Under seat bulb replacement with LED

There have been occasions when someone doesn't quite latch the seat and the light stays on in the luggage compartment. One quick answer of course is to remove the bulb.

One other answer is to replace the bulb with an LED. I'll go to an auto parts store tomorrow or our local Batteries and Bulbs store and see what I can find otherwise I'll try ordering some I found on Amazon.

With LED replacement that needs no modification other than replacing the original bulb with the new one. There should be a significant reduction in power use so there should take a much longer time to pull down the battery.

My remedy was to take the bulb out, throw it away and get an LED flashlight/torch and put it under the seat. Or one of those headband LED lights that fit on your forehead if you need both hands.

Put LED in mine (nice and bright), but I have put it in tiny compartment I made next to the light fitting and lined with foam so does not rattle around, I carry a torch as Dale and others have suggested, but if I do put the LED bulb in it for lengthy period, the bulb won't drain the battery as much, hope that helps.

I put a look alike replacement LED in the cargo compartment. It draws about 1/8 as much current as the original according to my miliamp meter. So if you left it on you have nearly eight times as much time to shut the seat.

I saw these in two car parts stores near me. Not surprising since VWs used to use them as dome lights and they're used in instrument panels and such.

exavid wrote:

I put a look alike replacement LED in the cargo compartment. It draws about 1/8 as much current as the original according to my miliamp meter. So if you left it on you have nearly eight times as much time to shut the seat.

I saw these in two car parts stores near me. Not surprising since VWs used to use them as dome lights and they're used in instrument panels and such.

Didn't happen without a pic and/or part number.

I say take the bulb out & as suggested above buy a flash light.
Why take the risk of a dead battery.

I spent about seven hours today with the seat open as I decided how and then mounted the base plate for my new Givi top box. For that whole time the seat was only closed a few short times. I finished about half an hour ago and hit the starter. She fired right up no battery problem with that LED light on most of that time.

Last night I was at my club and coming out it was pretty dark. I opened the seat to put my gear in and was surprised how well the LED I'd installed in place of the OEM bulb worked. The whole under seat area was flood with a bright white light. It had to be two or three times brighter than the original. At 87% less current draw it was amazing. Well worth doing. I posted the LED number and my source on a previous posting but don't have time to go look for it.

I may switch my bulb also. Even though I have the switched fixture in mine, when I DO need it the thing is not very bright so the LED may be just the ticket...

The LED is certainly more effective and the bright white light makes everything inside the under seat storage a lot easier to see. Doesn't look much different other than in color in daylight but really does at night. Well worth doing even without the lesser drain on the battery.

Yes, but the light whether bulb or LED is only effective if there isn't a lot of stuff stored under the seat at the rear of the storage area blocking the light. Does anyone really need the under seat light at all, who really is ferreting around looking for stuff there in the dark.

Under my seat at the moment is a large round Tarte Tartin pan I bought from Alice Delice, a sort of French Williams-Sonoma, and it's right at the back, any seat light there wouldn't be more than a feeble glow if there was an under seat light there.


As it's been mentioned so many times before, a small torch or LED hand lamps stored under the seat is so much more useful.

I also carry a combination LED torch and red flashing signal, screw in tire plugs and a few other things in the locking cubby. Never can tell when you might need a flashlight when you don't want to get off the scooter.

When I travel for longer distances I carry my 1600 lumen focusing flashlight. Usually its in my car but when traveling I'll be going anywhere on the scooter at night it rides with me. It has a lot more power than a Silverwing headlight.

I put one of those things on my pushbike last year. It's so powerful it was like trying to ride into a headwind.

Yes indeed, when you need a boost up a hill just select narrow beam and point it backwards.

BUT if I was traveling at the speed of light and turned on my headlight ???? Would I see anything???
OLD one but is it resolved. I don't care.

This nonsensical topic about under seat bulb replacement never seems to go away. Yet no one seems to have problems with no illumination either in the deep left side glovebox compartment which can swallow quite a bit of stuff, or the shallow right side glovebox compartment.

Neither does there seem to be a problem with top boxes. My Givi E55  has the same volume as the under seat compartment on the Silver Wing, but there's no need to kit it out with a light. The only light Silver Wing owners seem interested in fitting on a top box are ones on the outside.

Finally, when we do start to get into the dark days of winter in a few weeks time, how many Silver Wing owners are going to be riding and rooting around for stuff under the seat in darkness when the fabled 'riding season' ends?

I think the underseat light is a complete waste of time, merely a gimmick.
I have followed the advice to remove the bulb and have done so on all my scooters.
Ages ago I bought an led light with a magnetic back which I keep handy and simply stick it on the underside of the seat on the extremely rare occasions I need a light there.

One exactly like these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rolson-LED-Lamp-Hook-Magnet/dp/B00C1EB33Q/ref=sr_1_11?crid=22SHNVB0TI1L7&keywords=led+battery+lamp&qid=1569327599&sprefix=led+battery+lamp%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-11

This IS interesting the amount of discussion on a subject that is completely subjective. You either like the light or you don't. If you don't like it, pull the bulb and avoid these discussions.

End of rant!

It's in the wrong place!
If the underseat space is full, the light is blocked - that is a matter of fact.

Sadly I no longer have an under seat light to complain about in situ or anywhere else, nor a parking brake, linked brakes, 12v bulbs including those rubbish pilot bulbs, an easy to strip alloy sump plug, and an old filter that is difficult to access for change. 

Checking front and rear tyre pressures is easy to do without crawling around on the floor, the seat is all day comfortable, hauling the scooter onto it's main stand is easy, and a 200 miles tank range from a 3.03 US gallons tank is easily achievable. 

Post Brexit, my full curmudgeon privileges may be reduced. 

Mech 1 twa wrote:

BUT if I was traveling at the speed of light and turned on my headlight ???? Would I see anything???
OLD one but is it resolved. I don't care.

Using the Lorentz Time Dilation formula, I calculated that if I accelerated to 98% of the speed of light, I’d end up with my head up my ass. But then that was in the 1970s when I rolled my own smokes.



Black paper behind the mirror. Breaks my heart cuz I can’t go...

"Sadly I no longer have an under seat light."

With no trunk light, there is no chance you will experience this kind of joyful evening in an Auto Zone parking lot ....

Last night at 8:30 p.m., inspired by this thread, I decided to insert a brilliant LED bulb in my Honda trunk light with On/Off switch. Rode to two auto parts stores and neither had the right fit. The second store had one that was pretty close, so I gave it a go -- there IS a fair amount of play in the metal contact blades that hold the bulb, so why not? I went to work in the parking lot.

It was a tight fit. In fact, too tight. The new LED bulb was rammed in so firmly it wouldn't budge. And of course it didn't work. I pried the bulb out with a flat blade screwdriver, but when it popped out, it launched one of the metal contact clips up through the hole where the light fixture used to be. It heard it clatter to a stop inside the back of the bike.

After removing the access panel in the trunk and fishing around for five minutes, I sat on the ground next to the bike, calculating that I would have to remove the left rear fender to retrieve the clip. But then I thought, "Duh." The inside of the fender is open and accessible. I reached up and felt around the bottom and there it was.

Naturally, I decided to do all this again. Same result. Wouldn't budge. Wouldn't work. Prying it loose launched the metal clip into the same black hole. Only this time, I couldn't find it to save my life. I decided to cut my losses, return the LED bulb and ride home. As I backed out of my parking spot, I saw a glint on the ground -- there it was, flattened by the weight of my tire. I fiddled with it for ten minutes, carefully trying to reshape it, and eventually it snapped in half. The perfect conclusion to a perfect evening.

I rode home and re-installed the OEM lamp with no bulb. More importantly, I put a skinny, powerful LED flashlight in the left cubby as a permanent fixture (inspired by this thread).

Oh, and I ordered a new Honda trunk lamp with On/Off switch, because I like them, and I sort of wanted to say, "Eff YOU, fate."

"I calculated that if I accelerated to 98% of the speed of light, I’d end up with my head up my ass."

I know the feeling!

Amazing how much palaver is generated by a subject that so many say doesn't interest them or matter.

Isn't it just one of many, for example you'd think everyone that owns a maxi scooter would know without asking how to pull it onto it's main stand, or get on and off it without asking for advice on here.  Yet variations of the new these topics come up on here regularly.

Then there's the amount of palaver generated about removing or modifying back rests, faffing about with various seat covers and junking the stock seat for custom ones. It's simple enough reasoning if the seat is too high, too firm, or you lack sufficient legroom, why have you bought the scooter in the first place.

I would posit it's merely like most of us buy shoes that fit. Most people like to make a mass-produced item work or fit better for their personal likes. I don't think I've ever owned a motor vehicle that was exactly the way I wanted it. Sometimes it takes awhile to discover what it is you want. I put a drink holder on my BMW C650GT and I will soon put on on my Silverwing. If you ride often in 100+F you might feel differently about one. Obviously some don't see a need or just wish to sneer at one. But like most of us, it's my bike and I'll modify it to my liking. Without denigrating what others do to theirs. I don't think a scooter makes much sense to me but some like them.

Getting a bike of any size onto the center stand isn't the easiest thing to do if you weigh 110lbs. If you weigh 180lbs like me it can still be a strain now and then. This after riding 900lb bikes for many years. Yes I know how, but now and then it's harder than another time. I don't laugh at anyone having a difficulty with it either.

Cup holders are a US thing, my insurance company would invalidate my insurance cover like a shot if I was involved in an incident or accident where I'd taken or been seen taking my hand off the bars to slurp coffee or a cold drink from a cup. 

I've ridden in summer heat quite a bit at home and abroad, it isn't just the heat that can makes you uncomfortable, it's riding in textile gear that isn't sufficiently vented, or has a large back protector covering a large area of back you perspire through in heat. You can lessen that discomfort considerably just by junking the stock back protector for lighter flexible and vented D30 armour.

There are more efficient ways to cool down than haphazardly necking beverages on the move,  the most basic and sensible being making sure you're sufficiently hydrated before you go out riding in hot weather. There's nothing wrong with taking extra water along too to drink when you stop.

Try an evaporative dry cooling vest, I have a Macna dry cooling vest that I prime with half a litre of cold water and scrunch up to distribute evenly, that works well in hot weather too. It's nothing spectacular, you feel the cooling effect for a few miles and then your body core stays comfortable and you tend to forget you're wearing it. Although one fill doesn't last for three days like the manufacturers claim, it's more like a day.

Then there's Camelback or similar water reservoir backpacks. Fill one of those bad boys up with a litre or two of chilled water and a few ice cubes, and strapped on it you stay hydrated and it cools your back down nicely too.

As I usually wear my open face Schuberth in hot weather it's easy to position the bite valve where I can take sips just by moving my head slightly and both hands stay firmly on the handlebars. I've insulated the drink tube from the reservoir so that the water in there doesn't warm up from the sun.

You got me wrong. I like to keep a bottle of Kentucky bourbon in the cup holder. You can get the larger cup holders here. It takes some skill in traffic because the bike tends to wander while getting that screw top cap off.

Sounds like something a Knob Creek drinker would do. Anyways enough of this frivolity I'm off to bed.

Was putting a plug in place of the light in the underseat and had an idear. Local auto parts store had those 1 1/2" (50mm) flat stick on LED's available. So I figured I'd stick one under the seat and attach a plug to it that will fit the battery tender plug along with proper amount of neatly attached wire to plug the light in as needed. When on if by the side of the road at night makes a great marker and lights the whole trunk. Don't need it unplug it. This and a small torch and everything is covered with less fiddling.