ES Scooter: Headlight / Throttle remedy perhaps...

[dalyjc]

Since purchasing my ES4 from Amazon about 4 weeks ago; I worried about the dreaded issue plastered over numerous reviews and forum posts. According to my SN, my scooter was manufactured in the 30th week of 2018. Placing it well inside the batch(s) of ES scooters becoming unusable due to a fuse that couldn't handle the power draw for the light and demands of the motor. I ride my ES4 daily to and from work; and in the last 3 weeks I have logged 250 miles on it. As of writing this, I have not had any issues at all. Oh, the return trip home is about 22 minutes and is in the dark so the headlight is or has been on every time too. I also have had my firmware flashed with the 1.3.3 and set my MPC to 48000. 

So the point of this post is simply to pitch a mod I did on the 2nd day of owning the scooter. Using a multimeter I found the OEM led headlight was getting 2.8v; fed from the dashboard in the handlebar. I was going to simply order a 36v to 3v stepdown via Amazon when I decided to just see how it would do being connected to an extra lithium battery from an old cell phone. So here is basically what I did:

-Cut the female connector from the wires coming from the dashboard to the led light. I soldered this plug with about 1/2" of wire both + - directly to the terminals on the lithium battery. 

-Removed the male connector from the led light and added about 6" of wire with the connector reattached at the distal end of the wire extension. 

-I used a knife to etch a very small "V" in the upper corner of the LED housing; enough to allow the 2 wires (23ga) to come out of the frame, past the led without being cut. 

So with the LED light back in it's original position, handlebars back on... I connected the battery and have been using it ever since. I should mention that the LED brightness is at least double the lumens before, and while I can feel warmth. It has yet to ever feel hot, and obviously it's still working so heat can be ruled out as an issue I think. 

Not saying anyone should or even has to do this. Many people have never had an issue with the light and acceleration. However you are like me and want to avoid it all together, then getting the led off the control board is your best bet. Plus you gain a far brighter headlight that has been working for me the same since day one for the last 3 going on 4 weeks now. If you are using the extended battery, you also gain the ability to run the battery's pulsing red led lights during the day without having the headlight on burning power which is cool. 

Anyone wondering what I did with the battery and/or wire when not in use. I have a rubber cell phone holder on the handle bar that I basically kept the wire tucked into. You can barely see the wires coming from the headlight FYI. At night when I plugged in the battery; well I simply had it directly behind my phone in the holder. There are many ways to do it, and the savvy among could easily mount a power source somewhere inside the scooter, and install a handlebar switch. Sky is the limit.

Good Luck. 

[Scrufdog]

I'd like to see how you did that. Is it still working?