since the power draw is so low, I chose to skip using a relay to power the light.  The stock filament headlights are 18W each, so the total load on the switch will be significantly less than the stock setup and the stock wiring can easily handle it.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Instead of running a new wire from the battery and installing a toggle switch to control the headlights on my 2015 Maddog 150, I relocated the wire that supplies power to the headlight switch from the original connector (direct from stator) to an unused switched 12VDC connection on the 9-circuit accessory plug on the stock Maddog wiring harness.

You can unpin the 2.8mm terminals from the factory connector housings using a small jewelers screwdriver.  These can be found in an eyeglass repair kit for a couple bucks at any pharmacy.  All you need to do is open the connector housing, depress the small locking tab on the terminal and it will slide back out of the housing.

The blue and white striped wire supplies the power into the stock low/high beam headlight switch.  Follow the bundle of wires down from the left hand controls and you will find the connector it is located in.

Unpin the blue and white striped wire and then insert it into the 9-way connector with the black and white striped wire loop in the position shown.  This will allow the headlights to come on with the ignition switch.  It will also eliminate headlight flickering at idle, since the power is now going through the DC rectifier/regulator.

You can power the LED light from the white low beam wire, or the blue high beam wire from the stock headlight harness plug.  If you are using the stock Maddog gauge, be sure to use the white wire or your high beam indicator will be on all the time.  The green wire on the headlight harness plug is the ground, so connect that to the ground wire of your LED headlight.

Since most LED lights are incredibly bright at full power, I wanted the option of having low and high beam.  This also makes it possible for me to pass annual safety inspection where I live.  The easiest way I could come up with to accomplish this is by using a resistor on the low beam wire and running full power to the light for high beam.  Installing a 100W 8 Ohm resistor inline with the low beam wire gives a good low beam setting without blinding anyone when driving in town.  I have had enough people ask me to make the dual beam harness available that I now offer it for sale.  There is a link on the left side of the page if you are interested.

The photos below show the headlight output on low beam and high beam on my light meter mounted about 16" from the light bar.  The results are probably not super accurate, since I have a cheap meter, but it shows the difference in light intensity from low to high beam.

The light bar is mounted to the triple tree on a bracket I made from 2" x 1/8" aluminum stock available at any home center.  I always prefer to have the headlight turn with me instead of being attached to the body of the scooter when possible.  The photo below shows the low beam setting.  When I tried to take a photo of the high beam setting, it was so overexposed that you couldn't see the light at all, just a big glowing orb.