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Flyinfool

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  1. Flyinfool
    More Progress The lights will be red LEDs rated at 1000mcd each. The lights are from Super Bright LEDs, P/N WFLS-R300. That last 300 is the number of LEDs on a single strip that can be cut in 3 LED segments, you can but smaller/shorter strips if you do not need that much. With all of my plansI will still need to buy more. The set up will be; Each turn signal will have 12 LEDs that will operate as running lights, brake lights, and turn signals. The main center section will have 78 LEDs that are both Running and brake lights. There will be another 66 LEDs that will be just brake lights for a total of 144 LEDs in the center for brake lights. Since the turn signals are also brake lights there will be a grand total of 168 LEDs come on at full power when I hit the brakes (assuming the turn signal is not on). The running lights are all running at about 50% brightness, I will use a variable brightness control to determine the final running light intensity once it is all buttoned up and I can see what it looks like. I of course want the running lights to be visible at night (I don't care if they are visible in direct sun) but I want as much contrast between the running and brake or turn lights as possible. I will be making a controller board to make all of this happen. The controller will be mounted in the trunk. I will put a connector in the cable leading to the trunk in case I ever need to remove the trunk for any reason. The controller will be built in a 4 x 2 x 1 box with either 10 or 13 wires coming out of it. (I have not decided if all of the grounds should be connected together in or out of the box, depending on how much room is left in the box once the rest of the junk is stuffed in.) I have the schematic laid out and will pick up all of the parts at radio shack on my way home from work tonight. I will try to remember to bring the camera home from work so I can start posting pics of the progress so far. (hey cut me some slack, I'm old and the wolves are after me ) At least in the basement this looks awesome so far. I sure wish you could see it. I am very anxious to get this up and running on the bike. I just hate driving at night with just one bulb on the back of the bike.
  2. Flyinfool
    Thanks Rick But I got past this already. The two parts are NOT hot glued together. Heat only made the plastic soft. They are chemically welded, IE they used a solvent based glue. I was able to use a very thin blade screwdriver to crack the seal all of he way around each lens and get them out intact. This took several hours of tedious work, but I got it. Next, the lights.
  3. Flyinfool
    I know that there are other threads for adding lights. I will be using what I feel are the best of the ideas that I have found on this site and others. This is going onto my 88 Venture, (not a Royal) you may need to modify this procedure for your scoot. This project may last all winter as I acquire parts and install them. I will post pics but some buffoon left my camera on my desk at work. The first project is to illuminate the reflector that is on the trunk. I plan to make it a combination of running stop and turn lights. Step one is to figure out how to get the reflector off the trunk. It is mounted with 3 small screws from the inside of the trunk. Sounds easy huh, NOT!!! There is also a piece of double sided tape at each screw plus one more pirce at each outer tip. They used some REALLY strong tape. After a bunch of head scratching and a few failed methods what finally worked was to slide a sheet of .008 thick sheet steel up from the bottom and use the sharp corners to cut through the tape. This worked great and got it off with no damage to anything. Next getting the reflector off of the back. More head scratching to do.
  4. Flyinfool
    Thanks Sarges46, that is the thread that I was looking for. I have the reflectors off the bike now and am working at trying to separate the red lenses. I will start a new thread detailing my progress, or lack there of. My new thread is here http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41588
  5. Flyinfool
    There was a thread a while back where someone peeled open the reflector on the trunk of a 1st gen and installed strips of LEDs to act as running brake and turn signals. I have been doing searches for 2 days and can not find it. I really do not like having just one light on the back of the bike at night. I have about 6 feet of the red LED strips left over from a different non bike project that I can now use for this project. I will be creating a progress thread of the illumination of my Venture with links to products used and any special procedures or techniques that I had to use. I will be skirting the edges of the law and adding as much light as I can figure out how to, with out getting in legal trouble. A lot of what I intend to do is scattered about on VR.org and will end up getting compiled here, I also have a few new ideas . The steps will be completed in order of importance with safety first, functionality second and cosmetics last.
  6. Flyinfool
    You do not want to just keep replacing blown fuses. They tried that here at work and finally found the problem area when that part of the plant started on fire.
  7. Flyinfool
    To me the ideal deer is 1-1/2 year old doe as far as meat goes. Many hunters want the bragging rights of getting that monster buck. I know people that their only interest is in that rack, they donate the rest of the buck to a food pantry. A good decoy does make a difference. I set the decoy up as a small 8 point buck right on the trail near a scrape where it can be seen from as far away as possible, and use an appropriate scent near the decoy (Never put scent on the decoy for safety reasons). When the big buck hangs up just looking at that smaller buck all it takes is a snort wheeze challenge call and in he comes fast to kick some a$$. But be ready cuz he will come in fast for the kill and as soon as he hits it and realizes that hes been had he will move out even faster. I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, use a decoy during any gun season. I don't need bullets from some yahoo whizzing around me.
  8. Flyinfool
    I got my pump at a bicycle shop for $12. Have to wait till I get home to see what brand/model it is.
  9. Flyinfool
    I used to ride all winter till I had to ride home from work in several inches of white fluffy "partly cloudy" a few times. If you dress the same as for snowmobiling, then the cold is not an issue for your body. Also, If you live in snow country where they use salt on the roads then you may not want to ride till you get a couple of good hard rains in the spring so that the road salt does not eat your bike for lunch. Unless of course you have the ability to thoroughly wash and rinse your bike as soon as you get home from each ride or don't care about the looks of pitted corroded aluminum.
  10. Flyinfool
    I have been with my current bank for almost 30 years now. They have overdraft protection that pulls from my savings at no cost to me. When I deposit my paycheck on the way home from work and go check online the deposit is showing online by the time I drive the last 4 miles home. During the day I can see debits coming in and the account balance being less than 0 but they use the ending balance at closing each day to determine whether or not there is an overdraft condition. That means that I can make a large purchase with no funds in the checking and as long as I transfer or deposit the money before the end of the day, all is good. I like my bank They are also open for all business from 10am to 8pm 7 days a week. I could go in and talk to a loan person for that toy that I absolutely must have, at 7pm on a Sunday.
  11. Flyinfool
    It is a step in the right direction. But I'll believe it when I see a cop out there with a db meter and tickets issued that stand up in court. I fully agree that ALL loud vehicles of any type or source need to be included somehow. As far as boom box cars, the city that I live in has a new ordinance that a driver can be ticketed if the radio is audible at 50 feet from the vehicle. I have not heard of it being used yet. I am not sure if that includes the radio on a bike since there are no windows to roll up.
  12. Flyinfool
    I would think that it would be easy to have electric brakes on the car carier just like cages use with a heavy trailer. That would certainally help the stopping.
  13. Flyinfool
    I just started my annual warm up for the hunting season. I shoot an 80lb Mathews compound bow. Starting the first of Aug I go out to practice 3 times per day, rain or shine so that I will be ready when the deer walk up. Now that the kids are all grown up and moved out, I only need to put 4 deer in the freezer to last me through the year. There was one year where I had trained the deer to hunt me. That was a fun year. Ahhh.... just 31 more days till bow season opens.
  14. Flyinfool
    Actually you have it backwards, A red lens with a white bulb will filter out all of the light that is not red, all of the non red spectrum is wasted, putting a red led behind a red lens means that you will get the full rated brightness of the led coming out since the lens will only allow the red light to pass.
  15. Flyinfool
    Every time you do this? How often do you need to change the tires on your SUV? It really takes a lot of air to seat a stubborn bead, When I have seen the bead seating tool used, you need to be aware that if you are not in a good stable stance that the force of the air leaving the tank will knock you over. Take video the first time you use it. A couple more options; http://www.gemplers.com/product/IN165/Radial-Truck-Tire-Bead-Seater-165-175-TC-50 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEETAH-Tire-Air-Bead-Seater-Seating-Tool_W0QQitemZ130320157250QQcmdZViewItem
  16. Flyinfool
    Do you have the core out of the valve stem? Are you using a big enough air compressor and big enough air hose to supply air quickly enough? I never did like the concept of explosive tire seating. If not then your only other option is a service station, I would think that the charge to just seat the tire that you already have on the rim would be minimal, especially if it is a station that you normally frequent. Call around.
  17. Flyinfool
    White grease is better than nothing. White grease has volatiles in it that will evaporate over time making it harden and lose protection. Silicone dielectric grease is specifically made for use on electrical connections. This is what you will find in all of the factory connectors and light bulb sockets on the exterior of your car.
  18. Flyinfool
    I have found that on my GMC P/U I have the same issue with the positive battery terminal. It comes loose every 6 months, and had those exact symptoms. Now when I get the dead battery it will usually start just by tightening the terminal. I bought a spare battery wrench just to keep in the glove box. I think it something to do with the way the cables are connected to the battery, with there being 2 cables stacked on there, one of which goes directly to the alternator and is moving with the engine torque. The easiest way to check for a bad battery ground cable or connection, is to turn on all of the lights, and check the voltage from the negative battery terminal (Not the terminal on the end of the neg cable) to a good ground point on the engine or frame (again not the terminal on the end of the ground cable). If you get a reading of anything other than 0 volts you have a bad ground connection or cable. If you do not have a volt meter you can rig up a tester using some wire and a small flashlight bulb (1.5V or 3V). Connect it as above, if the bulb lights at all then you have a bad ground. If you connect the bulb across the battery or if the ground is really bad the bulb will burn out almost instantly.
  19. Flyinfool
    First guess would be a small acid leak or some acid was spilled on the terminal during filling. Check the fluid level in that cell to see if it is low indicating a leak. CAREFULLY clean the terminal with baking soda and water being VERY careful to not get any baking soda solution into the battery. The baking soda will also neutralize the battery if it gets inside. The baking soda will neutralize any acid residue that is still there. If there is any acid present you will see the baking soda foam up. Keep cleaning till there is no sign of foaming. Rinse very good with lots of water. Get a new bolt and nut to reattach the terminal, the old one may have the anti corrosion (zinc plating) corroded away. Coat the terminals with silicone dielectric grease to help keep them clean. I don't know where to get them but if you can find them it would be better to use lead plated hardware instead of standard zinc plated hardware.
  20. Flyinfool
    But that would be funny.
  21. Flyinfool
    Dave I doubt that an officer would ever even consider crawling under a bike to look for a magnet, since it is not "controlling" the light but merely allowing it to work as designed and programed. Besides even though you know where the magnet is on my bike, you might be hard pressed to find it. Don My magnet arrived in a cardboard box that was approximately a 6 inch cube. I would hate to be owner of any computer equipment that was anywhere near this box on the truck. It could easily wipe out a hard drive or crt monitor from 6 inches away. I guess the magnet could pull a nail over that you would have missed otherwise. Tim Yes you can get Rare earth magnets out of a hard drive, but they are very tiny and weak compared to what I am using.
  22. Flyinfool
    At this intersection "going no matter what" will turn you into a road pizza. As I mentioned in the original post it can take 10 minuets or more to find a hole in traffic to go through. Why not just have the light change and all of the cages stop to let you go through safely? But then I have talked to some people that enjoy the drama and excitement of "running" a red light. Buddy On the day I did my testing I went 5 for five runs thru the intersection with the magnet and got the light, I also went 5 for 5 without the magnet and did not get the light. I have not and do not plan to due further testing, I'm convinced. I can not guaranty that this will work for all intersections or all bikes, but I have not had to "run" a red since I put on the magnet.
  23. Flyinfool
    HEY!!! Has anyone followed up on a $5 donation from the WI MD???? I seem to remember something about there needing to be one.
  24. Flyinfool
    If the oil pan is aluminum like a 1st gen then the magnet will not stick. This magnet is not rated for Aluminum. Sorry, couldn't help myself...... I have not looked at a 2nd gen close but I would think that the same place would work as I used, on the center stand just above the pad that hits the ground.
  25. Flyinfool
    That is where I have the magnet mounted. For the initial testing I just let it hold itself there and it stayed. Just for peace of mind I added a strip of the gray 3M double sided foam tape that is used to hold trim on a cage. Available at most auto parts places. A1 I understand that that is legal but I would rather the light changed for me.
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