LED Brake lights info

[jburrell]

Ok, Gang I know some of you have additional led brake lights etc . I know one of them was Juggler with some nice lights on a folded piece of Stainless on the rear of his bike. Owen has some great flat Led lights on his bike. I am interested in adding new taillight/brake lights to the inside of the bag rails and also adding clearance (orange) lights to the outside portion of the bag rails with a piece of Mirror stainless that will screw to the inside side of the bag rails ( with the lighs there in between the upper and lower rail. Who can point me to a good source for the brake lights and clearance lights. I have looked high and low across the web and cant find anyting I am satified with so far for a brake light. Send me your ideas. If I can find the correct match I am going to make a chrome insert that goes in the saddle bag guards and holds both the side marker lights and the rear brake lights in one piece. I know most of you have seen the Diamond R 2 piece set that sells for $400 but I am going to attempt this with one piece of mirror stainless steel that wraps to the back for the taillight/brakelight. I have seen several bikes on this site that have add on lights. Let me know where you got you lights and what they look like. Once I can work out which lights to use I will post the Prototype and let you tell me what you think. I am trying to accomplish this and keep the cost low. I would appreciate any ideas that you think work. This will be available for all once I can put it together.

Post your suggestions/pics and where to get the lights

 

It will be appreciated

 

Jim:smile11:

[LilBeaver]

A place to look for some of these particular lights may be a shop that supplies trailer lighting (LEDs may be a good way to go for a combination of high visibility and low current draw).

 

http://www.signaldynamics.com/products.htm have a reasonably priced selection. I put a 15" LED light bar on the back of my bike last week (seemingly identical to what Signal dynamics sells and what I have seen on many people's bikes). I have also seen trailer lighting at my local tractor supply, truck stops, and if you are lucky enough to find a place that sells parts for semi-trailers - that may also be a good way to go.

 

Good luck, I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[wkboard]

I bought led marker lights at my local advance auto for 9.99 each. They are installed directly onto the side of the side bags. you have to drill holes for the screws and wire to go into the bag. they are all hooked together and wired to the bike through a hole on the inside rear of the bag. I put a quick connect on the wire so I can take the bags off if needed. I then covered all of the wires and the back of all the holes (that are filled with the screws and wires) with black duct tape. the tape is visible inside the bag, but the black makes it not noticable. the led lights are very bright and shine out between the bag rails very nicely. maybe not what you were after, but it works well for me. whatever you do, make sure to get leds so you don't overload the elec. system. they cost a little more, but are brighter and have a VERY low elect. load.

sorry about the pics. I am on the road with work, and those are the best I have with me.

[Yammer Dan]

I was looking at a 15 inch LED Strip at wallyworld tonight. Had them in red and blue. Don't know why that red one couldn't be tied into brake light. It was only $14.95 or thereabouts. Think I'll have one maybe two next time I get there.

[jarrejx]

You might find what you are looking for at one of these sites:

 

http://www.vehiclelight.com/inf2ca1.html

 

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=TRUCK

 

http://secure.countywebsite.com/victorylane/product_info.php?cPath=61_70_62&products_id=1351&osCsid=a718691aaafbef76231981df1b5dc8e3

 

I made a saddlebag rail light set up similar to what I think you described, using acrylic. I settled on a wiring route that went around the saddlebag, along the rails and the mounting brackets, using 3M double-sided tape to keep the wires out of sight. You can check out the following thread for a more detailed discussion of the low cost set-up I used:

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23418

 

The tape has held up well since the install and I have been very satisfied w/ the additional lighting provided by the LEDs. I have had no electrical load issues since completing this install. Your idea sounds great as well. Here's to your success.

 

Jerry

[a1bummer]

You might find what you are looking for at one of these sites:

 

http://www.vehiclelight.com/inf2ca1.html

 

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=TRUCK

 

http://secure.countywebsite.com/victorylane/product_info.php?cPath=61_70_62&products_id=1351&osCsid=a718691aaafbef76231981df1b5dc8e3

 

I made a saddlebag rail light set up similar to what I think you described, using acrylic. I settled on a wiring route that went around the saddlebag, along the rails and the mounting brackets, using 3M double-sided tape to keep the wires out of sight. You can check out the following thread for a more detailed discussion of the low cost set-up I used:

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23418

 

The tape has held up well since the install and I have been very satisfied w/ the additional lighting provided by the LEDs. I have had no electrical load issues since completing this install. Your idea sounds great as well. Here's to your success.

 

Jerry

 

I usually get all my LEDs from superbrightleds as well whenever I build my gadgets.

[Guest Lightnen]

Just a heads up on this project you might like to know. I did this earlier this year (don't have pic's as yet) one problem I ran into is that the lights need to be on a 90 degree angle or they'll bump into the bag for there is not much room between rails and bags. Also why do you want amber in the rear of bike, for the amber is a front clerance light on vehicles. Most of the small lights that your looking for would be truck clearance lights check out any truck stops in your area. Also the clerance lights are only two wire so if you want them as brakes also you'll need to check out the project of two to one wirings with resistor (150 ohm) and two diodes. Good luck with this project..

 

 

 

 

Ok, Gang I know some of you have additional led brake lights etc . I know one of them was Juggler with some nice lights on a folded piece of Stainless on the rear of his bike. Owen has some great flat Led lights on his bike. I am interested in adding new taillight/brake lights to the inside of the bag rails and also adding clearance (orange) lights to the outside portion of the bag rails with a piece of Mirror stainless that will screw to the inside side of the bag rails ( with the lighs there in between the upper and lower rail. Who can point me to a good source for the brake lights and clearance lights. I have looked high and low across the web and cant find anyting I am satified with so far for a brake light. Send me your ideas. If I can find the correct match I am going to make a chrome insert that goes in the saddle bag guards and holds both the side marker lights and the rear brake lights in one piece. I know most of you have seen the Diamond R 2 piece set that sells for $400 but I am going to attempt this with one piece of mirror stainless steel that wraps to the back for the taillight/brakelight. I have seen several bikes on this site that have add on lights. Let me know where you got you lights and what they look like. Once I can work out which lights to use I will post the Prototype and let you tell me what you think. I am trying to accomplish this and keep the cost low. I would appreciate any ideas that you think work. This will be available for all once I can put it together.

Post your suggestions/pics and where to get the lights

 

It will be appreciated

 

Jim:smile11:

[The Black Pearl]

i was looking at a 15 inch led strip at wallyworld tonight. Had them in red and blue. Don't know why that red one couldn't be tied into brake light. It was only $14.95 or thereabouts. Think i'll have one maybe two next time i get there.

dont waste your money i tried the same one and it lite up for about 2 seconds then died!! Ruturned it and found a nice 15 inch led on ebay with shipping was 26 and it is great!! Just my 2 cents....

[Yammer Dan]

I played with these for quite a while even went and got warden to show them to her. They had the test thing on them. They lit right up every time. Must have pushed button a hundred times. Maybe you just got a bad one?? Try them and see? Wally World will take anything back.

[juggler]

Ok, Gang I know some of you have additional led brake lights etc . I know one of them was Juggler with some nice lights on a folded piece of Stainless on the rear of his bike. Owen has some great flat Led lights on his bike. I am interested in adding new taillight/brake lights to the inside of the bag rails and also adding clearance (orange) lights to the outside portion of the bag rails with a piece of Mirror stainless that will screw to the inside side of the bag rails ( with the lighs there in between the upper and lower rail. Who can point me to a good source for the brake lights and clearance lights. I have looked high and low across the web and cant find anyting I am satified with so far for a brake light. Send me your ideas. If I can find the correct match I am going to make a chrome insert that goes in the saddle bag guards and holds both the side marker lights and the rear brake lights in one piece. I know most of you have seen the Diamond R 2 piece set that sells for $400 but I am going to attempt this with one piece of mirror stainless steel that wraps to the back for the taillight/brakelight. I have seen several bikes on this site that have add on lights. Let me know where you got you lights and what they look like. Once I can work out which lights to use I will post the Prototype and let you tell me what you think. I am trying to accomplish this and keep the cost low. I would appreciate any ideas that you think work. This will be available for all once I can put it together.

Post your suggestions/pics and where to get the lights

 

It will be appreciated

 

Jim:smile11:

 

 

The LED turn signals that you mention are attached to my lower rail of my saddle bag rails with some aluminum sheet metal that I cut and polished. The LEDs themselves are nothing more than standard auto LED mark lights that were designed to stick onto peoples side mirrors. I think I bought them at auto zone for a few dollars. These are not very bright in the day time, but at night they sure do show.

 

I'm finding that your better off not skimping on the LED lights themselves. The cheap ones just are not that bright in daylight.

[jburrell]

thanks for the info everyone. I have already ordered the Mirror stainless now I just ahve to decide on the lights. There is a million types of LED's out there. My main concern is that they are visible and once mounted are nice lookin on the bike so as to please most people. I will check out the recommendations that are posted here and move forward from there. I am going to check Wally world and Trailer Wheel and frames over the next few weeks and see if I can't find something acceptable without paying $70 per light for brake LED lights. Clearance (amber) lights on the side dont seem to be an issue to find. The only thing hard to find is the two way Red Led's for brake lights. Someone mentioned changing a one way into a two way (stop/running) so I guess I will investigate that too.

 

thanks for all the replies

As soon as I get something put together I will post pics

 

Jim