Brake light upgrade

[wacky941]

In CA, any wig-wag strobing is for LEO only. That will get a ticket out here.

Thats actually good to know, I did a lot of checking in the state of Texas and there are no laws against it so, I went with it. Years ago I lived in California and wasn't aware of the law, then again, we didn't have all the neat technology we have now.

I guess, if I didn't say it before, everyone needs to check the laws in their state before modifying. That being said, the lights can be programmed to come on steady without any strobe or flash.

I like the idea, but I would like to mount mine inside the tail light, well behind the tail light lens. Just a strobe, nothing more then the 30 year old light and faded lens.

I also had the idea of strobing a lazer though a crystal 2 or 3 times when I hit the brakes. Get a fan of random lazers for a split second. Just dont know the adverse affects if one beam were to happen to hit someone directly with super sensitive eyes.

but for now Im just going to glue some of the emergency strobes into my tail light lens, I figure 2, 160w HID bulbs would do fine alone. My friend has a strobe kit installed on his car and has one 160w HID bulb in each tail light, turn signals, and headlight housings, and at high noon in the sun, you NOTICE it. I just don't know how many watts the system would use. It stores the power so its not using 160 watts from the system all at once.

I guess I would like to see the LEDS in person once, see how the flash is in the day time. All I know is with the HIDs you don't even have to be looking in that direction and you'll see it. at night the ones in the headlight housing look like a flash bulb, or lightning strike.

I've been thinking the same thing, I've got a second GS1100E that I'm taking my time with and what I'm thinking is that mounting two inside the lens would fit but, there are two problems that I haven't figured out yet how to solve and they are: 1. I will no longer have a tail light and 2. I will no longer have a light on my license plate.

I'm pretty sure I can mount some white LED's in such a way they will light the plate without looking cheesy but, it's the tail light I haven't quite figured out yet.

If you are able to build it the way you are hoping to please, post it here (or in a new thread), like I said, I'm still looking for a way to build the second bike, I'm most likely gonna acquire a whole mount and lens assembly and cut it up to test my ideas.

[willie]

I bought some red LED light strips on ebay from China (a couple of $ each) and mounted them around the inside of my rear signals and tail light. They all come on with the brake light. They show red even though the lens' are amber. Overall pretty effective and definitely cheap. I turned my front signals into running lights by adding a strip of LEDs around the inner perimeter of each one and wired them to the headlight wire. IMO they look pretty good. Again, they were VERY cheap.
Willie

[chucksuki]

Too bad your in colorado wacky, here in houston it's perfect riding weather.

[wacky941]

Too bad your in colorado wacky, here in houston it's perfect riding weather.

Oh I know!
My wife has told me it was cold there (high fifties, low sixties) but I made sure she was aware that it was 1 degree here, I would rather be at home in that hot balmy weather (compared to Denver).
And to top it off, there is very little humidity here, actually makes the cold much more bearable, the cold isn't as biting as at home.

Which part of Houston are you in? North, South, East, West?
I'm near Ellington.

[chucksuki]

I grew up near ellington! In Pasadena. I live in Spring Branch(NW) now. I ride down to the south side now and then to see friends. Hoping to go to take a ride to the beach as soon as it's in the 80's. there was a light freeze last night that freaked all the gardeners out.

[runewolf]

Very nicely done! If you ever decide to make up a few to sell, let me know. Would love a two light setup without the mounting plate and your little programming tool! Would save me the frustration of figuring out the wiring lol

[wacky941]

I'm still on travel right now but, when I finally do make it home, I'll try to remember to post up information for you showing the wiring and component terminations.

The programing box is just something I made for my convenience so that I can quickly change the display if I wanted to or if for some reason I had to.

[mrl1000l]

I grew up near ellington! In Pasadena. I live in Spring Branch(NW) now. I ride down to the south side now and then to see friends. Hoping to go to take a ride to the beach as soon as it's in the 80's. there was a light freeze last night that freaked all the gardeners out.

Damn, I grew up in Pasa-getdown-dena. Right off Queens street and S Houston Rd. Long way from there now, but I still see my family out there.

[chucksuki]

Damn, I grew up in Pasa-getdown-dena. Right off Queens street and S Houston Rd. Long way from there now, but I still see my family out there.

I went to Queens intermediate. grew up in the same neighborhood for sure. I was on handell between oaks and perez. we had to have been blocks from each other.

[chucksuki]

I broke my arm at that park across from the school and the philips 66 on that swingset that looked like a dome. This is assuming we were there around the same time period of course.

[flatlander]

cool. no one should miss that.

I just have the superbright led's 3w with brake flasher.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1157-led-bulb-dual-intensity-1-x-3-watt-high-power-led-w-brake-flasher/923/2274/

the strobe effect is pretty noticeable though not as much as cop lights all over the back of your bike. ...

any chance these bulbs work as a direct replacement?

[Guest]

any chance these bulbs work as a direct replacement?

for the taillight yes you just plug it in.

it does illuminate the "bulb issue" lights on the dash though which is super annoying at night.

I pulled those bulbs on the dash bezel. before every ride, i make sure the tail light is operational. no issues so far.

someone could make a tail light out of a phlatlight PT54 Red LED.... that would be RIDICULOUS. i mean that led can be driven at 2.7V @ 9A for like 1000 lumens of red light lol.

brian

[wacky941]

Very nicely done! If you ever decide to make up a few to sell, let me know. Would love a two light setup without the mounting plate and your little programming tool! Would save me the frustration of figuring out the wiring lol

I'm home now, kinda forgot about this thread, sorry bout that. Anyway, I got home a month and a half ago and just now remembered your post, are you still interested in more information? Let me know and I'll dig up the little wiring diagram I made for it.

Again, sorry I forgot about this.

[wacky941]

cool. no one should miss that.

I just have the superbright led's 3w with brake flasher.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1157-led-bulb-dual-intensity-1-x-3-watt-high-power-led-w-brake-flasher/923/2274/

the strobe effect is pretty noticeable though not as much as cop lights all over the back of your bike.

id be a little concerned about the wig-wag effect if the vid shows it correctly. around here, you can strobe but wig-wagging left to right mimics a cop car and gets them all excited. then again, your life is more important than worrying about cops bothering you.

Brian

I know it's a bit later but, I was thinking about this thread because another thread about brake lights was posted. Then I started remembering the bulbs you had linked to and wanted to get another look at them, I think I'm gonna buy one and give it a try. I had bought a slightly different type and was not happy with it because it was not a drop in replacement because of the rubber seal on the tail light socket of the bike, I wanted it so badly but, I felt that I was gonna break the bulb if I tried to force it. Then life and work got in the way and I forgot about the bulb and this thread.

Five years later and the brake light upgrade is still working great and just as bright as ever. Once I get the bulb, I'll post an updated picture if it is as bright as I hope it is.

[wacky941]

Well, I finally received the bulbs I was waiting for and excitedly ran out to swap out the bulbs and much to my surprise, it was a no-go.
The bulb actually fit without a problem and lit but, the problem was that for some reason the tail light portion does not light and instead, it causes the extra brake lights that I have mounted to light at all times and at the same time, the new LED bulb I just installed actually lights when the brakes are applied but not brightly lit as an LED should be.

This tells me that some how, the new drop in replacement LED is providing a ground for the rest of the lights that I had installed to augment the existing brake light. Don't really have time to trace it down at this time but will in the future. Thinking about it, it has to be providing a path to ground for the relay I installed, at least I have a direction to look.

Just an update.