K-Max top box light kit, Who's done it?

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sc00ter
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K-Max top box light kit, Who's done it?

Post by sc00ter »

So if I buy a color matched K-Max top box, is the light upgrade kit for the box worth the purchase? Ease of use. Durability. Protection from damage on the inside of trunk. Brightness. I may pick-up a Rough House to keep my 2-stroke skills sharp and the first thing I'm adding is a color matched top box, after getting the rear rack of course.
sc00ter
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Re: K-Max top box light kit, Who's done it?

Post by sc00ter »

My beloved SHAD trunks incorporate the light into the base plate. Very simple and bright. But I've gotten used to using a key all the time from the Kappa on my Liberty.
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Ipso_no_facto
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Re: K-Max top box light kit, Who's done it?

Post by Ipso_no_facto »

I just got and installed the KMAX color matched top case for my Buddy KICK and then installed the light kit this summer. I'll try to lay it out for you here. The top-case itself is great. Instructions for install are lacking of course, but what doesn't come from China with inscrutable useless instructions. Don't bother looking for much support from KMAX in that there doesnt seem to be any better instructions out there online from them. Your best bet would be to find YouTube videos of just regular cats doing their installs and Vespa of Portland does an intro vid on the basics for the KMAX Genuine matched top-case that was helpful. Understand, depending on what Genuine scooter you have, you may need to also buy a new luggage rack to accommodate the platform for the case. My Buddy KICK only came with a little "oh shit" bar not a 3 bar BBQ grill rack as required for almost any top-case.

Bottom line for the case itself, you will see there are more than a few ways of bolting the platform on to the rack mentioned above, you should be able to figure it out if you have even the slightest mechanical skills. The light is a different story. Most places that sell them even say it should be done by a pro or only if you possess electrical aptitude and may even void the warranty. It's because you basically have to cut and tie into the existing brake light wire harness. Lots of ways to do this and not a lot of room in there to do any of them. In fact, mine still don't respond to applying the brake. They are on all the time, so they are additional red lights, but they are supposed to come on and off just like the brake lights. Taking off the reflectors and putting the lights is no problem, just wiring them into the bike that isn't easy. Of course, there's no instructions at all for the lights really. Not a single YouTube video on the subject that I could find for the light install.

The top-case is great, fitting a full-face helmet with room for much more is no problem. Color is perfectly matched. And that's the problem with the Shads etc etc, none of them even come close to the Genuine color line. But you could go with a black one and not worry too much about aesthetics. That built in light is a nice idea, though, you would still need to tie it in just the same.

So there you go, I struggled a bit myself with it, couldn't even get the light to work fully, so don't think I could really help out much more, but asking the people who made some of those videos out there was no problem, they all helped as best they could. I'd definitely get a top-case, they are just so handy even with the cavernous trunk in the bike itself, I still use mine all the time. Fits all my groceries and even a medium pizza box flat on the bottom, pizza unmolested.

good luck homie.
sc00ter
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Re: K-Max top box light kit, Who's done it?

Post by sc00ter »

I've installed so many HyperLite sets on Zuma scooters I have zero fear of tapping into the brake wires. My main concern is the wires being protected inside the trunk. I have a habit 9f crammingstuff in my trunks, and i dont want a wire to get pulled out or damaged. I've yet to see a K-Max in person. But thanks for the write-up! Will still look into one.
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Ipso_no_facto
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Re: K-Max top box light kit, Who's done it?

Post by Ipso_no_facto »

sc00ter wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 11:48 pm I've installed so many HyperLite sets on Zuma scooters I have zero fear of tapping into the brake wires. My main concern is the wires being protected inside the trunk. I have a habit 9f crammingstuff in my trunks, and i dont want a wire to get pulled out or damaged. I've yet to see a K-Max in person. But thanks for the write-up! Will still look into one.
One thing that is nice about the Kmax case is that it does have channels for the wiring to "groove" all the way to the bottom where the "plug" plugs through the top case to the underside of the rack. It's a cant screw it up sort of thing, only goes one way as i recall. Its a big "plug" and it does come with a cover. This is at the top dead center bottom of the case, so yeah, you could cram stuff and push it around a bit and disconnect it, but you would really have to be trying to skew the wiring somehow to eff it up too much. That part of it is actually engineered nicely. The channels that accommodate the wiring obviously was no afterthought and it is also the exact length needed. no bunching up to be caught when you cram it to capacity. If you've done a top case on other bikes, you'll be fine.
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w6euh
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Re: K-Max top box light kit, Who's done it?

Post by w6euh »

I did it, a couple of years ago, on my Buddy 170i.
It was moderately easy, considering that I am not particularly skilled for this kind of tasks. To be honest, the hardest part was trying to decipher the "instructions" (unclear to me, and the images were very dark and confusing, again, to me). I ended up using mainly some common sense and deduction. It took me maybe about half an hour, mostly because I didn't want to make any mistakes on the electric part. I think I needed to wiggle a bit with that big connector that goes mounted on the rack, because it didn't want to go in its intended hole. I recall that I had to partially disassemble that connector (it has like a plastic cap), insert it, and then put that cap back. Not a big deal, actually. But maybe I could have skipped the disassembly/reassembly part, had I had more patience or better fine motor skills.

Just be patient, because if you accidentally damage the wiring, that will take much more time (and probably some soldering).
I also installed one of those "modulators," which worked great.

The K-Max top box and its LED kit are excellent products. The only reason why I would get a different top box now (for my new scooter) would be because I want something a bit smaller (26 L), and/or more aerodynamic. Besides, having less cargo capacity will prevent me from overloading that rack, because we shouldn't put more than 10-15 lb there (I carried a huge watermelon in it once, and some other heavy stuff sometimes. Not the most responsible thing to do.)

Good luck!

Marcelo
Peace and ride safe!

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