Homemade Tail Lights

[William_86]

Hello mates, i was reading at Dan Filipi's forum about his mod to his tail light

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://forum.classicgoldwings.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=261&p=1944#p1944">http://forum.classicgoldwings.com/viewt ... 1944#p1944</a><!-- m -->

anyone has diagrams to do them? i wanna do that mod to my trunk light bar. since it has no reflectors on the back the two bulbs there don't seem to be bright enough XP also would like to add turn lights like this one:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKQ6naJIO90">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKQ6naJIO90</a><!-- m -->

i will try do my own diagram i know something about electronics but anyway would like to see others that may be better ;p

[Guest]

I may also do something similar.

I have replaced all my stop/turn/marker lights on my VStar with either Radianz or Genesis LEDs. I installed a custom programmable solid state flasher for the turn signals and four-ways. This removes the need to install resistors (load balancers) to use the stock flasher. By the way, installing LEDs but adding the resistors doesn't really reduce your current draw on the bike. The LED light itself draws less, but add the resistor and your circuit load is about the same as it would be with standard incandescent.

Anyway, I digress. Here are the dynamic clusters I put on the rear of my star so that I had THREE red running lights, three brake lights and turn signals.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.customdynamics.com/yamaha_turn_signal_retro.htm">http://www.customdynamics.com/yamaha_tu ... _retro.htm</a><!-- m -->

Nothing similar to that is made for the wing. One thing to be cautious of is vibration. Make sure to coat the back side of your circuit board with a safe epoxy. That will help reduce the chance of breaking solder joints and add moisture resistance.

I will take a quick video of the stop/turn/four-way setup on my star and post it here when I get back from Denver.

Good luck and have fun with it

[Guest]

Hello mates, i was reading at Dan Filipi's forum about his mod to his tail light

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://forum.classicgoldwings.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=261&p=1944#p1944">http://forum.classicgoldwings.com/viewt ... 1944#p1944</a><!-- m -->

anyone has diagrams to do them? i wanna do that mod to my trunk light bar. since it has no reflectors on the back the two bulbs there don't seem to be bright enough XP also would like to add turn lights like this one:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKQ6naJIO90">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKQ6naJIO90</a><!-- m -->

i will try do my own diagram i know something about electronics but anyway would like to see others that may be better ;p

Here's another reference page for you to check out...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://members.misty.com/don/ledd.html">http://members.misty.com/don/ledd.html</a><!-- m -->

and a handy calculator for you to figure out your dropping resistor values:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=zz.led.resistor.calculator">http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=zz.led.re ... calculator</a><!-- m -->

[William_86]

thanks for the info, heres some info i found:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.redcircuits.com/Page85.htm">http://www.redcircuits.com/Page85.htm</a><!-- m -->

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.redcircuits.com/Page105.htm">http://www.redcircuits.com/Page105.htm</a><!-- m -->

[Guest]

thanks for the info, heres some info i found:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.redcircuits.com/Page85.htm">http://www.redcircuits.com/Page85.htm</a><!-- m -->

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.redcircuits.com/Page105.htm">http://www.redcircuits.com/Page105.htm</a><!-- m -->

Be careful about page85. you want a drop resistor for each series of LEDs, not a single drop resistor for the entire circuit. Also, I'm not 100% sure why the designer of that decided to use the NPN transistors instead of just using the switch to enable the additional resistor... I emailed the circuit designer to find out why make it so complicated with the transistors.

[William_86]

i already found other ways to make them without transistors
already studied the basics of leds and now i know how to calculate the resistors for them.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.sca40.com/led/">http://www.sca40.com/led/</a><!-- m -->

[Guest]

I may also do something similar.

I have replaced all my stop/turn/marker lights on my VStar with either Radianz or Genesis LEDs. I installed a custom programmable solid state flasher for the turn signals and four-ways. This removes the need to install resistors (load balancers) to use the stock flasher. By the way, installing LEDs but adding the resistors doesn't really reduce your current draw on the bike. The LED light itself draws less, but add the resistor and your circuit load is about the same as it would be with standard incandescent.

Anyway, I digress. Here are the dynamic clusters I put on the rear of my star so that I had THREE red running lights, three brake lights and turn signals.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.customdynamics.com/yamaha_turn_signal_retro.htm">http://www.customdynamics.com/yamaha_tu ... _retro.htm</a><!-- m -->

Nothing similar to that is made for the wing. One thing to be cautious of is vibration. Make sure to coat the back side of your circuit board with a safe epoxy. That will help reduce the chance of breaking solder joints and add moisture resistance.

I will take a quick video of the stop/turn/four-way setup on my star and post it here when I get back from Denver.

Good luck and have fun with it

Sorry to have to say this, but you are incorrect to a point about the resistors

The resistors in the turn signal line only function when the turn signal flashes on, they do not add resistance all the time as most people believe

Jim

[Guest]

I may also do something similar.

I have replaced all my stop/turn/marker lights on my VStar with either Radianz or Genesis LEDs. I installed a custom programmable solid state flasher for the turn signals and four-ways. This removes the need to install resistors (load balancers) to use the stock flasher. By the way, installing LEDs but adding the resistors doesn't really reduce your current draw on the bike. The LED light itself draws less, but add the resistor and your circuit load is about the same as it would be with standard incandescent.

Anyway, I digress. Here are the dynamic clusters I put on the rear of my star so that I had THREE red running lights, three brake lights and turn signals.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.customdynamics.com/yamaha_turn_signal_retro.htm">http://www.customdynamics.com/yamaha_tu ... _retro.htm</a><!-- m -->

Nothing similar to that is made for the wing. One thing to be cautious of is vibration. Make sure to coat the back side of your circuit board with a safe epoxy. That will help reduce the chance of breaking solder joints and add moisture resistance.

I will take a quick video of the stop/turn/four-way setup on my star and post it here when I get back from Denver.

Good luck and have fun with it

Sorry to have to say this, but you are incorrect to a point about the resistors

The resistors in the turn signal line only function when the turn signal flashes on, they do not add resistance all the time as most people believe

Jim

Yeah, that's true. Maybe I wasn't clear enough on my point. Adding resistors inline actually add to the load of the LED circuit so that enough current is drawn for the stock flasher to work. Most stock flashers are load dependent which means they'll flash abnormally fast if you reduce the load on the circuit. Adding load to the circuit by putting resistors inline between the flasher and LED cluster in use fixes the flash rate, but by adding resistance essentially no power savings are achieved (when flashing).

Of course, that doesn't apply to running lights or brake lights because resistors aren't needed for those.

[MikeM]

Of course, that doesn't apply to running lights or brake lights because resistors aren't needed for those.

I thought LED's were around 3 volts. Are there LED's that will run directly on 12 volts with no resistors :?:

[Guest]

Of course, that doesn't apply to running lights or brake lights because resistors aren't needed for those.

I thought LED's were around 3 volts. Are there LED's that will run directly on 12 volts with no resistors :?:

NO